Defininig and measuring success in a Christian School by Stefan Booy

Defining and Measuring Success in the Christian School Dr. Boyd Chitwood The Christian school is committed to answering God’s call for preparing our students to make a difference in the world, a difference which aligns with the advance of the Kingdom of God. This is the Cultural Mandate, commanded by God in Genesis 1 and proclaimed by theologians throughout the history of the church. To pursue this commitment in an accountable way and continually improve how we impact our students, we need a model for assessing this preparation. The clear goal and standard of success is to see each student grow into the fullness of God’s created intent for him or her. It is individualized as our children are individual creations of God but, as a school, we must operationalize that standard to guide and gauge our progress. Educational measurement is an arena of much conflict. In gross generalization, educators tend toward a focus on the process, knowing that when the ‘product’ is an infinitely variable human being, then simple, numeric outcome measures do not do schools or students justice. In the same sweeping level of generalization, the public and political constituencies ask for a measurable, accountable product result. We have developed a quality metric giving description of multiple educational and spiritual dimensions, and combining it with accountable measurement to pursue improving progress toward distinctively Christian educational objectives. We seek to be faithful in answering our Lord’s call so that He might have students well-prepared as instruments in His hand to make a Kingdom difference in the world around them. Dimensions of the Model: The goal of preparing students to make a Kingdom difference in their culture is clear on its face but is not a single or simple objective. It calls for a construct, a model describing what this preparation means and how it will be measured. We are operationalizing what it means to prepare students to answer the Cultural Mandate. We profile, assess, track and seek improvement along the following dimensions, which combine both process and outcomes features: • • • • •

Academic Achievement Critical Thinking and Communication Interests and Abilities Development Christ-Centered Worldview Awareness of and Responsiveness to God’s Calling

If we are improving along these dimensions, we believe we will see our students effectively used by God to impact their world. Model Dimensions Explanation – Relation to Preparedness Objective *

Academic Achievement

We have chosen measures which assess outcomes more than processes. We set as an objective to prepare academic leaders. This is not to claim that all of our students will be superior academic performers. In ministry commitment, we admit a broad spectrum of students. We count academic success as maximum ‘value-added’ for each child, helping the individual toward as much growth as possible. We also measure our leading performers because these students have been gifted by God to make a leadership difference as they go out from the school. We will track individual progress, averages and leadership performances. No school can pretend to create a National Merit scholar. In fact, as a Christian school, we would not claim to create anything. Instead, we partner with parents to be instruments of the Lord for the realization of His created intent for each child. Where then is the place for outcomes measures in school program evaluation? If the objective is to launch students who will be used by the Lord – or at least be ready to be used by the Lord as He chooses – then impact of students on culture is an appropriate measure. In the academic realm, if a school is such that it attracts, trains and retains the sort of students who perform at superlative levels in comparative academic assessments, then the students of that school will be prepared to make a difference in the world. *

Critical Thinking and Communication

A key dimension of value-added education which we seek to offer is the cultivation of critical thinking and communication skills. These abilities are central to intellectual development and strategic for cultural impact. To the extent that our students can reason insightfully and communicate effectively, they will have opportunity to make a Kingdom difference in the culture. Academically, a great deal of attention is paid to student writing and we believe this is appropriate. We maintain a consistent focus on writing in our curriculum and redouble those efforts going forward. Writing is a thrilling ‘hothouse’ for growing students as thinkers and influencers, in other words, as leaders. It both cultivates and assesses those skills on a continual basis. *

Interests and Abilities Development

Here, we apply some strategies from Gifted and Talented Education programs while modifying them to serve our altered objectives and perspectives. All children are gifted by God but differently gifted. Our G/T objective is not to peel off the top 5-10% and give them the quality school program which we deny to most students. All of our students receive an education of excellence. Yet all of our students are different in gifting and differ as well in motivation for particular pursuits. Our efforts in interests and abilities development function something like an iterative G/T program. We expose a broad spectrum of students to some possibility, be it art or science competition or Quiz Bowl or drama or whatever avenue ignites a student’s passion for learning and leadership. We offer extra faculty mentoring for students in that activity. We provide opportunities for students with interest and motivation to explore and cultivate their ability levels in those activities. We serve them by also offering guidance from experience about raw talent which they bring to the endeavor and offering programs to develop those talents. We then return to the broader group with other possibilities and start the process over again. We are seeking to identify, through maximally inclusive yet not practically blind means, who is gifted in particular areas and willing to work to encourage those gifts. All students are exposed to some degree and all could theoretically participate, though in practice some will not choose to go that extra mile developing and employing their gifting. This is a strategy to honor both God’s creative interest in each child and His standards of excellence for employing the good gifts which He has given. Students who have recognized their gifts and pursued their development are those best prepared to be instruments in God’s hands to make a difference in the world. We will measure program development, participation, student experiences, mentoring interest and commitment from faculty and student achievements in the various talent areas. *

Christ-centered Worldview

Absolutely central to our mission and identity as a Christian school is the cultivation of Christ-centered worldview in our students. Without such a view of life and the world, students can’t or won’t see the culture as under the sovereign hand of God and won’t see the ways in which our life and our world are given unity and cohesion and purpose by the direct agency of the Lord of the Universe. As a school, we make a priority commitment to sharing a Christ-centered worldview with our students, through all elements of curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular endeavor. While these commitments are clear, methods for achieving them and means of measuring them are not nearly so clear. We have developed, and will continue to develop, enduring and fundamental characteristics of our school program which pursue these objectives. We will measure ongoing development, participation and results from these programs. Instrumentation is barely available for these assessments so

development of these methods for measurement is included in the objectives for this dimension of the model. *

Awareness of and Responsiveness to God’s Calling

If students see “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1), then they still may fail to see their own lives as uniquely intended and directed by the Creator. If our students are to make a Kingdom difference in their culture, they also must be aware of God’s call on their lives, a fundamental sense of vocation about the direction they pursue. Tracking student action over time is key.