This article will briefly examine what the professional literature indicates about professional development, what educators have identified as their needs and practices, and what professional development policies and practices are used by schools.
Schools need to commit to the important task of school development, and this commitment demands a careful and courageous analysis of the factors that sabotage such an effort.
Authentic learning promotes student engagement of the material because students relate the lesson to the real world rather than seeing it as just a meaningless exercise.
To meet the requirements for offering Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in biblical studies for ACSI certification, a course must be clearly focused on the content of the Scriptures.
Aligning all that subject matter with our mission and with our vision of what our students should know and be able to do when they graduate presents us with a formidable task.
Currently, 1.6 million school-age children in South Africa are not attending school. “Yet, behind each of the vast numbers and overwhelming statistics hides a face, a name, a life, a soul” (McDonald 2000).
As Christian educators with a calling to help students learn in the best way possible, what can we do?
Keenan argues that textbooks can be a useful tool for designing a curriculum but that they should not be the source of everything taught in the classroom.
Our strength comes from the unity we have in Christ and in our mission to develop His disciples.
The strategies found in "Classroom Instruction That Works" provide a credible approach for teachers who not only need to defend their approach to instruction but also want to make a dramatic difference in their students’ achievement.
In some ways, the Blue Ribbon selection process is similar to a mini-accreditation process.
A four-pronged emphasis for our approach to the future.
If we want learning to take root, we must lead students out of the classroom. Experiential learning transforms the classroom lesson into the proven knowledge of God.
We in Christian schools should embrace educational standards to verify that we are teaching what is essential to faith and life and that our students are learning it.
Schools struggle to deliver excellence in Christian education, and in many cases they struggle to provide just the basic materials required to operate.
What is the heart of the Christian school? My answer is a well-developed Christian curriculum.
The primary function of the board should be to identify the essential values of the school and incorporate them into meaningful and measurable outcomes.
Editor's Note: Two essential conditions drive effectiveness in schools. One is the quality of the faculty, and the other is clarity in the curriculum.
Effective teachers deliver lessons by uncovering the curriculum concepts, and they use the textbook only as an aid in the teaching process.
Openness implies welcomeness, friendliness, and honesty—the atmosphere I want in my classroom.
Leader's Read: "What Works in Schools" is more a book to refer to than to read from cover to cover.
Are the curriculum documents that we worked on so long and hard actually being used and adjusted throughout the year? To ponder this question, let’s take a look behind a fictional classroom door.