Derek Keenan, EdD, ACSI Vice President for Academic Affairs
The focus for CSE, vol. 5, is Teaching for Learning. In each of the five issues, we will look at a single subject area from several perspectives. Why do we believe that teaching for learning is an important theme? In a word, it’s about results! Several reports, including the ACSI Stanford 9 testing program, indicate that the results schools are getting from an incredible investment of time, human effort, and financial resources are considerably less than the country, its families, and its educators—including Christian educators—desire or expect to see.
In the latest report of the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, August 2001), the schools identified in the “conservative Christian” category have some of the lowest scores in the private school sector. We may take some issue with this because this category is defined to include some nontraditional, individualized Christian education programs. But the reality is that the statistics revealing less than stellar performance seem to be borne out in every widespread measure of school effectiveness. The headline and lead article in the Colorado Springs Gazette for July 26, 2001, note that “80 percent of tenth grade students cannot pass the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) test.”
As Christian school educators we might say—though I hope that we would not even think this way, let alone say it—what do you expect from the public schools? But what do we say about the Stanford 9 overall mathematics results for this same age group, which indicate that eighty percent of Christian school students score at levels 1 (little or no mastery) and 2 (partial mastery) on the criterion referenced part of the test? Some of the most dedicated, committed, hardworking people are serving in Christian schools. The Christian school staff is hallmarked by diligence, a willingness to put in the hours before, during, and after school to invest in the lives of students. There is no shortage of commitment to Christian education on the part of the school staff, the parents, and the rest of the supporting constituency, including the students. But what about the results we are not getting from the way we are doing teaching and learning? Are they telling us there is something that needs our immediate attention? It seems clear there is.
Two critical components mark virtually every study that addresses teaching and learning effectiveness. The first is the preparation of the teacher to deliver the subject matter. A teacher cannot teach what she does not know. And knowing does not mean having only the information she can read in the teacher’s edition of a textbook. The second component is the quality of the materials that teachers and students use. In the North America, more than in many other countries, textbooks have a profound influence on teacher and student behavior. Frankly, given the quality of the materials that many Christian schools are using, one might easily predict the poor results that are revealed in broad assessments of educational effectiveness and are reported in the media.
This issue of CSE focuses on the social studies, a discipline that provides great opportunities to develop a biblically integrative worldview in our students. When taught well, the social studies can enrich the thinking skills of our students, who face a world that is sadly lacking in clarity on matters of right and wrong, equity and justice.
Our goal for this year’s issues of CSE is that we as Christian schools would begin a systematic investigation of our educational endeavors—our ministry—to see how effectively we are fulfilling the great charge that we have been given.
Editor's Note 5.1