Close the Rhetoric-Reality Gap

Michael Essenburg, MA, is the director of school improvement at Christian Academy
Tokyo, Japan.
 

“There’s a gap.” Helen sits in her office, mulling over the gap between her school’s mission statement and the reality of her program. “This is a Christian school— Christian teachers, devotions, Bible class, chapel, a positive environment. These are good, but they take us only so far in achieving our mission. We need more. I need more. I need an additional way to close the gap.”

Helen leaves her office and heads for the staff room, wondering if defining the mission in terms of student learning would help. “We need to move from activities to goals, goals that help us increasingly do the mission in the classroom.” On the bulletin board she sees an announcement about a workshop on student objectives. She reads, “Use student objectives to close the rhetoric-reality gap.” Ever feel like Helen?

Are student objectives right for you and your school? Find out by responding to six statements:

1. Yes/No: I want to close the gap between our rhetoric (our mission) and our reality.
2. Yes/No: I want to know how well we’re achieving our mission.
3. Yes/No: I want to connect mission, student learning, curriculum, and school improvement planning.
4. Yes/No: Using student objectives would help our parents better understand and support our mission.
5. Yes/No: My students would catch our vision for Christian education better if they understood what it meant in terms of student learning.
6. Yes/No: Collaborating with other ACSI schools would help us close the rhetoric-reality gap.

If you answered yes to any of the six items above, read on! I’ll outline a process and a set of criteria that you can use to develop student objectives.

Eight Questions to Answer Before Developing Student Objectives

One. Who initiates the development of student objectives? The administration, says David Wilcox, ACSI’s director for international school services for Latin America and Asia: “This is just the norm, rather than a philosophical issue. The educational leadership of an educational institution is usually more informed about … research issues including the importance of student outcomes.”

The administration should research student objectives:

• What they are
• How they help close the rhetoric-reality gap
• What student objectives other schools use (see table 1)
• The criteria used for developing them (see table 2)
• Suggested processes for developing them

Two. Aren’t student objectives the province of the board? Yes and no. Student objectives define the mission in terms of measurable student learning. They resemble “ends” statements, and the development and approval of ends statements is generally the province of the board. However, student objectives are also overarching curriculum standards. Given this fact and the fact that curriculum standards are the province of the administration and that curriculum training and experience are needed to develop effective student objectives, I recommend that the board rely on the experts—the administration— which it has hired to carry out the mission.

Three. What is the board’s role in developing and approving the student objectives? Policy. Rather than playing a direct, hands-on role, I recommend that the board develop a policy for student objectives and hold the administration accountable for adhering to this policy. Here’s a sample policy:

1. The administration will develop and revise the student objectives.
2. Student objectives must do the following:
   1. Define the mission in terms of measurable student learning
   2. Be Christ-centered, promoting the development and application of a biblical worldview
   3. Be based on sound, current research and practice
   4. Be for all students
   5. Address the whole person
   6. Be interdisciplinary
   7. Be attainable
3. If the administration’s proposal addresses the criteria, the board will approve the proposal as submitted. But if the proposal does not address one or more criteria, the board will indicate which criteria were not met and ask the administration to make revisions.

Four. Who should the administration involve in the development of student objectives? Students, parents, staff, and board members, suggests the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Wilcox explains, “The broader the involvement of the various segments of the school community, the more likely that the outcomes will be comprehensive and representative of the community served. This response assumes a situation in which the leadership of the school and the parent community are fundamentally unified as a believing community…. The reality is that the administration (including curriculum coordinators) and the faculty are the primary developers of the outcome statements.”

Five. What process can the administration use to develop student objectives? Roundtable discussion. This is an effective way for students, parents, staff, and board members to collaborate on developing student objectives. Try these five steps:

1. Use examples to explain what student objectives are, the role they play, and the criteria that will be used for developing them.
2. Ask each group to brainstorm answers to the following question: “Given our mission, what do we want all students to know, be able to do, and value?”
3. Pair up into groups. Have each paired group collaborate to develop one set of student objectives. Post the results and have a debriefing by the whole group.
4. Explain that an administration-appointed committee will use the results and criteria to develop a proposed set of student objectives. This set will be field-tested for at least a semester and then revised (using community input).
5. Have the administration approve the student objectives and submit them to the board for approval.

Six. Is it mandatory that we develop our own distinct set of student objectives? No, nor is it necessarily wise to do so. Christian schools have finite resources and so rely on a variety of outside resources such as ACSI, curriculum organizations, textbook publishers, state agencies, and consultants. Using an established set of student objectives from another school is an example of relying on an outside resource.

Seven. Doesn’t using another school’s student objectives diminish our distinctiveness? No, I don’t think so, any more than using denominational creeds, hymns, and procedures diminishes your church’s distinctiveness. Where and how you go about achieving the student objectives (your staff and students, facilities, location, standards, assessments, and instructional strategies) will continue to reflect your distinctiveness.

For example, two Christian schools could both focus on helping their students be “productive collaborators who respect themselves and others as being created in God’s image.” Alpha Christian School might focus in social studies on helping students avoid the self-centeredness that marks cultures. Beta Christian School might focus in social studies on helping students consistently demonstrate a healthy self-respect based on an appreciation for Christian beliefs, Japanese culture, and homeland culture. These schools have the same student objective but a distinctive local focus.

Remember, the goal is to close the gap between rhetoric and reality—not to develop a set of student objectives. Considering this fact, and that it took us five years to figure out how to use our student objectives to improve student learning, you may want to begin the process by field-testing an established set (see table 1: Sample Student Objectives).

Eight. If we start with another school’s student objectives, do we need to modify the process? A little bit. If you do this, remember to do the following:

1. Verify that this set meets your board’s criteria.
2. Train community members in the nature and function of student objectives.
3. Explain why you chose the set.
4. Use community feedback to revise the field-tested set as appropriate.

You may invite an administrator from the school that developed your chosen set of student objectives to help you with the process.

Are Your Student Objectives SMART EQUIPMENT?

Student objectives define your school mission in terms of measurable student learning. They define what a teacher should help a student achieve for the student to fulfill the mission. (See table 1 in attached article.) Your student objectives are the equipment your students will use to carry out your mission. Are you providing your students with SMART EQUIPMENT? (See table 2 in attached article.)

Close the Rhetoric-Reality Gap