Thoughts from a Christian School Principal

Do We Really Need Two Months Off? The last few weeks of school are often unproductive for most classrooms, which has led many school to research if summer break is the best option. In  The History of School and Summer Vacation , James Pedersen discusses the contrast between U.S. schools and other higher achieving schools internationally; one noted difference is the length of the school year as many international schools have school year round ( Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education ). Pedersen explains that historically many schools throughout the United States have adjusted the typical 9- or 10-month school year and experimented with year-round school to increase student achievement and reduce summer learning loss. Throughout these studies there has been some evidence of year-round schools being beneficial for elementary and middle school students, but no significant improvement was seen at the high school level. So with that research, wouldn't educators want to signific...

Mission Drives Decisions Ultimately every organization begins with a dream that is developed into a mission. This mission is the launching point for every decision that will be made for the future of that organization. To boil it down to the most basic, the mission determines the budget. When it comes to money organizations may have very different goals. In the for-profit world the goal is to make as much money as possible to better the business and/or people. In the nonprofit world the goal is to serve a group of people the best way possible with the resources an organization has. Obviously, there is more to it than that, but those simplistic definitions help frame the way an organization looks at a budget. In the world of education, these oversimplified definitions become a little less simple. Whether public or private, schools typically take an approach toward money and budgeting like that of a nonprofit. But budgeting decisions can become complicated for a school because depending ...