Standard 3.1: Instructional Leadership: School leaders create and sustain a climate for all students to learn and develop their faith. Indicators for Standard 3.1
3.1.1: Knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and faith development: The school’s leaders have expertise in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and faith development and are able to model these in the classroom. They have opportunities to share their expertise in these areas with the school community and beyond.
Rating: 3
We feel Western Christian High School’s leadership has maintained the implementation level of this indicator, especially in the areas of curriculum and instruction. Since his tenure began as principal in 2011, Mr. Dan Barkel has made it a school-wide priority to improve the quality of curriculum and instruction. To begin this process, he petitioned the creation of a Curriculum Director position on staff. Mrs. Abby DeGroot was hired to fulfill the role as she was training in, and has since achieved, an MA Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Dordt College. The training she received from that institution provides her with an expertise in teaching for learning founded upon a reformed worldview, rooted in “learning for discipleship”. These two individuals combined efforts to request of the Board of Directors weekly time out of the school day for staff members to engage in evaluating each other’s curriculum for a high level of academic engagement (in all subject areas, including where physical, emotional, and social development is a goal of the coursework) as well as incorporation of spiritual formation. This is done through a modified template from the Center for Authentic Intellectual Work. Mrs. DeGroot has both been trained in the processes of Authentic Intellectual Work, and has trained faculty on its purposes and procedures. Mrs. DeGroot further shares her expertise with faculty in frequent, individualized emails suggesting curriculum-enhancing artifacts, and leading faculty workshops on various curriculum building topics. These efforts have resulted in high satisfaction among constituents and faculty members in the quality of curriculum taught at WCHS. Administration also works to establish the foundational aspect of the school’s mission as a Bible-based learning institution by annually choosing a passage from Scriptureto focus the school’s bi-weekly chapels around as well as kick-starting each academic year by introducing this passage to the student body, the background into its choosing, and its life application. He further communicates to the school’s community topics related to Christian education by way of a monthly Principal's Perspective column in the school’s publication for all constituents including students, parents, faculty, and other community members interested in the school. Mr. Barkel also requires faculty members to take turns leading a devotional time each Monday morning before school with the goal of enriching each other’s faith walk in the classroom, and requires faculty attendance at the annual Heartland Convention where area teachers gather for 2 days to attend workshops centered around improving education from a Christian perspective in their classrooms. Instructional leadership in the area of assessment seems to be a current area of weakness. Stakeholder survey results show a higher degree of neutrality (and disagreement) in evaluating assessment procedures and efficacyat our school. This may be due to a lack of time on the part of administration and Curriculum Director to share their expertise on assessment strategies with the faculty, a lack of professional development time available, and/or a lack of expertise in the area by leadership. We also feel that perhaps more can be done on the part of leadership to promote faith development by students. Although stakeholder results show overwhelming agreement that our school is definitely Christian, we wonder if there is evidence of the encouragement to develop and grow faith for students.
3.1.2: Focus on student results: School leaders base school improvement decisions on data.
Rating: 1
Although the current Comprehensive School Improvement Plan dictates that data is regularly consulted to determine needed change in curriculum, instruction, and meeting of the school’s mission, we feel this is consistently not the case at Western Christian.We can think of instances where data has been/is consulted to drive decision making, such as the following:
Early in the school year of 2012 extensive Strategic Planning sessions occurred involving faculty and Board of Trustees members. Out of survey data collected and conversation, school improvement measures were put into place that included: addition of learning programs (FFA/Agriculture), hiring of personnel (Marketing Director - Mr. Wes Fopma; Technology Director- Mr. Mark Fenchel; Agriculture Teacher- Ms. Kylie Miller), and building improvements (Science classroom remodel; Auditorium/Drama/Worship area remodel) to catalyze learning.
Post-secondary course enrollment is capped based on class rank and GPA, as evaluated by the school’s guidance counselor.
Students with special education needs are assessed by the Christian Learning Center3 along with the special education teacher to determine curricular adaptations and document learning needs in individualized 504 Plans4.
Because of perceived student dissatisfaction with the semester end testing protocol, a survey was sent out to faculty members. Based on results a proposal was drafted for the Education Committee and later adopted to change semester one end testing schedules for the coming school year.
Faculty members can recall once in the past 5 years disaggregating data from recently taken Iowa Tests of Educational Development by core subject academic department and analyzing “trouble” spots. No school improvement action was taken based on analysis.
A School Improvement Advisory Committee made up of students, faculty, and parents has previously been in place. During meeting time, members evaluated student Iowa Tests of Education Development scores to assess student academic achievement. No action steps were put in place for improvement, as feelings indicated improvement wasn’t needed. The SIAC committee no longer meets.
3.1.3: Integration and use of technology: All staff members use technology for communication, instruction, and information management. They guide their students in the effective, ethical, and discerning use of technology based on the school’s mission and educational goals.
Rating: 3
Western Christian High School’s 2015 stakeholder survey results from parent, student, and faculty members all reveal high approval ratings in regard to the integration of technology in school proceedings. Seeing a need to develop 21st Century learners, in January of 2013 the school’s faculty-lead Technology Committee proposed to the Board of Trustees a Bring Your Own Technology 1-to-1 device plan for the school’s students in which through a 2-year grade-level “ease-in” program would allow every student to have a personal technological device in which to do school work. The adoption of this plan has required faculty members to utilize technology in lesson planning and follow-through, assessment, and communication. With the adoption of this program school-associated Google accounts were set up for all faculty and students. Email (Gmail), lesson development (Google Docs,Sheets, Slides, etc.), lesson sharing (teacher-student and student-student), learning management systems (Google Classroom), and grading communication software (JMC), among many other applications have been utilized frequently and consistently by all students and faculty due to this program’s focus on technological integration to learning. Ongoing professional development in regard to incorporation of technology in the classroom is supported by leadership in requiring faculty members to evaluate each other’s technology integration in lesson planning during weekly cohort AIW task assessment and the offering of elective faculty “workshops” put on by members of the technology committee. The desire of leadership to ensure the use of technology is congruent with the school’s mission and educational goals is evidenced by the requirement of a week-long Digital Citizenship “short course” in which all freshmen are led by the Curriculum Director in presentations and assignments where they reflect on how technology can both perpetuate sin and be used as a redeeming tool, as well as evaluate their personal choices regarding technology. It is expected that the enforcement of Biblical perspectives in the use of technology throughout the student's enrollment is carried out by all faculty members. One evidence of this is an upperclassman English assignment in which students focus on plagiarism. Further, an Acceptable Use Policy in regard to appropriate, Biblically-aligned, use of technology is included in the annually distributed Parent-Student Handbook and is required to be signed and dated as a contractual agreement by each parent and student of WCHS to ensure technology use is mission compatible. It was noted that perhaps there is somewhat of a lack of seamless technological integration with a variety of purposes in multiple ways by all faculty members. This is perhaps due to a lack of interest and/or a lack of professional development time. Some faculty members are extremely fluent in various technological applications and some aren’t. A platform for those who are to effectively “teach” those who aren’t seems to be lacking. This may perpetuate division between the “haves” and “have nots” which is detrimental to the forwarding of educational best practices.
3.1.4: Planned results: The school improvement plan reflects the school’s commitment to continuous improvement. It contains measurable educational performance goals that reflect the vision and the mission of the school.
Rating: 1
Though Western Christian High School does have a current Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, as required for school accreditation, it’s achievement measures seem broad, analysis of its data is not occurring on a regular basis (committees indicated to do so in the CSIP do not meet, nor are other measures being taken to evaluate data). Staff members are not involved in its writing, faith development data collection to inform its writing is absent, and attitudinal data from a variety of demographics (that can serve as a guide for its writing) is not being collected on a consistent basis. Most staff members are not aware that the document even exists, nor what purpose it serves. However, each year the coming school year’s professional development agendas (as determined by perceived student learning needs) are discussed by the Curriculum Director and Principal prior to a school year’s end and a professional development plan is outlined, and subsequently carried out, as indicated in the CSIP. The current focus of this plan is to improve curriculum school-wide through the Authentic Intellectual Work initiative.
3.1.5: Accountability and evaluation: School leaders collaborate in a planned manner with teachers to define and evaluate classroom effectiveness and individual professional goals that are rooted in the school’s improvement plan and lead toward improved instruction and student faith development.
Rating: 1
Currently teachers are evaluated by administration upon year-end through a “check-out” procedure that has been adopted from past leadership. Here teachers are to reflect on personal practice weaknesses and set improvement goals for the coming school year. Biennially administration also gives faculty a written evaluation of perceived professional strengths and weaknesses and discusses these with each faculty member during their “check-out” meeting time. It was noted that follow-up regarding the self-set faculty professional goals or improvement of individual teacher professional practice weaknesses never occurs, and this goal-setting and evaluation procedure is not required to involve the nurturing of faith development. Annual department meetings are held to discuss logistical aspects to specific curriculum (for example whether or not new textbooks or course offerings are suggested) with both administration and the school board. Evaluation and dialogue during these activities are solely focused on curriculum logistics and not professional best practices. It is noted that teachers do not currently understand the criteria by which they are evaluated for best practices, are not evaluated in an ongoing manner for best practices by leadership, and do not work collaboratively with leadership to monitor progress toward meeting professional goals nor receive advice on strategies, timelines, or expectations in order to do so. We feel it must be mentioned, however, that leadership provides excellent support for faculty members to participate in activities to improve their profession and meet personal goals for professional improvement. Western Christian High School’s financial policy for professional development support is in most cases unmatched by other school districts; however, taking advantage of the benefit is usually self-motivated by faculty members, not something collaboratively discussed or specifically encouraged by leadership.
3.1.6: Collaboration: School leaders promote and facilitate dialogue and collaboration that are aligned with the school’s mission, refine the goals for student learning, and support a culture of continuous improvement.
Rating: 3
With the implementation of weekly collaborative professional development time for all instructional staff in the fall of 2014, we feel Western Christian has made great strides in facilitating meaningful dialogue and collaboration among its faculty. These weekly meetings allow for stratified content area groups to come together and discuss teachers’ curriculum with a goal to improve it academically and meaningfully incorporate spiritual formation in lesson planning. This is done through following a modified protocol for Authentic Intellectual Work. After evaluation of curricular materials by peers, faculty members are required to upload revised work to a collaborative website, giving evidence of improvement. Our principal seeks annual input from faculty on leadership in attainment of the school’s teaching and learning goals through survey, and recent stakeholder surveys indicate staff members are pleased with the quality of curriculum, faculty passion for professional development, and time allotted for peer collaboration. We also must make note here of the 100% professional development cost-share program our school board provides for our faculty, as mentioned in Indicator 3.1.5. This only verifies leadership support of continuous professional improvement. We are not sure that ALL instructional decisions - including professional/faith development and data analysis are discussed in collaborative teams involving a wide range of faculty members. Formal staff stakeholder surveying (that focuses on peer attitudes toward professional development, as mentioned above) is not currently occurring on a regular basis, and further the Administrative Performance Opinionnaire filled out annually by staff members does not have a large focus on the specifics of professional development and administrative leadership of faculty in implementation of learning goals. We feel these things perhaps prevent an Exemplary rating.
Standard 3.2:Teacher as Leader: Teachers as well as administrators have responsibilities for leadership in the classroom and in the school.
Indicators for Standard 3.2
3.2.1: Sufficient instructional staff: Leaders recruit and retain sufficient qualified faculty (see indicator 1.4.5.) and staff to provide students with a high quality Christian education. Faculty and staff are recruited and hired to enhance the capacity of the school to achieve its mission and goals.
Rating: 3
The leadership (administrator and Education Committee as part of the Board of Directors) at Western Christian consistently seek to hire qualified faculty to lead learning activities for all students enrolled. When a position opens, it is advertised and potential candidates may submit resumes to the school administrator. Resumes deemed qualified by administration then may be contacted to participate in an interview process where administration and members of the Board of Directors Education Committee are present to ask questions of the applicant regarding their qualifications in leading students in academic content and faith development. In examining an audit of teacher credentials, it is easy to see academically qualified staff are present at Western Christian. The exceptions that exist are working toward endorsement in their areas, and have made verbal agreements upon hire to fulfill these obligations. Recent parent and staff stakeholder surveys indicate a high degree of approval in the staff’s ability to deliver quality academic and Biblical content and also to develop our student’s faith lives through example. We feel that perhaps faculty input into the hiring and recruitment of staff members could be improved, as required in an Exemplary rating for this indicator. There is not a member of the faculty on the Board of Directors and in turn the Education Committee, which leads the recruitment and hiring of candidates. Neither are any content area faculty members are asked to be present during the interview process, which we discussed may be beneficial to both the candidate and the potential colleague. We also do not see evidence that identification of student needs is a priority in candidate hiring.
3.2.2: Content knowledge: Teachers are competent to teach in their content area and/or grade level and maintain their knowledge and skills through participation in frequent professional development opportunities. They are asked by those in the school and beyond to share what they have learned and their expertise. They understand how to unfold God’s truth in their content area and help students connect their head, heart, and hands in engaging ways.
Rating: 2
Though teacher leaders at Western Christian are not frequently hired or required to teach outside of their content area of licensure and consistently maintain professional development requirements to keep their certification current, as evidenced by a Teacher Credential Audit, we feel many times a strong desire of faculty members to stay abreast in their content area through “non-required” professional development is perhaps lacking. Though there is evidence of faculty members attending content-related professional development, the earning of advanced degrees in content area fields, and faculty members being asked by those outside the school to participate in sharing content knowledge, professional development done through the school is always general “pedagogical improvement”-focused and not centered around the development of specific content area knowledge. Neither is there evidence that all faculty members consistently seek to enhance their content area knowledge for personal professional development, especially when it is not required for continued licensure.
3.2.3: Personal faith expression: Teachers model their faith to their students with passion and authenticity, encouraging the faith development of their students. They seek to deepen their own faith. Administrators encourage personal faith expressions by the teachers.
Rating: 4
We feel the Western Christian administrators and teachers earn an Exemplary rating for this indicator due to the school’s fundamental grounding in the desire to be a Christian learning institution from its establishment to present. As the teacher interview guiding questions document linked to in Indicator 3.2.1 gives evidence to, leadership at WCHS seeks faculty that employ faith-based living and teaching as paramount. Faculty members are also held to contractual agreements that require passionate and authentic faith-based modeling in their interactions with the stakeholders of Western Christian. Evidence of the centrality of faith in education at the institution can be found in the conduction of bi-weekly school chapels, online faculty profiles, school publication articles, lesson plans that meaningfully incorporate faith development, professional development that analyzes integration of faith in curriculum, extra curricular faith integration, expression of faith-focused classrooms to potential consituents, and attitudinal data from skateholder surveys expressing agreement that WCHS’s faculty models Christ to the pupils they lead , among other things. We are blessed to daily assume that faith-foundational education is administered and accounted for by all cohorts as we guide young children.
Faculty Handbook: p. 5-6, Sections D and E; p. 15 Sections E and F; p. 17, Section R, p. 25, Section E; p. 28 Section Q
3.2.4: Communication: Accurate, regular, and direct communication between administration, staff, students, and parents is a high priority.
Rating: 4
We feel Western Christian does an exemplary job of communicating information within and outside of the school doors. Much of the administrative information related to our school is distributed via our school’s webpage. Here there are links to our monthly publication (The Western Witness), the school calendar of events including all extra-curricular happenings, daily announcements distributed to students school-wide, and the Parent-Student Handbook, which explains protocol for handling conflict (Matthew 18 principle) among many other policies and procedures important to the life of our school. In addition, we have a Western Christian Facebook page for community members to actively participate in communication about school happenings, and the school secretary sends out weekly “memos” to parents of all students via email , informing them of coming school events, prayer requests, and other general information regarding the academic week ahead. Teachers communicate academic matters regularly to students via Google Classroom pages, and work to encourage students personally through frequent emails, and/or formatted postal mail forms/postcards held in our faculty workroom which allow for a word of encouragement to be communicated to parents about their children’s behavior and/or work during the school day. Parent-teacher conferences also occur biannually (November and February) allowing for parents to communicate personally in real-time with teachers of their children. Formal communication among faculty occurs weekly through our professional development time. In preparation for this, each fall we are trained in team-building exercises and discuss with our PD teams how we would like our weekly meetings to proceed efficiently and positively by documenting group “norms”, guidelines of sorts of which we agree to abide by.
Standard 3.3: Learning for Leading: Teachers and administrators make professional development a priority in order to positively impact student achievement.
3.3.1: Applies curriculum content: Curriculum content is a priority of professional development. Staff participation in professional development results in improved delivery of the curriculum content.
Rating: 3
We feel Western Christian is currently implementing this indicator with success. Curriculum improvement and professional development have been a huge school-wide goal since the current administration took tenure in 2011. All staff members are required to attend weekly professional development sessions aimed at improving their curriculum content and delivery, in accordance with the Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) program. Staff members are also required to upload improved curriculum content after evaluation by peers to an assigned webpage for accountability. Instructional staff members also are in the process of curriculum mapping each course they lead via the digital CurriculumTrak platform. These maps require organization of curricular topics, alignment with subject standards, and justification of faith integration in curriculum. 2015 Parent survey results also indicate a high degree of parent confidence in the instructional leadership at Western Christian. Professional Development is also encouraged by administration and school board, indicated by teacher contract policy and frequent personal email correspondence. Despite these things, we can’t help but acknowledge that current required professional development focuses heavily on improving pedagogy, and not discipline-specific content. We also want to acknowledge that though opportunities for individual professional development abound and are very supported by administration and school board, it is completely up to the individual teacher to decide to utilize the opportunity to improve content-specific knowledge. We also feel there are several public schools ahead of us in their professional development initiatives. In this way, we can not support an exemplary rating.
3.3.2: Results-Driven: Professional development initiatives are evaluated based on implementation of the curriculum, changes in instruction, and impact on student achievement and faith development. Professional development is strategically aligned with the school’s improvement plan, mission, and vision.
Rating: 1
Though we feel our school has, in the recent past, made great strides in the development of professional development initiatives and adequately provides monetary means for individual teachers to enhance their practice, we do not feel they are evaluated for effectiveness or have impact on future professional development initiatives. Further, though we have a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan on file, we feel there is little school-wide knowledge of its goals for students, both in regard to academic performance and faith development, in order to align professional development to. Though our Curriculum Director has visited teacher classrooms three times in the past two years utilizing an assessment measure (Classroom Implementation Profile) as part of the Authentic Intellectual Work program (which currently serves as our primary form of professional development), we are unsure if the profile itself adequately or effectively measures student learning as an indicator, nor if adequate results analysis or results driven change accompanies it.
We feel that Western Christian deserves commendation in several areas addressed in Strand 3 of the self-study. This would include our desire to maintain a Christian worldview/faith-based institution evidenced by faculty being diligent in their desire to model faith-based lives, being willing to share faith development with each other and with their students, and by staff members taking opportunity to incorporate faith-based learning and experiences in their classrooms consistently. Faith-based living is a very important part of our heritage, and one that is not easily strayed from at Western Christian. We also feel we display an exemplary quality of communication between school leaders and parents. Several structures are in place, both by means of interpersonal communication and technological tools, in order to provide our constituency information about administrative tasks involving the school, student performance, and information regarding how we are to treat each other communally according to faith-based standards. In addition, though not to the exemplary standard identified by the self-study template, we believe WC shows adequate evidence of implementing ideals involving placement of qualified faculty, leadership’s knowledge of curriculum, integration and use of technology, promotion of an atmosphere of cohort collaboration and continuous improvement, and the desire to apply professional development learnings to individual classrooms.
Which indicators provide reasons for concern or further action and review?
Indicators: 3.1.2; 3.1.4; 3.1.5; 3.2.2; 3.3.2
We feel that Western Christian maintains a getting started or partially implemented level of achievement in areas regarding data driven decision making. Faculty is largely unaware of the current comprehensive school improvement plan including overarching academic and faith development goals for our students. Further, professional development initiatives are not based on evidence of student or faculty need, but instead are either school-driven or largely left up to individual teachers to accomplish and decipher how to measure their effectiveness on student learning and faith-development. This is especially true in the content area.
Are there patterns of concern?
As mentioned in Summary item 2, we feel data driven decision making is largely absent in our school. This includes data analysis, measured goal setting, measured student learning, measured student faith development, and evaluation of the aforementioned standards and professional development initiatives. In response, few leadership and learning decisions seem to be made based on data driven evidence in regard to school improvement.
Do we see potential areas for improvement that might become goals in our school improvement plan?
Evidence-based measurement of student faith development
Evidence-based measurement of regular content-specific professional development among faculty
Evidence-based, accurate measurement of the efficacy of professional development on student learning
Individualized professional goal setting and monitoring measures as a collaboration between administration and staff focusing on data-driven identified needs and ways to monitor effectiveness
Improved collaboration (participation and communication) among faculty and Board of Directors/administrative leadership in regard to decisions impacting curricula