Recently, Dr. Dobson posted his thoughts about the Nov. 3 election on his website. Given his significant following, and given the number of points he made with which I vehemently disagree, I thought it was worthwhile to post a response. 

I have attached a file that includes Dobson's entire letter in the lefthand column, and then my point by point response on the right. I hope that this will add to the thoughtfulness of the current debate among Christians especially. If you like it, please forward it to others. ;)

If I may…

I thought I would share a bit of the back story about AKCS that no one other than Kathy would know. Most people think that the school had its beginnings in 1987 or perhaps the fall of 1986 when we began to meet with parents to discuss the idea.

It actually had its roots much earlier, ten years earlier. In 1977, shortly after my first son was born, I came across a new curriculum: Alpha-Omega Publications. Despite its flaws in implementation, I haven’t seen a curriculum with a better articulated view of Christian education. They promoted a new way of thinking about it that was different from group taught or individualized instruction. They called it “personalized”, and as I read through the material, I had this sense that one day I would use it to start a school.

At the time, I was starting my first teaching job at the Saskatoon Region Community College, and although it certainly wasn’t a Christian institution, I was encouraged to experiment and apply some of my philosophy in the classroom. The fact that I had students functioning between grades five through eight in one classroom and the fact that new students were admitted every two weeks as others graduated meant that I had to have a curriculum that was student-centered. That is where I learned about mastery learning, and the idea of teaching students instead of teaching subjects. Those two concepts would become foundational to the philosophy of AKCS.

About five years later, we moved to Alberta and I became principal of Cremona Koinonia Christian School. This school, “as it so happened,” used the AOP curriculum, and I got to see first hand how this approach could work. However, now my skills were stretched even further as I had grades three through twelve in one classroom. Those were challenging years filled with growth, and filled with prayer, and with fasting. When I left, I weighed 167 pounds! I was probably in the best spiritual and physical shape of my life when I started teaching at Heritage in 1985. Within weeks of my starting that new position, God began speaking to me about starting a school in Airdrie, and two years later it became a reality.

There were struggles getting started and numerous struggles along the way over the twenty years that I was principal. However, I knew then and know now that this is a work of God. Therefore, I know that He will continue to maintain it through this present crisis.

This morning, in church, I felt a real sense of His hand upon AKCS and gave an audible chuckle at the thought of what He is about to do in the next 24 hours. It gave me joy to know that I was in the midst of what He is doing there once again by supporting this next effort. It will be exciting for all of us to see how He has provided $750,000 in a week, but it will be most exciting for those who are part of it. There is still time for you to pray and hear His call to participate. If He is calling you to step up, then do so now. Tomorrow will be fun for all of us who care about AKCS, but the excitement of those in the stands is never equal to the satisfaction of those on the field.

Who Are the Secondary Audiences?

If prospective parents are the primary audience (See Pt. 1), then everyone else is part of the secondary audience. This includes current parents, students, teachers, board members, and the general public. However, the needs of these groups are quite different, and so it is actually wise to think in terms of both a secondary and tertiary audience.

The tertiary audience is primarily comprised of the general public, many of whom could be prospective parents, so their needs have already been addressed. What about teachers, students, and board members? Teachers are the most informed people connected to the school. As regular employees, if there is anything that they need from a website, they will find it because they need it to do their jobs, and they will remember where it is because they will use it frequently. Students are also pretty well-informed about the school, so their need for information is minimal, and frankly, they aren’t going to spend much time on the school’s web site! (Deal with it!) Board members typically focus on board business and are connected to the administration through minutes, reports, and emails. Their need for the website is minimal.

Who does that leave? Current parents. This group needs information about the school, but they have less opportunity to get it than any of the other groups (except the general public). Also, they don't use the site regularly, so they will tend to forget how to find things if they aren't easily accessible. Therefore, schools should view current parents as the next most important audience for their website after prospective parents. What does this audience need?

Primarily, parents go to the website in search of specific information. They are already committed to the mission and values, so they will quickly pass over the home page material designed for prospective parents, but they need to be able find their information quickly and easily. Parents are typically looking for one of the following:

1.     Dates, times, and venues for specific events.
2.     Financial information
3.     Forms
4.     Policies (Primarily dress code, discipline, and homework)

Every website should have a link to a Calendar page from the Home Page. Remember, the Calendar is NOT important to prospective parents and therefore the Home Page should not include the actual events. Financial Information is a concern for both prospective and current families, so it is good to have a direct link from the Home Page for this as well.

Forms and Policies are of interest to both current parents and teachers, and so these should be easily accessible from the Home Page. One way to do this is to provide links for each of these items. Another way is to provide links to a page for Current Parents and a page for Teachers. This latter approach works well in that these two groups know that they can get all their information simply by going to one page which has been designed with them in mind. If this approach is used, then it is wise to include links to financial information on the Current Parents page even though there may be one from the Home Page. It makes it easier if parents know that they can get all the information they need from one page.  (The downside is that if there are changes, then updates will have to be made in two places.) The Teacher Page can also be password protected if it is used for confidential information.

This is part one of a series on developing a great school website.

These days, the website has superseded virtually all other forms of advertising. It is the first place that a parent will go when considering where to enroll their child, and that first decision is not undertaken lightly; nor will it be changed over the ensuing twelve years without good reason. It is therefore critical for Christian schools to have a website that presents their ministry to a prospective family as accurately and winsomely as possible.

When designing a website, it is important to think through some very fundamental questions:

1.     Who is the primary audience?
2.     Who are the secondary audiences?
3.     What is important for each audience?
4.     What does a website do best compared to other forms of communication?

Who is the Primary Audience?
Many people mention parents or teachers, and some will suggest students or the public in general. Any of these could be true for public schools, but they are all wrong as far as Christian schools go. It is important to remember some of the many distinctions between a public school and a Christian school. Too many Christian schools pattern their websites after what they see in other schools without thinking carefully about these differences.

First, most public schools are neighborhood schools. That is, families who live in the neighborhood send their children to that school simply because of geographic proximity. Even where choice options exist, 90% of families do not avail themselves of the option. Simply put, they chose their school when they chose their home. Their enrollment will rise or fall primarily in line with the economic fortunes of their neighborhood.

Christian schools are different. They are all schools of choice. While time and distance are factors in determining which Christian school a family might choose, the decision to attend a Christian school is primarily a function of faith and funds, not location. Enrollment rises and falls in part on the economy, but primarily it is a function of the ministry being provided to the children.

Principle #1: The primary function of a Christian school website is to communicate with prospective families.

Parents, teachers, and students are already involved in and committed to the school. They understand the mission and values, and they will be willing to drill down a couple of clicks to get information on the latest school events. Prospective families don’t know what the school is all about and are certainly less inclined to click through numerous menus to find out. This leads directly to the second principle:

Principle #2: Put first things first.

To do this, a school must answer the question, “What is of central importance to us?” If that answer includes things like an excellent program of character development and academic training, then those things should be front and center on the home page. I have visited many a Christian school website where, other than the name, there was nothing that clearly communicated that the school was filled with people who were sold out and on fire for Jesus Christ. The reason every Christian school exists is to expand the kingdom of God by educating the next generation of children. If the mission of the school is its driving and burning passion, and if the mission statement clearly communicates this, then the mission statement should prominently appear on the home page.

Although I am not presently teaching at the K-12 level, I frequently teach teachers who do. I therefore keep up with current research on all things educational. Recently, I read an article in Educational Leadership (Allington & Gabriel, March 2012) that discussed key elements of reading instruction. I thought I would summarize and comment on their key ideas here:

1. Every child reads something he or she chooses every day. The authors note that the two most important factors in developing good readers is student access to a wide variety of books and having choice in what they read. It is a truism that if you wish to develop good readers, you must ensure that students are reading. Allowing some choice adds enjoyment to the activity and leads to more reading.
2. Every child reads accurately. Accuracy implies appropriate strategies for word recognition, decoding, and word analysis skills. Students should read books with at least 90% accuracy, and some studies put that number as high as 98%. Accuracy in reading leads to improved comprehension and vocabulary development. Students who are forced to struggle with text well above their comfortable reading level will never rise up to that level. The fastest way to improve their facility with difficult text is to develop their ability with easier text. Not providing this appropriate level of reading instruction is comparable to teaching long division to students who have not mastered multiplication or subtraction.
   
3.  Every child reads something he or she understands. Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, but it is often the case that students who can read fluently (that is, they can read and understand the words) do not read with comprehension (that is, they do not understand the meaning of the sentence or paragraph. This is, of course, a much more complex task because it assumes an understanding of word usage, cultural traditions, figures of speech, and context. Remedial reading instruction typically provides too much time to isolated skill development at the expense of genuine comprehension development.
   
4. Every child writes about something personally meaningful. Teachers would do well to dispense with fill in the blank worksheets and require students to write daily in their personal journals. Student journals are an effective way to personalize instruction and can be used to develop vocabulary and comprehension as well as spelling, grammar, and handwriting. When students "compose" writing instead of just responding to isolated questions, they are forced to consider audience, genre, setting, plot, characters, and the like. It is a much more sophisticated task, and it develops fluency with language that is directly related to reading comprehension.
5. Every child talks with peers about reading and writing. Peer discussions should focus not merely on retelling or summarizing but on analysis, comparison and contrast, motivation, alternative story lines and the like. Discussing writing is little used, but if implemented strategically with specific guidance about the kinds of conversations that students should have about their writing, it leads to improved fluency in language and reading.
   
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud. It is sad for all that few teachers above the primary grades continue this practice, but everyone loves a good story. Reading aloud creates interest in reading and develops language fluency. Teachers can model appropriate pacing, pronunciation, inflection, and voice to enhance the experience and make the stories come alive. By adding appropriate commentary (don't overdo it!) they can show students how different characters "think" and how the setting plays into the development of the story line. Teachers can ask questions about what might happen next or about how one character might respond to a situation. All of this develops an understanding of language that makes reading more enjoyable and understandable.

I was impressed with the content of this article because it has support from both research and experience, and because the strategies are imminently practical. Teachers who wish to improve reading instruction can implement these ideas today!