The Impact of Adventist Education on Academic Performance In partnership with North American Division, Office of Education

Presented By Elissa Kido, Ed.D., Project Director Robert J. Cruise, Ph.D., Research Director

Is there an A dventist A dvantage?

H ARMONIOUS D EVELOPMENT

A DVENTIST P HENOMENON Although church membership is growing, school enrollment is dropping across the North American Division (NAD). CognitiveGenesis will collect data that may help us better understand this phenomenon.

R ESEARCH Q UESTION What impact does Adventist Education have on the academic performance of its students?

M ENTAL C OMPONENT Local efforts by conferences in the past have looked at some of the academic performance variables BUT... Speculation and uncertainty still exists in the minds of parents

A CADEMIC P ERFORMANCE Parents question the academic effectiveness of Adventist Education because they lack empirical data demonstrating that Adventist Education successfully promotes students’ intellectual development. Studying the Mental Component through

A DVENTIST E DUCATION Researching the Academic Effectiveness of It will produce one of two outcomes, either of which will be beneficial to Adventist education and ultimately to the church.

T wo P OSSIBLE O UTCOMES Validate the success of Adventist Education in terms of students’ measurable academic performance and/or show areas that need improvement.

C OGNITIVE G ENESIS Benefits of Provide information to evaluate Adventist Education’s strengths and weaknesses Reliable data showing how Adventist Education (AE) compares to other private and public education Correlation with Journey to Excellence (J2E)

C OGNITIVE G ENESIS Benefits of Target instructional areas needing improvement Correlation and integration with Valuegenesis Improved ability to market the positives of AE based on empirical data

“Journey to Excellence” Goal of J2E is school improvement J2E is the filter through which NAD evaluates everything in education 10 Preferred Practices (PP) One PP is student assessment

By assessing academic performance, CognitiveGenesis supports one of the 10 PP of J2E - student assessment. C OGNITIVE G ENESIS Supports J2E

How will this study be different? Current (Up-to-date) Comprehensive (Population) Control variables to remove bias (Explore Causality)

Some C ONTROL V ARIABLES Prior Achievement Gender Race Years in Adventist Schools English as first language Socio-Economic Status (SES) Cognitive Ability: potential abilities that can be developed

? F REQUENTLY A SKED Questions ?

? Who are the Players in this research All nine NAD Unions All Conferences (Teachers, Parents, Students) NAD Office of Education

How long will this take? First year of data collection Second year of data collection Third year of data collection Final Report Phase

Variables associated with achievement Prior achievement Minority status Mother’s educational level Father’s occupation Family income Number of siblings Students in need special services English as first language at home Healthy lifestyle Participation in music (band, choir) Parental commitment to Adventist education

What is different in the testing program? Additional data is being collected through surveys of students, parents, teachers and school administrators Although some unions are measuring cognitive ability, all unions will include the CogAT along with ITBS/ITED as part of CognitiveGenesis RaDARS to be used by all unions

Assurance of Confidentiality of Surveys Approval from the Internal Review Board at La Sierra University All surveys will go to third party for tabulation No individual names will be associated with any of the data

Does CognitiveGenesis have an Advisory Committee? 15 to 18 members from the NAD Representing the diversity of the church Providing areas of expertise from: Teaching, Curriculum, Social-Cultural Perspectives, Research and Statistics Yes...

A DVISORY C OMMITEE Larry Blackmer, M.A., Associate Director of Education, North American Division Kelly Bock, Ed.D., Director of Education, Pacific Union Conference Kathy Bollinger, M.ED., Associate Professor of Education, Union College Ian Bothwell, Ed.D., Professor of Education, Atlantic Union College Paul Brantley, Ed.D., Assistant Vice President, Florida Hospital Hamlet Canosa, Ed.D., Vice President of Education, Columbia Union Conference Robert Cruise, Ph.D., Research Director, La Sierra University Debra Fryson, M.A., Associate Education Director, Southern Union Bailey Gillespie, Ph.D., Director, Hancock Center for Youth/Family Ministry Edwin Hernandez, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame Elissa Kido, Ed.D., Project Director, Dean of Education, La Sierra University Linda Koh, Ed.D., Director of Children’s Ministries, General Conference Charles McKinstry, J.D., Legal Council for Southeastern California & former Superintendent José Vicente Rojas, Director, Volunteer/Young Adult Ministries, General Conference Ella Simmons, Ph.D., Vice President, General Conference Jerome Thayer, Ph.D., Director of Center of Statistical Services, Andrews University

“We have nothing to hide & everything to learn.” -Kelly Bock, 2005 Director of Education, Pacific Union Conference “None of us is as smart as all of us.” -Warren Bennis, 1996 Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration