THINKING OUTSIDE
THE BUN
How to Make Adventist Education Accessible to the
Children Who Need It Most
Introduction – Adventist connections
• 3rd Generation Adventist
• PK & Married to a PK
• Both my wife and I have 18 years of SDA education
• M.Div and ordained pastor
• Taught sociology at Andrews
• VP for Academic Affairs at Antillean Adventist Univ
• Since 2005 have served as a trustee at Andrews
University
• My two sons have spent 16 & 18 years in SDA education
• Currently an Elder at a local Hispanic Adventist church
MAIN ARGUMENT
The likelihood of Adventist education surviving into
the future depends in large part on whether those
who are least able to afford it have access to it.
Summary of Main Points
1. All kids can learn at high levels
2. There is demand for schools that close achievement
gap
3. Teachers are the major drivers of learning
4. Data-driven education system is key to sustainability
5. Thinking outside the bun—innovation is future of
Adventist education
AGENDA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mission of SDA Education
The Killing of Adventist Education
The Browning of Adventism
Educational disparities and the experience of
Adventist education
Learning from the Catholic school systems
Teacher quality and data infrastructure
Educational innovation in Adventism
Ideas worth considering
Conclusion
“ . . . the work of education and the
work of redemption are one.”
- EGW, EDUCATION, p.30
THRIVING
CHILDREN
Committed
Churches
Secure and
nurturing families
High-quality
education
“In a partnership that includes home, church, and school, we
must commit to rebuilding and reemphasizing the reason we
exist. We must work together—Sabbath school, church,
Pathfinders, schools, and homes—to send the message to
our youth that they are of utmost importance to us and that
we will be working together for their salvation.”
--Larry Blackmer
THRIVING
CHILDREN
Committed Churches
Secure
and nurturing families
High-quality
education
THE KILLING OF ADVENTIST
EDUCATION
How to Kill Adventist Education by Shane
Anderson
How to Kill Adventist Education by Shane
Anderson
1. the lack of passion among churchgoing
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
members for being a “conservative” Seventhday Adventist;
a misunderstanding of what constitutes biblical
discipleship;
poor pastoral support of Adventist education;
poor parenting;
the inroads of postmodernism, secularism, and
“liberalism” in Adventism
poor-quality schools
THE BROWNING OF
ADVENTISM
Latino Population in the US
• 49 M Latinos or 16% of
population
• 29 M born in the US
• 20 M not born in US
• (7 M citizens / 13 M noncitizens)
•
http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/fullpage/infographic-latinopopulation-growth-1850-19106482 the US
Current Demographic Shifts
• The future of Adventist education is being
written in the current demographic shifts
facing the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Increasing cultural and ethnic diversity are
key markers that distinguish contemporary
Adventism.
Minority-Majority Denomination
• Today, racial and ethnic populations now
comprise well over half of the membership
of the Adventist Church in the United States
and Canada. The church in North America
is a minority-majority denomination.
Example - New York City
• An estimated nine out of ten members of the
church are people of color—mostly
immigrants.
•
Ronald Lawson, “From American Church to Immigrant Church: The Changing Face of Seventh-day Adventism in Metropolitan New York,”
Sociology of Religion 59, no. 4 (1998): 329–351. doi:10.2307/3712121.
• Over the past thirty years, more than 75
percent of new converts in the North American
Division (NAD) have come from “new
immigrant” groups.
•
Ronald Lawson, “When Immigrants Take over: The Impact of Immigrant Growth on American Seventh-Day Adventism’s Trajectory from Sect
to Denomination,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 38, no. 1 (March 1999): 83–102.
Latino Adventism
• As of 2010, membership in NAD was
184,955, or about 17 percent of total
membership.
• Contributing well over $92 million in tithe.
• Over the past ten years (2000–2010), the
Latino Adventist church has grown at an
incredible rate of 30 percent.
• 1,165 Hispanic churches and companies
led by a pastoral workforce of 539 strong.
Latino Demographics
• Estimate that there are more than 32,000 Latino
young people under the age of 18 and that,
among those, there are approximately 3,680
Latino children who attend Adventist schools.
• Approximately 42.3 percent of Hispanic families
earned less than $25,000 (poverty level)
compared to 21.6 percent of the general Latino
population
EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES
AND THE EXPERIENCE OF
ADVENTIST EDUCATION
No Child Left Behind
• Prior to NCLB:
• only eleven states disaggregated achievement data by
race, ethnicity, and gender;
• only six states disaggregated for economically
disadvantaged students;
• only seven states disaggregated for English proficiency
status;
• only one state disaggregated for migrant students;
• and only one state had a goal of narrowing the
achievement gaps between any of these groups.
NCLB & Religious Schools
• NCLB provides resources to religious schools
that may include a targeted, assisted pullout
model, supplementary instruction, direct
instruction, computer-assisted instruction,
tutoring, counseling, and family literacy and early
childhood programs.
• In addition, the law requires equitable services for
private school teachers of Title I students in
professional development activities and of
parents of Title I students in parent involvement
activities.
Impact of Poverty on Learning
• Growing up in a poor family is the most
significant contributor to the achievement
gap. Parents with few resources are less
likely to support the learning of their
children.
Unequal Childhood
• The research shows that childrearing
practices differ by the socioeconomic class
of the parents and that those differences
make a lasting impact on school readiness
and other life outcomes.
Extent of Poverty in Adventism
• Poverty rates have remained quite steady, going
from 36 percent in 2001 to 39 percent in 2007,
and then to 35 percent in 2009. Compared with
the poverty levels of the general American
population (11.7 percent in 2001 and 14.6 percent
in 2009)
• The Adventist Church is more than twice as likely
to have members living in poverty. This is a reality
with significant consequences for the educational
mission of the church.
Cost of the Achievement Gap
• Across grade levels, black and Latino
students are two to three times more likely
to have “below basic” skills in reading and
math when compared to whites.
• On average, black and Latino students are
nearly three years of learning behind their
white counterparts.
All Children Can Learn at High Levels
• Research has shown the children from disadvantaged
backgrounds can learn at high levels
• There are traditional public schools, charter schools, and
private schools that are showing great success in closing
the achievement gap
• A zip code should not define the educational opportunities
for a child.
The Questions for Adventist Leaders are. . .
• What kind of educational outcomes is the system
producing among children from all racial, ethnic,
and socioeconomic backgrounds?
• Are there racial, ethnic, and income educational
performance gaps among the children
participating in Adventist education?
• Or do all kids perform at the same level
regardless of their racial or ethnic and income
background?
LEARNING FROM THE
CATHOLIC SCHOOL
SYSTEMS
The Catholic educational system is the
largest in US
• 2,065,872 children enrolled in
• 5,774 Catholic elementary schools
• 1,206 secondary schools.
Demographics of Catholic System
• Almost a third (30.2 percent) or 624,878 of the
children enrolled in the Catholic system are
minority children.
• Latinos - 13.1 percent,
• Blacks - 7.4 percent,
• Asians - 4.6 percent.
• The number of non-Catholic students has
grown from 2.7 percent in 1970 to 14.9
percent or 307,458 in 2011.
Decline of Catholic Educ System
• Since 2000 a total of 1,755 (or 21.5 percent) of
schools were reported closed or consolidated, with
a decline in student enrollment of 587,166 (22.1
percent)
• Elementary schools in the twelve largest urban
areas have declined by 23.2 percent since 2003
• If the trends continues over the next two decades,
three thousand Catholic schools located in urban
areas serving an estimated 900,000 children will
close
Value to Urban Communities
“These schools are not just serving kids
well. . . . A substantial proportion of them are
rendering a huge national service by
plugging away in very neglected
neighborhoods where hardly any other
social institutions work, including the public
schools. It’s nothing short of heroic.” Karl
Zinsmeister, Domestic Policy Advisor
Why the Decline?
1. The integration of Catholics into mainstream
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
America;
the movement of the middle class to the suburbs;
fewer teachers who are religious (Nuns, Brothers);
demographic shifts in church membership toward
poorer Latino immigrant families;
the emergence of charter schools that provide
free high-quality school options to poor families;
and the system’s resistance to change.
Philosophical Assets
• The Catholic system’s commitment to the
poor and disadvantaged children even
when they are not Catholic
• “We don’t educate these children because
they are Catholic, we educate them
because we are Catholic.”
Research & High Expectations
• Openness to rigorous research and
investigation.
• Were it not for the long tradition of rigorous
scholarship allowed by the system, the “Catholic
advantage” would not have been documented.
• Culture of high expectations
• The focus of Catholic education on learning and
academic achievement for all children runs up
against the “soft bigotry of low expectations”
prevalent in many troubled public urban schools.
Refusal To Embrace Change
Many Catholic schools are still bound to the
same staid organizational framework
developed generations ago. These systems are
typically led by aging career Catholic educators
lacking significant experience in any other field.
Schools seldom have coherent content
standards, accountability systems based on
assessments of student academic growth, or
an ethic of making publicly available the
performance data that do exist.
- Smarick, “Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?” 123.
Cost Structure
“How can schools with increasing costs
survive when they serve predominantly lowincome students, and when they rely
exclusively on tuition and private
contributions for income?”
Considering ‘Out of the Box’ solutions
• Charter Catholic Schools
• “The Catholic response has to focus on
the children. That is what this framework
does. It puts the children first.” Hamilton,
ed., Who Will Save America’s Urban
Catholic Schools? 92.
Latinos as the future of Catholic schools
• Catholic leaders now tout Latino outreach as one answer
to the system's problems. The U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops called on its schools to increase Latino
outreach in a 2005 statement. Since then, dioceses
around the country--including Boston, Cincinnati and
Phoenix--have launched initiatives.
• At the forefront of this effort is the Catholic School
Advantage campaign, organized by the University of
Notre Dame. It aims to double the number of Latinos in
Catholic schools nationwide. The campaign works closely
with parish schools in cities with large Latino populations,
including New York, San Antonio and Los Angeles.
• By Aaron Schrank, 2013 Religious News Service
Other ‘Out of the Box’ solutions
• Voucher systems
• Religious Charter Schools
• Catholics target Latinos
TEACHER QUALITY AND
DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
It’s about high-quality teachers
• Poor performance of teachers goes
unaddressed by most schools across the
country.
• Ironically, the highest-need children attend
schools with the worst teachers
• In fact, the data is fairly consistent across
districts—the kids with the greatest needs
are the ones most likely to have the poorest
performing teachers.
Quality teacher w Lifetime Impact
• The largest study ever conducted
suggests that the impact of a good
teacher on a child lasts a lifetime
and impacts earning potential.
- Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, and Jonah E. Rockoff. “The LongTerm Impacts of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in
Adulthood,” Working Paper 17699, National Bureau of Economic
Research, December 2011, http://www.nber.org/papers/w17699.
Quality Teaching in Adventist Schools
• How does the system determine who is an
effective teacher?
• Does the Adventist educational system use
the latest analytical strategies to determine
whether a teacher is effective or not?
Data-driven Capacity and Culture
• There is no data system infrastructure that tracks basic
demographic information of the student and teacher
populations within the K–12 Adventist educational
system.
• Need to better understand capacity and demand issues
among school-attending age groups within the
churches as well as assessing attitudes and
commitment of adults toward the Adventist educational
system.
• Without a minimum threshold of accurate and reliable
sources of information, decision making is left to
conjecture and becomes a guessing game.
CognitiveGenesis Results Summary
Achievement of students in SDA Schools is:
 ABOVE AVERAGE
 in all subjects
 for all grade levels
 ABOVE PREDICTION
 in all subjects
 for all grade levels
 for all school sizes
 regardless of ability level
Grade 8 Students (2006-2008 data)
75
Percentile Rank
70
65
60
55
National Average
50
45
40
0 (New Student)
1-2
3-6
7 (All Years)
Number of previous years in Adventist schools
Valuegenesis 1 &2
(completed)
PhysicalGenesis
(future)
CognitiveGenesis
(2006-2009)
Research agenda for the future
• Understanding the extent of the
achievement gap
• Does the “Adventist advantage” exists for
all children.
EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION
IN ADVENTISM
Ideas to Strengthen Adventist Education
1. Commitment to mission and excellence in
2.
3.
4.
5.
education
Scholarship on the “Adventist Advantage”
Expand financial support
Cultural sensitivity
Data system infrastructure
Ideas cont.
6. Cause marketing within and outside of
Adventism
7. Teacher evaluation system
8. Leadership training for principals
9. Online learning (Khan
Academy/Andrews-Griggs)
10. Engaging voucher programs
Ideas cont.
12. Focus on recruiting the kids who need it
most
13. The Church as promoter of educational
excellence
14. Engaging Pastors—key gatekeepers
15. Doing “Whatever it Takes”
Summary of Main Points
1. All kids can learn at high levels
2. There is demand for schools that close achievement
gap
3. Teachers are the major drivers of learning
4. Data-driven education system is key to sustainability
5. Thinking outside the bun—innovation is future of
Adventist education
CONCLUSION
Lawndale Spanish SDA Church
Lawndale Spanish SDA Church
When you focus on the kids that need it most!
12 years later . . .
A grateful family . . . “Primero Dios”
Lifelong Impact . . .