The Impact of Adventist Education on

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The Impact of Adventist Education on Academic
Performance In partnership with North
American Division, Office of Education
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Presented By
Elissa Kido, Ed.D., Project Director Robert J.
Cruise, Ph.D., Research Director
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Is there an AdventistAdvantage?
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HARMONIOUSDEVELOPMENT
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ADVENTISTPHENOMENON
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.
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RESEARCHQUESTION
What impact does Adventist Education have on the
academic performance of its students?
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MENTALCOMPONENT

• 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

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Studying the Mental Component through
ACADEMICPERFORMANCE

• Parents question the academic effectiveness of
  Adventist Education because they lack empirical
  data demonstrating that Adventist Education
  successfully promotes
• students intellectual development.

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Researching the Academic Effectiveness of
ADVENTISTEDUCATION
It will produce one of two outcomes, either of
which will be beneficial to Adventist education
and ultimately to the church.
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TwoPOSSIBLEOUTCOMES

• Validate the success of Adventist Education in
  terms of students measurable academic
  performance
• and/or
• show areas that need improvement.

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Benefits of
COGNITIVEGENESIS

• Provide information to evaluate Adventist
  Educations strengths and weaknesses
• Reliable data showing how Adventist Education
  (AE) compares to other private and public
  education
• Correlation with Journey to Excellence (J2E)

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Benefits of
COGNITIVEGENESIS

• Target instructional areas needing improvement
• Correlation and integration with Valuegenesis
• Improved ability to market the positives of AE
  based on empirical data

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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

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COGNITIVEGENESIS
Supports J2E

• By assessing academic performance,
  CognitiveGenesis supports one of the 10 PP
• of J2E - student assessment.

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How will this study be different?

• Current (Up-to-date)
• Comprehensive (Population)
• Control variables to remove bias (Explore
  Causality)

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Some CONTROLVARIABLES

• Prior Achievement
• Gender
• Race
• Years in Adventist Schools
• English as first language
• Socio-Economic Status (SES)
• Cognitive Ability potential abilities that can
  be developed

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?
?
FREQUENTLYASKED
Questions
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Who are the Players in this research

• All nine NAD Unions
• All Conferences (Teachers, Parents, Students)
• NAD Office of Education

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How long will this take?

• 2006-07 First year of data collection
• 2007-08 Second year of data collection
• 2008-09 Third year of data collection
• 2009-10 Final Report Phase

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Variables associated with achievement

• Prior achievement
• Minority status
• Mothers educational level
• Fathers 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

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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

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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

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Does CognitiveGenesis have an Advisory Committee?
Yes . . .

• 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

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ADVISORYCOMMITEE

• 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 Childrens
  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

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