A Question of Relevance

Over the summer, as a part of a Fellowship that I am a part of, I attended a week long Professional Development Seminar in Grand Rapids Michigan. It was called the Van Lunen Center (http://www.calvin.edu/vanlunen/). Much of this fellowship was spent reflecting on what Christian Schools in North America are doing as we prepare for the 21st Century. I was saddened to learn that every Christian School umbrella organization in North America (including ours which is called Christian School’s International or CSI) is reporting a shrinking in their schools (in other words - schools are closing) at an alarming rate. Many of the stories that we shared were centered on how we need to be careful not to be a school that is in danger of having to shut down. In digging in to what the reasons might be for this, it often came down to a question of relevance. Are Christian Schools relevant to the 21st century parent? More and more, parents are questioning the cost of Christian Education and asking whether or not it is worth it from a relevance perspective. Even if we don’t necessarily like this to be the question that is first asked, we also have to be realistic and know that this is the New Normal . This is a question that we ask ourselves often at ACS. Are we relevant? Are we relevant to our parents who want the very best for their children? Are we relevant to our students who, more than ever, desire to be fully engaged in their learning? Are we engaging our students in ways that convey an understanding that is relevant in today’s day? In this desire to be relevant, are we staying true to our Mission and Vision as God’s call for our school? We believe that as a school we have no choice. This is not a matter of trying to educate our families to know better. We must be relevant to stay true to our calling as images of our Living God. We must be bold in our quest as Christians if we are to stay faithful to our Saviour. We owe it to every family that is a part of our school to be leading the charge in answering the question of relevance. There are some key areas of our strategic plan that will be rolled out this year that we believe will continue to answer this relevance question in a positive way …
Some things to look for or watch out for in the upcoming year:
• We will review our Library Program this year and develop a plan moving forward.
• We will review our Athletics Program and develop a 5 year plan.
• We will implement Project Based Learning (PBL)and Presentations of Learning (POLs) standards at the Middle and Secondary levels.
• We will investigate “seamless” student access to technology, perhaps investing in / piloting a one-to-one lap-top (or tablet like the IPad) initiative at the secondary.
• We will expand and enhance our global connections initiatives (our connections in Nicaragua) and engage our community in it more so.
• We will create and cultivate an Alumni Association that will be vibrant.
• We will develop a parent ambassador program to help recruit families to our school
• We will develop new recruitment strategies to encourage Christian families outside of the traditional supporting community to send their children to ACS.