adventist education · contributing to academic success in adventist education by elissa kido 20...

ADVENTIST EDUCATIONWebsi te : h t tp : / / jae .advent is t .o rg Apr i l - June 2017T H E J O U R N A L O F

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E D U C A T I N G F O R

The Great

Commission

and the

Educational

Imperative

The Divine

Blueprint for

Education

Cognitive and

Non-cognitive

Factors

Contributing

to Academic

Success

Increasing

Student Access

in K-12 Education

Strengthening

Adventist

Education in

the North

American Division

S P E C I A L I S S U E

D U C A T I N G F O R

The Great

Commission

The Divine

Blueprint for

Cognitive and

Non-cognitive

Increasing

Student Access

Strengthening

Adventist

E T E R N I T Y

C O N T E N T S

3 Editorial: Educating for Eternity

By Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy

4 The Great Commission and the Educational Imperative

By George R. Knight

11 The State of Adventist Education Report

By Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy

16 CognitiveGenesis: Cognitive and Non-cognitive Factors

Contributing to Academic Success in Adventist Education

By Elissa Kido

20 The Divine Blueprint for Education—A Devotional

By George W. Reid

22 Increasing Student Access in K to 12 Education: A Challenge

for Adventist Schools in the 21st Century

By David R. Williams

32 Strengthening Adventist Education in the North American

Division—Recommendations for Educators

By Jerome Thayer, Anneris Coria-Navia, Aimee Leukert, Elissa Kido, and Larry Blackmer

39 Joining and Remaining: A Look at the Data on the Role of

Adventist Education

By John Wesley Taylor V

Photo and art credits: Cover and issue design, Harry Knox;p. 15, Rick McEdwards, MENA, Jerry Chase, GIS, and DavidTrim, ASTR.

The Journal of Adventist Education®, Adventist®, and Seventh-day Adventist® are the registered trademarks of the GeneralConference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists®.

The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l-June 2017 http:// jae.adventist.org

A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 7 • VO LU M E 7 9 , N O. 3

THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION publishes articles con-cerned with a variety of topics pertinent to Adventist education.Opinions expressed by our writers do not necessarily representthe views of the staff or the official position of the Department ofEducation of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION (ISSN 0021-8480[print], ISSN 2572-7753 [online]) is published quarterly by theDepartment of Education, General Conference of Seventh-day Ad-ventists, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600, U.S.A. TELEPHONE: (301) 680-5071; FAX: (301) 622-9627;E-mail: [email protected]. Address all editorial and ad-vertising correspondence to the Editor. Copyright 2017 GeneralConference of SDA.

ADVENTIST EDUCATIONEDITOR

Faith-Ann McGarrell

EDITOR EMERITUSBeverly J. Robinson-Rumble

ASSOCIATE EDITOR(INTERNATIONAL EDITION)

Julián Melgosa

SENIOR CONSULTANTSJohn Wesley Taylor V

Lisa M. Beardsley-HardyGeoffrey G. Mwbana, Ella Smith Simmons

CONSULTANTSGENERAL CONFERENCE

John M. Fowler, Mike Mile Lekic,Hudson E. Kibuuka

EAST-CENTRAL AFRICAAndrew Mutero

EURO-AFRICAMarius Munteanu

EURO-ASIAVladimir Tkachuk

INTER-AMERICAGamaliel Florez

MIDDLE EAST-NORTH AFRICALeif Hongisto

NORTH AMERICALarry Blackmer

NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFICRichard A. Saubin

SOUTH AMERICAEdgard Luz

SOUTH PACIFICCarol Tasker

SOUTHERN AFRICA-INDIAN OCEANEllMozecie Kadyakapitando

SOUTHERN ASIAPrabhu Das R N

SOUTHERN ASIA-PACIFICLawrence L. Domingo

TRANS-EUROPEANDaniel Duda

WEST-CENTRAL AFRICAJuvenal Balisasa

COPY EDITORRandy Hall

ART DIRECTION/GRAPHIC DESIGNHarry Knox

ADVISORY BOARDJohn Wesley Taylor V (Chair), Sharon Aka, Ophelia Barizo, LisaM. Beardsley-Hardy, Larry Blackmer, Jeanette Bryson, ErlineBurgess, George Egwakhe, Keith Hallam, Hudson E. Kibuuka,Brian Kittleson, Linda Mei Lin Koh, Gary Krause, Davenia J.Lea, Mike Mile Lekic, Julián M. Melgosa, James Mbyirukira,

Carole Smith, Charles H. Tidwell, Jr., David Trim

The Journal of

2

S P E C I A L I S S U E

http:// jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l-June 2017

E D I T O R I A L

http:// jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventi st Education • Apri l-June 2017 3

Education is front and center! Itis the focus of a year-long se-ries of conferences and churchpublications globally. Educa-

tion was the cover story for the Febru-ary 2017 issue of Adventist World.*This issue of THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST

EDUCATION shares a collection of talksand presentations made during the2016 General Conference LeadershipEducation and Development (LEAD)Conference, the North American Divi-sion Year-end Meetings, and the 2017Pan-African LEAD Conference. Eachone presented stakeholders with a callto action to ensure that all God’schildren are taught of the Lord(Isaiah 54:13, KJV).

The 2016 LEAD Con-ference took place Octo-ber 5-7, 2016, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The theme“Educating for Eternity” underscored daily devotionals,plenary and invited addresses, panels, and sessionsthat outlined plans for each region of the world. Topicsranged from Adventist education’s educational imper-ative (George R. Knight), the divine plan for education(George W. Reid), and cognitive and non-cognitive fac-tors contributing to academic success (Elissa E. Kido),to the state of Adventist education (Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy), and challenges to increasing access (David R.Williams). Within this special issue are the adaptedtranscripts of the plenary and invited presentationsshared during the conference.

The LEAD Conference “Educating for Eternity” willbe replicated throughout various regions of the worldchurch during 2017 and 2018. The first of these plannedconferences, the 2017 Pan-African LEAD Conference,took place in Kigali, Rwanda, February 15-19, 2017.There was a lot of energy in these meetings as educa-tors and church leaders from every part of Africa for-mulated educational plans to incorporate local, na-tional, and regional priorities and objectives. They

made recommendations on how toachieve higher visibility for educationglobally and how to coordinate actionthrough a united, empowered network.Educators especially appreciated thediscussion across different regions andthe participation of division officersand treasurers. Presentation topicsaddres sed current trends, steps to over-coming chal lenges, and the influentialrole of Adventist education in the livesof those who become and remain Sev-enth-day Adventists (John Wesley Tay-lor V).

Adventist education in the NorthAmerican Division (NAD) is addres sed

within this issue (Jerome Thayer,Anneris Coria-Navia, Aimee

Leukert, Elissa E. Kido,and Larry Blackmer).

This article reports the findings and recommendationsfrom two study groups—The North Am eri can DivisionEducation Taskforce (NADET) and the StrengtheningAdventist Education (SAE) research project. Officiallyshared with attendees at the 2016 NAD Year-end Meet-ings in October, this report is made available throughTHE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION. A concurrent arti-cle, with specific recommendations for pastors who arethe gatekeepers for church schools, will be available inthe June 2017 issue of MINISTRY.

Work continues through the three remaining re-gional summits in Slovenia (May 30-June 4, 2017), theDominican Republic (August 7-11, 2017), and Thailand(January 29-February 3, 2018). But the real work oc-curs day in and day out in thousands of classroomsaround the world where committed men and womenfaithfully and creatively carry out the teaching ministryof Christ. This issue is especially for them.

Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy

EDUCATING FORETERNITY

*Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, “Adventist Education: RediscoveringOur Mission,” Adventist World (February, 2017): 24-27.

Christianity is primarily amission movement. Andthe Seventh-day AdventistChurch exists for only one

reason: Mission, especially end-timemission as Planet Earth moves to-ward the long-awaited eschaton.When Adventism loses its mission-to-the-world orientation, it has lost itsonly reason for existence.

The Great Commissions

When we think of mission, Mat -thew 28:18 to 20 generally comes tomind: “‘All authority in heaven andon earth has been given to me. Gotherefore and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the nameof the Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Spirit, teaching them to ob-serve all that I have commanded you;and lo, I am with you always, to theclose of the age’” (RSV).1

But the Great Commission ofMatthew 28 is only one of at leastfive mission commissions in the NewTestament.

• A second is in Acts 1:8: “‘Butyou shall receive power when theHoly Spirit has come upon you; andyou shall be my witnesses in Jeru -salem and in all Judea and Samariaand to the end of the earth.’”

• A third mission imperative is im-plied in Matthew 24:14: “‘And thisgospel of the kingdom will bepreached throughout the wholeworld, as a testimony to all nations;and then the end will come.’”

• The fourth commission is foundfollowing the bitter experience of theopening of the little book of Daniel inRevelation 10:11: “Thou must prophesyagain before many peoples, and na-tions, and tongues, and kings” (KJV).

• And the fifth is found in Revela-tion 14:6: “Then I saw another angel

flying in midheaven, with an eternalgospel to proclaim to those whodwell on earth, to every nation andtribe and tongue and people.”

There are several interesting thingsabout these five gospel commissions.The first is that they imply educationand teaching, a fact made explicit inMatthew 28 with its command to“teach” all things that Christ hadcommanded.

A second thing to note is that thefirst three of those commissions havebeen undertaken by the ChristianChurch in general. But the last two inRevelation 10 and 14 have beensounded only by the Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church, which has put thepreaching of the end-time apocalypticpackage and the three angels’ mes-sages at the very center of its identity.In other words, Adventism has neverviewed itself as merely another de-

B Y G E O R G E R . K N I G H T

4 The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l-June 2017 http:// jae.adventist.org

THE GREAT COMMISSIONand the Educational Imperative

nomination, but as a called-out move-ment of prophecy with a unique mes-sage to teach to the ends of the earth.That understanding has pushed Ad-ventism around the world, making itthe most widespread unified Protestantbody in the history of Christianity.

The Adventist Journey From Anti-mission

and Anti-education

Modern Adventism views (orshould view) its massive educationalsystem as a major arm of its missio-logical endeavor. But that wasn’t al-ways so. In fact, early Adventists wereboth anti-mission and anti-education.

The earliest Seventh-day Advent -ists firmly believed that they had nomission to the world. As they saw it,the door of probation had been shutin October 1844, and future missionwas impossible. Their only task wasto comfort one another and seek towake up backslidden Millerites untilthe soon-expected end came.2

Only very gradually did they giveup their Shut Door to mission theol-ogy in the early 1850s. Slowly, veryslowly, they began to understand thatthey had a wider mission. But even aslate as 1859, Uriah Smith put forth theidea that since the United States wascomposed of people from around theworld, the message of the three angelsto every nation could be accomplishedif one person from each country asfound in the United States heard themessage. Thus, he wrote, it needed tobe preached to one German, one Aus-tralian, one African, and so on.3 Even20 years after the Millerite disappoint-ment, the idea of world mission hadnot registered in the minds of ourearly leaders to any significant degree.

The same can be said about Ad-ventist education. Most believed thatthere was no need for it. It was thatmentality that led W. H. Ball in 1862to ask if it is “right and consistent forus who believe with all our hearts inthe immediate coming of the Lord, toseek to give our children an educa-tion?”4 Note that that question wasbeing asked 18 years after the Mil-lerite disappointment. The anti-edu-

cation “bug” had firmly implanted it-self in the Adventist mentality.

James White’s reply is of interest,since he argued in answering Ballthat “the fact that Christ is very sooncoming is no reason why the mindshould not be improved. A well-disci-plined and informed mind can bestreceive and cherish the sublimetruths of the Second Advent.” Hiswife was of the same opinion.5

Early Adventists were both anti-mission and anti-education. Thatwould change in the early 1870s,nearly 30 years after the Millerite dis-appointment. By 1872, the church wasnot only growing, but also neededministers. Those who had come intothe church from Millerism were aging,and the church needed to think seri-ously about training future leadership.Beyond that, by the early 1870s thechurch was earnestly considering itsresponsibility toward foreign missions.

It was with those concerns in mindthat the General Conference estab-lished the School Committee. The com-mittee reported in May 1872 that “thereare persons all through our ranks, whohave come to years of maturity, whohave convictions that they ought to dosomething to directly forward the glori-ous and important cause in which weare engaged. To this end, they want im-mediately to acquaint themselves thor-oughly with the teaching of the Biblein reference to those great truths whichpertain to this time.” At the same time,the committee noted, those peopleneeded instruction in general knowl-edge so that they would be more ef -fective in speaking and writing. As aresult, the denomination was establish-ing a school in Battle Creek so thatchurch members could be “prepared towield those weapons for the advance-ment of the cause.”6

There was no doubt in the mindsof the denomination’s leadership in1872 that the purpose of the schoolthey were establishing was to trainpeople to spread the gospel. EllenWhite, writing her first major state-

ment on education (“Proper Educa-tion”) for the new school, was in fullharmony with that aim. “We need aschool,” she penned, “where thosewho are just entering the ministrymay be taught at least the commonbranches of education, and wherethey may also learn more perfectly thetruths of God’s word for this time.”7

Meanwhile, by 1873 James Whiteand other denominational leaders wererealizing that the 1872 school was in-adequate and that “there is no branchof this work that suffers so much at thepresent time as the proper education ofmen and women to proclaim the thirdangel’s message.” He noted that thechurch needed to prepare “young menand women . . . to become printers,editors, and teachers.” In addition,they needed to be taught the “livinglanguages” (rather than the dead clas-sical languages), since we have “a mes-sage . . . that is to be proclaimed be-fore many nations and tongues andpeoples.”8

By early 1873, the recognition thatthe denomination needed to sendmen and women overseas also wasbecoming intense. Thus, in April1873, John Nevins Andrews could ed-itorialize in the Review and Heraldthat “the calls that come from everyquarter, from men speaking other lan-guages, must be answered by us. Wecannot do this in our present circum-stances. But we can do it if the Lordbless our effort in the establishmentof our proposed school. We have de-layed this effort too long.”9

The year 1874 witnessed a majorshift in Adventist history. In that yearthe denomination sent its first officialmissionary—J. N. Andrews—to aforeign land and opened its first col-legiate institution—Battle CreekCollege. Those two events must notbe seen as two separate events, butas one. After all, the foremost pur-pose of the denomination’s early edu-cational enterprise was to train menand women to spread the three an-gels’ messages.

The year 1874 with both its send-ing of Adventism’s first foreign mis-

5http:// jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l-June 2017

sionary and the opening of its firstcollege indicate the close tie betweenmission and education. The strengthof that unity would be reinforced inthe 1890s. That decade would wit-ness two parallel explosions in thedynamics of the development of Ad-ventism. The first related to missionand the second to education. And, asin the 1870s, the two moved together.

It is important to realize from theoutset that the mission enthusiasm ofthe 1890s was not restricted to the Ad-ventist Church. Sydney Ahlstrom, aleading student of American churchhistory, has noted that “the closing twodecades of the nineteenth century wit-nessed the climactic phase of the for-eign missions movement in AmericanProtestantism.”10 One of the main stim-ulants of that interest was the StudentVolunteer Movement for Foreign Mis-sions, which grew out of an appeal byDwight L. Moody in 1886 for collegestudents to devote their lives to mis-sion service. One hundred took theirstand. That number increased to 2,200in 1887, and within a few years, manythousands of evangelical Protestantyoung people had pledged their lives tomission service. Their Matthew 24:14-inspired motto was: “The evangeliza-tion of the world in this generation.”11

The foremost educational result ofthat mission thrust was the rise of themissionary college and Bible institutemovement among American evangeli-cals. The aim of those schools was toprepare large numbers of workers in ashort period of time to staff missionoutposts both at home and overseas.The schools focused on providing prac-tical training and Bible knowledge.12

Events within the Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church paralleled both the mis-sion explosion of evangelical Protes-tantism and its educational extension.Signs of new life in Adventist missionsbegan to surface in the mid-1880s. In1886, Historical Sketches of the ForeignMissions of the Seventh-day Advent -ists—a book that did much to promotea missionary spirit among Adventists—

was published in Basel, Switzerland.Historical Sketches was the first bookon foreign missions published by thedenomination. It was followed in 1889by S. N. Has kell’s two-year itineraryaround the world, during which he sur-veyed the possibilities for opening mis-sion work in various places. By 1890,the stage was set for what RichardSchwarz and Floyd Greenleaf havecalled the era of “Mission Advance” inthe Adventist denomination.13

In 1880, Adventists had only eightmissions with five evangelistic work-ers outside the United States. In 1890,they still had only eight missions,even though the number of workershad risen to 56. By 1900, however,the number of missions had risen to42, and the number of evangelisticmission workers to 481. The lastdecade of the 19th century initiatedan accelerating trend that remainedunabated throughout the first 30years of the 20th century. By 1930,the church was supporting 8,479evangelistic workers outside of NorthAmerica, representing 270 missions.14

That outreach had transformed thevery nature of Adventism.

Note that in the 1890s the statisti-cal curve related to Advent missionshoots straight up. At last the denom-ination realized that it truly had amessage of warning that must go toall the world—to Asia, India, Africa,the nations of South America, andthe Islands of the sea—rather thanmerely the Christianized nations ofEurope, Australia, and South Africa.

Mission outreach had a direct ef-fect on the expansion of Seventh-dayAdventist schooling. The denomina-tion looked to its schools to supplythe ever-increasing number of work-ers for its rapidly expanding world-wide work, just as the evangelicalProtestant expansion of missions hadstimulated the Bible institute andmissionary college movement to trainlarge numbers of missionaries.

John Harvey Kellogg, who appearsto have been the Adventist in closesttouch with evangelical educational


T he spread of Adventist

education during the

1890s was directly re-

lated to the spiritual revival in the

denomination’s theology in 1888

and to an enlarged vision of the

church’s mission to the world.

ideas,15 was probably the first to de-velop a missionary school within thedenomination. His Sanitarium TrainingSchool for Medical Missionaries wasestablished in 1889, followed by theAmerican Medical Missionary Collegein 1895. Meanwhile, the AvondaleSchool for Christian Workers in Aus-tralia (1894), the training schools stim-ulated by Edward Alexander Suther-land and Percy T. Magan, and theAdventist missionary colleges, such asStanborough Park Missionary College(England), Washington MissionaryCollege, Emmanuel Missionary Col-lege, and Southern Missionary College(U.S.A.), soon were dotting the Ad-ventist landscape.

Mission expansion affected Advent-ist educational expansion in at leasttwo identifiable ways. First, it greatlyincreased the number of schools andstudents in North America, since mostof the denomination’s early workerscame from the United States. Second,Adventists began to establish schoolsaround the world so that workerscould be trained in their home fields.By 1900, therefore, not only had Ad-ventist educational institutions greatlyexpanded in number, but the systemalso had been internationalized.

The magnitude of that wholeprocess was compounded by unprece-dented institutional development dur-ing the 1890s. Besides churches andschools, Adventists developed hospi-tals, publishing houses, and eventually(to a lesser extent) health-food facto-ries in the United States and overseas.Thus the schools were called upon tosupply ever-larger numbers of institu-tional employees, in addition to evan-gelistic workers.

One result of the Adventist missionexplosion in the 1890s was a similardynamic development in Adventist edu -cation. As with missions, during the1890s the educational expansion graphgoes straight up. In 1880, the denomi-nation had two schools. By 1890, thenumber had increased to 16. But by1900, it was 245. And, as with mis-sion, that dynamic expansion wouldcontinue, with more than 600 schools

in 1910 and more than 2,000 by 1930.16

We need to recognize that, from itsinception, 19th-century Adventist edu -cation had been inextricably con-nected with foreign missions. Thusthe spread of Adventist education dur-ing the 1890s was directly related tothe spiritual revival in the denomina-tion’s theology in 1888 and to an en-larged vision of the church’s missionto the world. It is important to notethat those were positive motivators.Negative motivators such as the needto escape from incipient Darwinismand religious skepticism played aminor role. Adventist education at itsbest stands for something of great im-portance, rather than representing anescape from the non-Christian world.

With the lessons of the 1870s and1890s in mind, we can conclude thatAdventist education and Adventist mis-sion are two essential parts of the samewhole. Adventist education is a dy-namic force in a world in need of re-demptive healing. Adventism’s educa-tional system is obviously dependent onchurch support. But the denomination’smission to the world is dependent uponits ability to train the next generationin the ideals and mission goals of Ad-ventism. Without its educational sys-tem, Adventism would flounder andlose its way as the older leaders passon. The plain fact is that success inworld mission and success in Adventisteducation go hand in hand. Both areessential. They stand or fall together.

The Crucial Role of Education in Mission

But the unity of mission and edu -cation is not unique to Adventism.George S. Counts helps us see that rela-tionship in its larger historical context.Although he was a thoroughgoing sec-ularist, Counts understood the intimaterelationship between the goals of anysociety and education shaped to meetthose goals. Nearly a century ago, hewrote that “to shape educational policyis to guard the path that leads from thepresent to the future. . . . Throughoutthe centuries since special educational

agencies were first established, thestrategic position of the school hasbeen appreciated by kings, emperors,and popes, by rebels, reformers, andprophets. Hence, among those oppos-ing forces found in all complex soci-eties, a struggle for the control of theschool is always evident. Every groupor sect endeavors to pass on to its ownchildren and to the children of othersthat culture which it happens to es-teem; and every privileged class seeksto perpetuate its favored position in so-ciety by means of education.”17

In another connection, Counts ob-served, in discussing the challenge ofSoviet education in the early 1930s, thatthe failure of revolutions has been arecord of the failure to bring educationinto the service of the revolutionarycause. Revolutionary bodies will possessno more permanence, he pointed out,than the small bands of idealists whoconceived them if the children of thenext generation cannot be persuaded tocarry the revolution to its logical conclu-sion. As a result, the history of the Sovi-ets, Germany’s Nazi Party, and othersuccessful revolutionary movements hasdemonstrated that one of the first meas-ures taken by revolutionary govern-ments is to place all educational agen-cies under the direct control of the stateand to give the schools a central handin building the new society.18

The same might also be said of theheirs of democratic revolutions or evenof religious movements. Thus, we findthe rise of vernacular education as anintegral part of the Lutheran Reforma-tion. After all, individuals needed to beable to read the all-important Bible forthemselves if they were to maintaintheir faith independent of an influen-tial priesthood. In a similar vein, oneof the first moves of the Puritans aftertheir arrival in the wilderness of NorthAmerica was to found Harvard Collegein 1636. That was followed in 1642and 1647 by legislation pointing to-ward compulsory education at the ele-mentary and secondary levels. The Pu-ritans realized that their mission wasdoomed without both civil and reli-gious leaders educated in biblical prin-


ciples and a populace that could readtheir Bibles.

Late 19th-century Adventists wereinspired by similar insights. Thus, itwas no accident that Ellen Whiteframed her educational thoughtwithin the context of the great contro-versy struggle between Christ andSatan and their respective principles.The greatest of all the world’s culturewars is for the minds and hearts ofthe coming generations. And the epi-center of the struggle is for the con-trol of schooling; control of the insti-tution that has so much to do withshaping minds and hearts, goals andaspirations, values and direction.

And at this point, I should notethat biblical Christianity is in a veryreal sense a revolutionary movement.But, as such, it is not out to controlthe kingdoms of this world but to putan end to the current confusion andusher in the fullness of Christ’s king-dom at His second advent. In thatsense, Christianity in general and Ad-ventism in particular are revolution-ary forces of the first order.19 Thus theimportance of a clear understandingof the goals of Adventist education.

I trust that you have grasped thepoint: Education stands at the verycenter of the Great Controversy. Edu-cation stands at the center of thestruggle for the future of all missiolog-ical movements—whether they besecular ideologies or religious. Hitlerunderstood that fact, as did Stalin, thefounders of American democracy, andRoman Catholicism. I trust that we asAdventists can realize that Adventisteducation is not a mere sideshow inthe denomination’s mission, just an-other institutional entity that has tosomehow be given a hesitant nod ofapproval and haltingly funded as thechurch goes about its important workof winning souls. No!! Education iscentral to Adventism’s mission to theworld. It is not an option. It is essen-tial, the most essential aspect of thechurch’s mission as it moves out ofthe past and into the future and to-

ward the Second Advent. To repeat:Education stands at the very center ofthe Great Controversy.

That thought naturally leads to theessentials of that education. But beforewe go there, we need to see the rest ofthe Adventist educational mission. Wehave examined one aspect at somelength; namely, the education of futureleaders. But there is a second aspect ofAdventist education just as crucial.Namely, its evangelistic impact on thedeveloping youth of the church whowe hope will give their hearts andminds to Christ and devoted ministryin both the professional sense and asdedicated laypeople.

As the great controversy betweenChrist and Satan plays out in the mac -rocosmic world order, there is at thesame time a microcosmic struggle thatis continually taking place in the battlefor the allegiance of the hearts andminds of individual children and youth.

Ellen White caught the importanceof that truth when she wrote that “by amisconception of the true nature andobject of education, many have beenled into serious and even fatal errors.”And here she meant fatal not merelyfor this earth but also eternally fatal.She went on to note that “such a mis-take is made when the regulation ofthe heart or the establishment of prin-ciples is neglected in the effort to se-cure intellectual culture, or when eter-nal interests are overlooked in theeager desire for temporal advantage.”20

Again, she wrote, “the necessity ofestablishing Christian schools is urgedupon me very strongly. In the schoolsof today, many things are taught thatare a hindrance rather than a blessing.Schools are needed where the word ofGod is made the basis of education.Satan is the great enemy of God, andit is his constant aim to lead soulsaway from their allegiance to the Kingof heaven. He would have minds sotrained that men and women willexert their influence on the side oferror and moral corruption instead ofusing their talents in the service ofGod. His object is effectually gained,when, by perverting their ideas of edu-

cation, he succeeds in enlisting par-ents and teachers on his side; for awrong education often starts the mindon the road to infidelity.”21

It is no accident that Adventistshave developed more than 8,000 ele-mentary and secondary schoolsaround the world. To the contrary,urged by Ellen White, they came tosee Adventist education for every Ad-ventist child as an essential in the de-nomination’s mission.

It is significant that the develop-ment of Adventist elementary educa-tion finds its major turning point inthe mission excitement and dynamicsof the 1890s during Ellen White’s ownforeign mission service in Australia.While there, she noted that parentswere compelled by law to send theirchildren to school. That situation agi-tated the issue of elementary educa-tion in her mind. She wrote to her sonWillie in May 1897 that this subjecthad “long been neglected” in spite ofthe fact that “the first seven or tenyears of a child’s life is the time whenlasting impressions for good or evilare made.”22 Speaking to the Aus-tralian situation, she wrote that “insome countries parents are compelledby law to send their children toschool. In these countries, in localitieswhere there is a church, schoolsshould be established if there are nomore than six children to attend. . . .We are far behind our duty in thisimportant matter. In many placesschools should have been in operationyears ago.”23 Those were perhaps themost immediately influential wordsshe ever spoke. They almost instantlybegan to change the Adventist world.

Such men as Edward AlexanderSutherland and Percy T. Magan, the re-form leaders who would move BattleCreek College into the country in 1901,took this counsel to heart. They devel-oped a program for training teachersand did much to stimulate both localcongregations and promising youngpeople to get involved in elementaryeducation.24 The phenomenal growthof Adventist elementary education


started immediately. As a result, whilethe denomination reported 18 schoolsin 1895, it had 220 five years later.25

By 1900, the place of the local ele-mentary school was firmly establishedin Adventist congregations. And mostof those schools had only one teacher.The church had taken seriously thecounsel that it should establish aschool if there were only six students.

The 1890s was the decade of ad-vancement in Adventist education.The church had entered the ninetieswith a handful of schools and a poorlyperceived, and even more poorly exe-cuted, philosophy of education. Theturn of the century found Adventistswith a rapidly expanding internationalsystem of education at all levels with asound philosophy that had been ex-perimentally validated. Ellen Whitehad been a key personality in stimu-lating that accomplishment. By 1900,Seventh-day Adventism was takingboth mission to all the world and theeducation of every child seriously.Those two universals were linked. Bigideas of mission and education have

always gone together in Adventism.Education is the engine that has thrustforward the mission. What is mostsurprising is not that they go togetherbut that it took the church 50 years tofinally grasp the need for both worldmission and the evangelistic missionof education.

Adventist Educational Essentials

That thought brings us to the threeessential goals of Adventist education.The first is to prepare young people tofunction successfully in this presentworld. Education for excellence in thislife and success in this world is an es-sential aspect of Adventist education.But if that is all it achieves, it hasfailed. After all, that is the function ofthe public or government schools.And they often do an excellent job inaccomplishing that goal.

That thought brings us to the sec-ond great goal of Adventist educa-tion, which Ellen White hinted at inthe opening paragraph of her book

Education. “True education,” shewrote, “means more than the pursualof a certain course of study. It meansmore than a preparation for the lifethat now is. It has to do with thewhole being, and with the whole pe-riod of existence possible to man.”26

In other words, Adventist educationis for this earth. But it is more. It isalso education for eternity.

That goal comes into sharp focus inEducation’s first chapter and again itsfourth as Ellen White repeatedly setforth education as a “work of redemp-tion” that is to counter the effects ofthe Genesis Fall. “The teacher’s firsteffort and his constant aim,” shewrote, “is to help students come into asaving relationship with Christ.”27

With those forceful ideas EllenWhite set forth education as evan- g elism. And with that fact she placededucation at the center of the GreatControversy and viewed teachers asGod’s agents or ministers in thestruggle over the hearts, minds, andsouls of the coming generation. Ad-ventist education is not at the edge ofthe church’s mission to the world,but rather one of its most crucial ele-ments. From Ellen White’s perspec-tive, the redemptive goal of educationmust shape every aspect of a school’sprogram, including not only the for-mal course of studies, but also the so-called extracurricular and social.

But even if a particular Adventistschool did provide the highest intel-lectual and vocational education, didintroduce young people to Jesus asLord and Savior, and did place theBible at the center of education; still,I would argue, it has fallen short ifthat is all it has accomplished. Afterall, those are functions that everyevangelical Christian school shouldbe accomplishing. And if we onlymanage to accomplish what otherChristian schools are already doing,then there is no pressing justificationfor duplicating their activities in yetone more Christian school.

That conclusion brings me to thethird aspect of the Adventist educa-tional commission. That third aspect


Education for excellence in

this life and success in this

world is an essential as-

pect of Adventist education. But if

that is all it achieves, it has failed.

After all, that is the function of the

public or government schools.

relates to the teaching of its uniquedoctrinal package and especially thedenomination’s apocalyptic under-standing and the implications of thatunderstanding for worldwide missionand the Second Advent.

Adventism’s unique task is topreach God’s end-time apocalypticmessage found in Revelation 14:6 to12 to all the world. That understand-ing has led generations of Adventistyoung people to give their lives inobscure mission fields and hasprompted older church members tosacrifice not only the nearness oftheir children, but also their financialmeans to fulfill the prophetic impera-tive in the Apocalypse of John. It hasalso placed education at the center ofthe denomination’s agenda.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be notedthat Adventist schools are unique in-stitutions that fill a special place inthe great end-time controversy be-tween Christ and Satan. As such, theynot only prepare students for life inthis world and introduce young peo-ple to Jesus as Lord and Savior, butthey also inspire the coming genera-tion with an understanding of God’send-time apocalyptic vision that leadsthem to dedicate their lives to that vi-sion and the advent of their Lord.

Adventist educational identity andmission include all three of those fac-tors in proper relationship. And Ad-ventist education, we must never for-get, stands at the center of the GreatControversy. Schools are about evan-gelism and mission. Schools are aboutnot only preserving the ideas and mis-sion of Adventism, but also bringingabout the long-awaited eschaton. Andonly with that thought in mind can wegrasp the importance of understandingAdventism’s educational purpose.After all, we as Adventists have notone but two Great Commissions.

• The first commission is to spreadthe full teachings of Jesus to the endsof the earth.

• The second is an educational

commission to establish and supporta system of schools to not only evan-gelize the church’s young people butalso to prepare the next generationsof leaders to enable the church to ac-complish its worldwide mission.

Plenary 1 presentation from theLEAD Conference on “Educating forEternity” held at the General Confer-ence World Headquarters in SilverSpring, Maryland, October 5-7, 2016.

George R.Knight, EdD, isProfessor Emeritusof Church Historyat Andrews Uni-versity, BerrienSprings, Michigan,U.S.A. Dr. Knight

has authored and edited a number ofbooks and articles on Adventist his-tory and education. He writes fromRogue River, Oregon, U.S.A.

NOTES AND REFERENCES1. Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible

texts in this article are quoted from the RevisedStandard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of ChristianEducation of the National Council of theChurches of Christ in the United States ofAmerica. Used by permission. All rights re-served.

2. See George R. Knight, “HistoricalIntroduction,” in Historical Sketches of For-eign Missions, Adventist Classic Library(Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews UniversityPress, 2005), vi-xi.

3. “Letters,” Review and Herald (February3, 1859): 87.

4. “Questions and Answers,” Review andHerald (December 23, 1862): 29.

5. Ibid.6. School Committee, “The Proposed

School,” Review and Herald (May 7, 1872): 168.7. Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Chris-

tian Education (Nashville, Tenn.: SouthernPublishing, 1923), 45, 46.

8. James White, “Conference Address Be-fore the General Conference of the S.D. Ad-ventists, March 11, 1873,” Review and Herald(May 20, 1873): 180, 181.

9. J. N. Andrews, “Our ProposedSchool,” Review and Herald (April 1, 1873):124; cf. G. I. Butler, “What Shall We Make ofOur School?” Review and Herald (September

✐

21, 1874): 44, 45.10. Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious His-

tory of the American People (New Haven,Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), 864.

11. John R. Mott, “Report of the ExecutiveCommittee,” in Student Mission Power: Reportof the First International Convention of theStudent Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mis-sions, Held at Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., Febru-ary 26, 27, 28 and March 1, 1891 (Pasadena,Calif.: William Carey Library Pubs., 1979), 21-23; Ernest R. Sandeen, The Roots of Funda-mentalism: British and American Millenarian-ism, 1800-1930 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: BakerBook House, 1978), 183.

12. Virginia Lieson Brereton, TrainingGod’s Army: The American Bible School,1880-1940 (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Uni-versity Press, 1990); Sandeen, Roots of Fun-damentalism, 181-183.

13. Richard W. Schwarz and Floyd Green-leaf, Light Bearers: A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Nampa, Idaho: PacificPress, 1995), 207.

14. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia(Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald,1996), 2:104.

15. See George R. Knight, ed., Early Ad-ventist Educators (Berrien Springs, Mich.:Andrews University Press, 1983), 8.

16. Homer R. Salisbury, “A SteadyGrowth,” Christian Education 3:1 (Septem-ber/October 1911): 14.

17. J. Crosby Chapman and George S.Counts, Principles of Education (Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 1924), 601, 602.

18. George S. Counts, The Soviet Chal-lenge to America (New York: John Day,1931), 66, 67.

19. On the revolutionary role of Adventisteducation, see George R. Knight, Educatingfor Eternity: A Seventh-day Adventist Philoso-phy of Education (Berrien Springs, Mich.:Andrews University Press, 2016), 124-128.

20. Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents,Teachers, and Students (Mountain View,Calif.: Pacific Press, 1913), 49.

21. __________, Fundamentals of Chris-tian Education, 541 (italics supplied).

22. Ellen G. White to W. C. White, May5, 1897.

23. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for theChurch (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press,1948), vol. 6, 199 (italics supplied).

24. See Warren S. Ashworth, EdwardAlexander Sutherland and Seventh-day Ad-ventist Educational Reform: The Denomina-tional Years, 1890-1904, PhD dissertation,Andrews University, 1986, 141-161.

25. Christian Education (September/Oc-tober 1911): 14.

26. Ellen G. White, Education (MountainView, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1903), 13.

27. Ibid., 14-16, 29, 30.


This report about the state of Seventh-day Adventisteducation has the same aim as that of Nehemiah,when with trusted colleagues, he set out during thenight on an inspection of the walls and burned gates

of Jerusalem.1 The assessment was done so that they wouldknow how to proceed in rebuilding. That’s the purpose ofinspecting the state of Adventist education. A well-knownquotation states: “Without data, you’re just another personwith an opinion.”2 This report is based on our own datatrends. As of December 31, 2015, the Seventh-day AdventistChurch worldwide operated 5,705 primary schools, 2,336secondary schools, 53 training schools—such as hospital-based nursing programs and some non-degree ministerialtraining schools—and 114 tertiary colleges and universities.In our 8,208 schools around the world, 102,779 teachers ed-ucated nearly two million students (1,922,990). Analysis ofthat data reveals areas of concern, but let us first considermission.

Discrepancy Between Purpose of Seventh-day Adventist

Education and Enrollment

“Education for What?” asks Adventist Church historianGeorge Knight.3 Both he and Ellen White before him havestated unequivocally: To fulfill the apocalyptic mission of theSeventh-day Adventist Church to all the world.4 Of course,our education must develop students mentally, socially,physically, and vocationally, but this goal is shared by allschools, whether religious or not. Ellen White emphasizedthat to restore the image of God in students and to preparethem for service in this life and the next means returning toGod’s original purpose in creating humans.5 However, thisspiritual and redemptive goal is shared by other Christianschools. It is a third aspect—the denomination’s apocalypticmission to the world—that is unique to Seventh-day Advent-ist education. Pointing to statistics, George Knight observesthat “While the denomination had two schools in 1880 and16 in 1890, it rapidly expanded to 245 in 1900, more than

11

B Y L I S A M . B E A R D S L E Y - H A R D Y

http:// jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l-June 2017

THE STATEOF ADVENTISTEDUCATION

REPORT

600 in 1910 and 2,178 by1930.

“What is important hereis that the growth in Ad-ventist mission shows ex-actly the same growthcurve as that for education. . . a growth curve thatgoes nearly straight up be-ginning in the 1890s . . . .stimulated by the explosivefuel of apocalyptic missionas the denomination soughtto educate the coming gen-eration of young people notonly about that apocalypticmission but also to dedicatetheir lives to it.”6 The paceof growth in mission out-reach and the educationalwork soared together. At itsbest, he continued, it will“inspire the coming gener-ation with an understand-ing of God’s end-time apoc-alyptic vision that leadsthem to dedicate their livesto that vision and the ad-vent of their Lord.”7

If, more than 140 yearsafter the initial develop-ment of a denominationaleducation system in the1870s,8 we still believe thatmission and education are one, that the work of re -demption and education are one, and that the Seventh-dayAdventist Church is a movement of prophecy with an end-time mission to all the world, we would expect enrollmentpatterns to support that belief. How does enrollment inSeventh-day Adventist schools relate to church member-ship? As of December 31, 2015, membership stood at morethan 19 million members.9 But a global survey10 revealedthat less than half of church membership had some Ad-ventist education (47 percent), and 52 percent had none.More than half of the membership have not attended a Sev-enth-day Adventist school. The data display a significantdiscrepancy between what we say about the significanceof education and actual enrollment.

The data also show that enrollment in Adventist schoolsvaries by division. The North American Division has thehighest percentage of enrollment by membership, with only29 percent having none. Other divisions have a high per-centage of members who have never attended Adventistschools. For example, in the Southern Africa-Indian OceanDivision (76 percent), and the Inter-American and West

Central Africa divisions (66percent) of the membersreport having never at-tended Adventist schools.One explanation is thatthere has been a lot ofgrowth in those areas.Even if it is too late foradult converts, their chil-dren should benefit fromand be enrolled in Advent-ist education to preparethem for service and mis-sion. This is an opportu-nity for enrollment growth.

How are we doing withpastoral enrollment in Ad-ventist education? In 2011-2013, 36 percent of Sev-enth-day Adventist pastorsreported having only fiveto eight years of Seventh-day Adventist education,and presumably that in-cluded their theologicaland ministerial training.Twenty-six percent of pas-tors had completed oneto four years in a Sev -enth-day Adventist school.Eight percent had NO Ad-ventist education, whichraises the question ofwhere they obtained their

ministerial education. Were there that many pastors ofother denominations who became Seventh-day Adventists?Sixteen percent of pastors said they had completed nine to12 years in an Adventist school, while only 14 percent re-ported having completed 13 or more years of Adventist ed-ucation. These data show that the majority of Seventh-dayAdventist pastors have less than eight years of Adventisteducation. No wonder a global survey reveals an increas-ing diversity of views regarding the church’s fundamentalbeliefs, with so many pastors not having benefited from adistinctively Seventh-day Adventist education.11

Strengthening the Gates: Mission, Access, Teachers,

and Leadership

Based on these data and the work of the General Confer-ence Department of Education throughout the world field,we have established four priorities for Adventist educationfor this quinquennium (2015-2020),12 starting with Adventistidentity and mission. These priorities are the gates that safe-guard the mission focus of education. By “Adventist missionand identity,” we mean both capacity and evidence that Ad-


To foster academic

excellence, focus-

ing on continued

improvement with measur -

able goals for quality culture

is not enough. Mission

must be integrated with

traditional measures of aca-

demic excellence.


ventist education functions within a biblical worldview andthat it pursues a meaningful integration of faith and learningin all disciplines and at all levels. It means that teachers andadministrators give the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy afoundational role in the operation of the school, and that weare truly educating the whole person—not just the mind, butthe whole person within the framework of a balanced, re-demptive education that develops the ability to think, to act,and to do. Its goal is to restore in students the image of theirCreator.

We hold ourselves accountable for Adventist missionand identity through processes such as the ones used bythe Accrediting Association of Seventh-day AdventistSchools, Colleges, and Universities (AAA), where AAAper forms audits of schools, provides recommendations forimprovement, and gives com mendations for what is goingwell. Through the functions of the International Board ofEducation (IBE), we establish general guidelines and di-rection of the education program of the church. The In-ternational Board of Ministerial and Theological Education(IBMTE) cooperates with divisions to provide overall guid-ance and standards to the professional training of pastors,theologians, teachers of Bible and religion, chaplains, andother denominational employees involved in ministerialand religious training.

While we promote and guard Adventist essentials in alllevels of education, more recently the focus has moved tograduate and professional programs because that’s wherethere is growth. Three medical schools and two dentalschools opened in the past quinquennium (2010-2015) inNigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Argentina, and Brazil, re-spectively.

Education has also expanded through technology; andhere, the challenge is to adhere to Adventist philosophy ofeducation in distance learning. How do we do Adventisteducation when we never see our students? When they livein their own homes and communities and rarely if ever setfoot on campus? How do we do it when they only come foran intensive, participate in a cohort, or attend an urbancampus while they’re living at home? To foster academicexcellence, focusing on continued improvement with meas-urable goals for quality culture is not enough. Mission mustbe integrated with traditional measures of academic excel-lence. Andrews University (Michigan, U.S.A.) is at the fore-front of developing distance education that is distinctlyAdventist; but in every school, technology needs to be bap - tized for our purposes.

Each school is assessed on its implementation of a spir-itual master plan appropriate for the level and type of stu-dents. Key performance indicators include evidence thatstudents are studying their Bible, and that the institutionuses textbooks in harmony with Adventist philosophy ofeducation. If we are using the same textbooks as everyother educational institution, we are not carrying out ourpurposes. Textbooks need to integrate with and be based

on a biblical worldview. These are some examples of whatit means to strengthen Adventist identity and mission ineducation today.

The second priority is to increase student access to Ad-ventist education. Parents agree that Adventist education isdesirable, but many struggle to afford it. How can we enrollmore Seventh-day Adventist students? We need to partnerwith other departments to work with the divisions to in-crease student access to our schools. Barriers to enrollmentneed to be identified and removed or lowered. More work isneeded to develop sustainable models of affordable educa-tion. No margin, no mission. But how can mission be bal-anced with the need for margin? How can we increase ac-cess?

With respect to students who are church members andattending tertiary higher education, the data are not encour-aging. Using the earlier 18 million membership figure, about30 percent of our membership are estimated to be betweenthe ages of 16 and 30. This yields a total of six million po-tential tertiary students. Of that number, only 74,000 are at-tending a Seventh-day Adventist tertiary institution. Thatmeans that only one percent of Seventh-day Adventists inthis age range are attending one of our colleges or universi-ties. We have a problem.

Of course, not everybody in that age group is in school.Some are working, some are at home, and others are in ruralpopulations where they are planting crops or caring for fam-ily. If the UNESCO higher education enrollment rate of 26percent13 is applied to that six million, there are an estimated1.5 million young people who could be in Adventist highereducation but who are studying somewhere else. Applyingthe UNESCO ratio improves the estimate so that of all ofthose Seventh-day Adventists who are studying in higher ed-ucation, five percent could potentially attend one of ourschools, instead of the one percent currently enrolled. Ourschools cannot offer every degree, but we still could do bet-ter to enroll more in the large number of programs that wedo offer.

The third priority is mission-focused teachers. Employ-ment data from the annual statistical reports compiled bythe General Conference Office of Arch ives, Statistics, and Re-search show that this is the area of greatest concern. Allteachers need to develop their capacity to achieve the re-demptive purpose of Ad ventist education and to model Ad-ventist values and lifestyle. The data show that we also needsystematic and deliberate effort to increase where neededthe percentage of Seventh-day Adventist teachers who workin the system. How are we doing with regard to the percent-age of Seventh-day Adventist teachers in our schools?

Let us analyze the trend for the past 14 years—during thewatch of many of us who have been in office. There is aclear downward trend for primary, secondary, and tertiarylevels. Increasingly, we are employing people of other faithsor no faith at all. As of 2014, almost 30 percent of the teach-ers in our schools were not Seventh-day Adventists. The an-

nual decrease is on average one percent per year, sometimesmore. To put this into perspective—of a hundred thousandteachers (the approximate number worldwide)—what’s onepercent? All good Seventh-day Adventists know how to tithe.So, what would 10 percent be? It would be ten thousand.And one percent per year represents the hiring every year ofone thousand teachers who have not made a personal com-mitment to Adventism. Dr. George Knight asks: “What isChristian education without Christian teachers?” “What isAdventist education without Adventist teachers?” Teachingis an incarnational process. It’s not just teaching how to addnumbers, but also how to live a life of faith and carry outthe unique mission of Seventh-day Adventist education.

Over time, the percentage of Seventh-day Adventist stu-dents has declined so that in 2014, fewer than half of ourstudent enrollment was Seventh-day Adventist. We mightcelebrate this because it offers an excellent evangelism op-portunity! But the two trends (percentage of Adventist teach-ers and percentage of Adventist students) are going downtogether. Critics will say that some of these teachers are morecaring or better role models than some Seventh-day Advent-ist teachers. They may indeed have superior academic quali -fications and be effective educators in their discipline. Theymay even be warm Christians who share the love of Christwith students. But how can these teachers share the uniquevision and mission of Seventh-day Adventist education ifthey do not subscribe to it themselves?

There has been a proliferation of graduate and profes-sional degrees offered by our institutions—a whole alphabetsoup just at the graduate level, including medicine, phar-macy, doctors of theology, PhDs in a variety of areas, andmore. The expansive proliferation of degrees has requiredthe employment of professors with specialized degrees.There have not been enough Seventh-day Adventists to fillthese slots, which has resulted in increased hiring of peopleof other faiths or no faith at all.

The Adventist Professional Network (APN) is one initia-tive to monitor the preparation of future teachers and a toolto recruit teachers and other personnel. Every Seventh-dayAdventist with at least a bachelor’s degree is invited to reg-ister in the database (http://APN.adventist.org)—it will takeonly 10 minutes to do so. APN is one way that we can trackthose who have at least a bachelor’s degree or higher andtrack their progress toward professional development inorder to be better able to recruit them.

Lack of mission-focused teachers is an area where thewalls are broken and the gates have burned. We need to re-double our efforts if Adventist education is to achieve itsunique purpose.

The fourth and final priority is to strengthen educationalleadership. Our principals, presidents of colleges and uni-versities, and boards carry the local responsibility for over-seeing more than 8,000 schools, colleges, and universitiesaround the world. In a hand-poll of the 2016 General Con-ference Executive Committee, about 20 percent were new to

their positions. For that reason, an annual leadership con-ference is held to equip new officers for the responsibilitiesthey must carry out in the field.

At the institutional level, demonstrating accountabilityand effective governance requires robust institutional deci-sion-making processes and structures. Support for this isgiven in various ways: journal articles, board training, the2016 General Conference Leadership Education and Devel-opment (LEAD) Conference on education, and board re-treats. Graduate training for church leadership is providedat a number of universities—especially at Andrews Univer-sity (U.S.A.), Adventist International Institute of AdvancedStudies (Philippines), and the Adventist University of Africa(Kenya). Over the past year, the IBMTE Handbook was up-dated to strengthen ministerial and theological education.Regional LEAD conferences on education are scheduled for2017. However, more needs to be done to develop leadership,particularly for the preschool/ kindergarten, primary, andsec ondary levels.

Reaching Cities Through Education

A final consideration is the role of education as a meansof reaching big cities with the gospel. As of June 30, 2013,the global population was more than seven billion, and thepopulation-to-member ratio was 396 to every Seventh-dayAdventist. Analysis of the world’s urban population showsthat for the approximate 1.7 billion people living in cities,there are three million Seventh-day Adventists. Here theratio changes dramatically. In the cities, there are 547 peo-ple for every Seventh-day Adventist.14

Viewed on a map, there is a correlation between edu-cational institutions and where the membership is at leasttwenty thousand. Two features are important to note inthe demographic distribution of membership. The largerconcentrations are located along coastlines, reflecting theearly efforts of pioneering missionaries who went out notby airplanes, but by ships, and established the work incoastal areas. Where the educational work was estab-lished, the church is strong. Local memberships of twentythousand or more are virtually a map of our educationalsystem. Education has proved to be a stable foundationon which Seventh-day Adventist work has grown fromstrength to strength. (See Figure 1 on page 15.)

Indicating on a map those regions of the world wherethe church has fewer than 125 members (0-125) highlightsthe 10/40 Window,15 along with Europe. Our own histori-cal success indicates that education should be a major ap-proach for work in these challenging areas. In doing so,we continue the work of the Master Teacher and seek tocarry out the gospel commission.

Plenary 2 presentation at the LEAD Conference on “Educat-ing for Eternity” held at the General Conference World Head-quarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A., October 5-7, 2016.

✐


Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy, PhD, MPH, isthe Director of the Department of Edu -cation, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland,U.S.A.

9. Seventh-day Adventist World Church Statistics 2015 (October2016): https://www.adventist.org/en/information/statistics/article/go/seventh-day-adventist-world-church-statistics-2015/.

10. All data reported in the Annual Statistical Reports of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, except for estimates of the number of Seventh-dayAdventists enrolled in tertiary education outside of the Adventist system:http://documents.adventistarchives.org/ Statistics/ASR/ASR2016.pdf.

11. United Nations Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth,“#YouthStats: Education” (2016): http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/ youth -statistics-education/.

12. For a description of the four priorites, see Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy, “The World Education Team: 2015-2020,” The Journal of Advent-ist Education 78:1 (October/November 2015): 44, 46. http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/en/jae201578010311.pdf.

13. See pages 7 and 9 of “Reach the World Strategic Plan 2015-2020”at https://www.adventistarchives.org/reach-the -world-doc.pdf; GeneralConference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, “Report onGlobal Research, 2011-2013: Annual Council, 2013”: https://www.adventistarchives.org/ac-research-report-2013-revised.pdf.

14. Thanks to Rick McEdwards, DIS, President, Middle East and North Africa Union Mission, Jerry Chase, MDiv, Geographic Informa-tion Specialist, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, DavidTrim, PhD, FRHistS, Director of Archives, Statistics, and Research,General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (ASTR), and the an-nual reports compiled by ASTR.

15. Ibid.; See also “Stats and Mission: Adventist Mission in the10/40 Window,” Adventist Review (2015): http://www.adventistreview.org/1518-19.


NOTES AND REFERENCES1. Nehemiah 2:12-18. New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible,

New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2. This quote is often attributed to statistician and economist W. Ed-wards Deming.

3. George R. Knight, “Education for What? Thoughts on the Purposeand Identity of Adventist Education,” The Journal of Adventist Educa-tion 79:1 (October-December 2016): 6-12.

4. Revelation 10:11; 11:19; 12:17; and 14:6-12, 14-20.5. Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press,

1903), 15.6. Knight, “Education for What?” 11, 12.7. Ibid., 12.8. Richard W. Schwarz and Floyd Greenleaf, Light Bearers: A History

of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 2000),114-129.

Figure 1. Seventh-day Adventist Membership in 10/40 Window Countries

Cities by Seventh-day Adventist Membership67 Countries

in 10/40 Window Mem. 20K & UpMem. 0 - 125


CognitiveGenesis,1 subtitled“Moving Hearts and MindsUpward,” an independent re-search study initiated by re-

searchers at La Sierra University (River-side, California, U.S.A.) and AndrewsUniversity (Berrien Springs, Michigan,U.S.A.), was designed to provide an-swers to three vital questions:

• What is the academic achieve-ment of students in NAD K-12 Ad-ventist schools?

• How do students in NAD Ad-ventist schools compare to the na-tional norms?

• What student, home, and schoolfactors are associated with achieve-ment?2

Given that no such empirical studyof this length and magnitude had everbeen done on Adventist education,this was quite a significant undertak-ing. By its conclusion, the Cognitive -Genesis researchers had gathered fouryears’ worth of data from more than51,000 students, the parents of thosestudents, and the teachers and princi-pals of some 800 participating schools.

CognitiveGenesis analyzed the stan-dardized achievement test scores ofstudents in Adventist schools in the

U.S. (the Iowa Test of Basic Skills forgrades 3-8 and the Iowa Test of Educa-tional Development for grades 9 and11) and their scores on the CognitiveAbilities Test. This allowed researchersto identify differences between stu-dents’ aptitude (their predicted aca-demic achievement based on ability)and their actual level of achievement.

Key Findings

• Students in the Adventist schoolsstudied outperformed the national av-erage on standardized tests.

B Y E L I S S A K I D O

Cognitive and Non-cognitive Factors Contributing to Academic

Success in Adventist Education

COGNITIVEGENESIS:

Following is an adaptation of Dr. Elissa Kido’s oral presentation to attendees at the LEADConference held October 5-7, 2016, in Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A. Her presentation explained the

results of the CognitiveGenesis project—a longitudinal study conducted from 2006-2009—andhighlighted specific key findings that were shown to contribute to the academic success of students

attending Adventist schools in North America.


In 2014, the high school graduationrate in the United States was 82 per-cent.3 In the same year, the highschool graduation rate for Adventistacademies in the United States was98.4 percent.4 That statistic alonespeaks volumes for the quality of edu-cation in Adventist schools. However,CognitiveGenesis dug much deeper inits analysis and, by comparing testscores, revealed that students in Ad-ventist schools in the United Statesconsistently performed well above thenational average. Regardless of sub-ject, grade level, or school size, stu-dents in these schools came outahead. Two significant factors need tobe noted with these results. One, theIowa Tests are achievement teststaken all over the United States bymore than three million students an-nually.5 This was not an Adventist testor a test created by the research teamfor CognitiveGenesis; it was a stan-dardized, national test.

Second, it is worth a reminder thatthe Adventist educational system inthe North American Division is anopen admission system. Any childwho wants to attend an Adventistschool can—regardless of ability orprevious test scores. Unlike other col-lege preparatory schools, Adventistschools do not have high admissionscriteria. They are open to everybody,resulting in a highly diverse commu-nity of learners.

• Students in Adventist schools“overachieved” beyond what theirability predicted.

In the best sense of the word, Cog-nitiveGenesis found that students inU.S. Adventist schools were over-achievers. They scored above their pre-dicted achievement or expectedachievement in all subjects, in allgrades, for all school sizes, regardlessof ability level. Let’s take an exampleof a hypothetical student named Joe.Joe’s parents know that he is a brightchild; they see it in his interactions, hisconversations, and his curiosity. How-ever, Joe’s teacher tells a differentstory. Joe is often disruptive in class,

he forgets to turn in his homework,and he has a hard time staying ontask. Joe would most likely scorelower on the achievement tests thanhis aptitude tests (which measure abil-ity) would suggest. Sadly, this is thecase for many students in schoolsaround the world. For a myriad of rea-sons—including poor learning environ-ments at home and school, disengagedparents and teachers, convoluted poli-cies—students’ achievement scoresoften do not accurately reflect theirability. Therefore, a good situationwould have students’ achievementscores being approximately equivalent

• Students in U.S. Adventistschools increased in ability.

Ellen G. White states: “It is thework of true education to train theyouth to be thinkers and not mere re-flectors of other people’s thoughts.”6

In essence, one of the underlyinggoals of Adventist education is to in-crease students’ ability, not simplytheir test-taking skills. The resultsfrom CognitiveGenesis substantiatedtheir success by giving evidence toincreases not only in achievementscores, but also in ability scores.

• The longer students were in Ad-ventist schools, the more their scoresincreased.

Dubbed the “the Adventist SchoolEffect,” CognitiveGenesis researchersfound that the longer students stayedin Adventist schools, the greater the in-crease in both achievement and ability.

• School size had negligible effects.Now, what about school size?

Many Adventists in the U.S. are con-cerned about school size because 60percent of our schools are consideredsmall. What do we think of as small?Three or fewer teachers. That’s small.OK, so what about school size? Well,guess what? CognitiveGenesis re-vealed small differences betweensmaller and larger schools in bothachievement and ability, but whenthere was a difference, it was consis-tently in favor of the smaller school.

Non-cognitive Findings

One of the foundational beliefs inAdventist education is the commit-ment to a wholistic education. Thismeans that rather than “teaching tothe test” or doing away with fine-artsprograms in order to dedicate moretime to core subjects, Adventist educa-tion combines the physical, the men-tal, the spiritual, the social, and theemotional. Secular educational sys-tems may subscribe to this idea ofwholistic education, but Adventist ed-ucation takes it a step further by infus-ing a spiritual component into everyaspect of the curriculum and climate.

to their ability (or aptitude) scores.This understanding makes the resultsfrom CognitiveGenesis even more as-tounding: Students in U.S. Adventistschools achieved more or higher thantheir aptitude scores predicted.

This finding was so remarkablethat it left the two statisticians work-ing for CognitiveGenesis shaking theirheads and double checking the num-bers. “The higher achievement scoresthan expected . . . that’s not the usualthing that happens,” one remarked.But not only did they see that differ-ence the first year; but also, achieve-ment scores were higher than aptitudescores for all four years of the study.

?


Few researchers have tackled the topicof religion and its correlation with aca-demic achievement, but MarianneGilbert, an Adventist doctoral student,did just that. She used CognitiveGene-sis data for her dissertation, whichwas titled An Analysis of Spiritual Fac-tors and Academic Achieve ment inSeventh-day Adventist Schools.7

By identifying several factors thatinvolve spirituality, including religionor spirituality emphasized at school,teachers’ spirituality, and mothers’spirituality, Gilbert divided students’academic gains into months andfound small gains, moderate gains,and large gains in academic achieve-ment. That means when all three fac-tors are aligned, students were up to8.5 months ahead of where standard-ized tests predicted they should be.

In his latest book, Outliers, re -nowned sociologist Malcolm Gladwell8

studied the phenomenon of success bylooking for patterns and themes in in-dividuals who had achieved great suc-cess. He defined success as a groupproject—noting that extraordinarypeople always had help along the way.

As Gilbert’s study demonstrated, Ad-ventist education is indeed also a groupproject—one that can achieve tremen-dous success with the support and col-laboration of three key partners—theschool, the church, and the home.

CognitiveGenesis data also shedslight on non-cognitive factors such asthe church and the home, both ofwhich can also contribute to higher ac-ademic achievement. For instance, itfound that higher achievement was as-sociated with harmonious and spiritualhomes where there was good familycommunications as well as discipline.Parents were actively involved withthe school and had high expectationsfor their children. In regard to thechurch’s contribution, higher-achiev-ing schools had pastors and churchmembers who provided good support.When pastors had a visible presenceon campus, played basketball with thestudents, and provided chapels andweeks of prayer, this connection corre-lated with higher-achieving schools.

Other Significant Factors

But the mission of Adventist edu-cation wouldn’t be complete if it sim-ply produced high-achieving stu-dents. Rather, additional significantfactors result from having students inan Adventist school—factors that ac-tually have far more value than testscores and ability levels. Ellen G.White wrote that “in the highestsense, the work of education and thework of redemption are one.”9 Wherethese two tasks intersect, we find ourworldview. A worldview is like a setof glasses that allows a person to lookat reality or life in a way that governsthoughts, decisions, and actions.Would you not say that worldview isimportant?

The story of the Prodigal Son pro-

vides an excellent example of threebasic and distinct worldviews—thoseof the father and the two sons (Luke15:11-32).10 Primarily concerned withhis own desires and needs, the prodi-gal son has a “me first” worldview.The elder son, on the other hand,clings to a “rules” worldview. Rulescome first, which makes it difficultfor him to understand why—since hestayed home and followed all therules and did all the right things—hisfather did not kill a fatted calf forhim. Finally, there is the father. He isnot concerned about himself at all,but rather about his sons and theirgrowth and development and well-being—an “others first” worldview.

Research has shown that by age 13,young persons have already developedtheir worldview.11 It may not be fullyformed, but the foundation is set.

T he development of a

child’s worldview is critical

because it helps determine

the kind of character children will

develop and the type of God they

will worship and proclaim. This

worldview, this character, is devel-

oped and molded by what children

see, what they hear, what they are

exposed to every day.

of Adventist Education 71:2 (December2008/January 2009): 5-10: http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/en/jae200871020506.pdf.

3. U. S. Department of Education, “U.S.High School Graduation Rate Hits NewRecord High”: https://www.ed.gov/ news/ press-releases/us-high-school-graduation-rate-hits-new-record-high-0.

4. Data collected by the Center for Ad-ventist Research: https://crae.lasierra.edu/ archives/quarterly-report-april-june-2012/.

5. Iowa Now, “Did You Know?: Iowa As-sessments Statistics”: https://now.uiowa. edu/ 2012/03/did-you-know-iowa-assess ments-statistics.

6. Ellen G. White, True Education(Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 2000), 12.

7. Marianne C. Gilbert, An Analysis ofSpiritual Factors on Academic Achievementin Seventh-day Adventist Schools EdD disser-tation, La Sierra University, 2013: http:// gradworks.umi.com/35/72/3572668.html.

8. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (Boston:Little, Brown, and Company, 2008).

9. White, True Education, 21. 10. Luke 15:11-32, NIV. Holy Bible, New

International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Usedby permission. All rights reserved world-wide.

11. Barna Group, “Barna Survey Exam-ines Changes in Worldview Among Chris-tians Over the Past 13 Years,” Research Re-leases in Faith and Christianity (March 9,2009): https://www.barna.com/research/ barna-survey-examines-changes-in-world view -among-christians-over-the-past-13-years/#.

12. Three Valugenesis studies collecteddata on faith maturity, values, and commit-ment from Adventist students in Adventistand public schools in the North AmericanDivision. For more information, see Value -genesis3 Update: Research Information Sum-mary 3 (January 2012): 4. Hancock Centerfor Youth and Family Ministry Valuegenesis3

(2012), La Sierra University, Riverside, Cali-fornia: http://green23.adventistschoolconnect.org/site/1/docs/vg3-update-v03.pdf.

13. Rick Weissbourd et al., “The ChildrenWe Mean to Raise: The Real Messages AdultsAre Sending About Values,” Making CaringCommon, Harvard Graduate School of Educa-tion (2014): 12. A report based on a 10-yearstudy, which surveyed 10,000 middle andhigh school students from a representativesample of 33 schools across the UnitedStates, in addition to observation and con-versations with youth, parents, and teachers:http://sites.gse.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/making-caring-common/files/mcc_report_7.2.14.pdf.

14. Lea Winerman, “The Mind’s Mirror,”American Psychology Association Monitor onPsychology 36:9 (October 2005): 48.


parents can be confident that the mir-ror neurons in their children’s brainsare firing likenesses of Jesus.

Do Adventist schools do a goodjob of educating our students aca-demically? Absolutely! But they alsodo so, so much more than that. Theyeducate children for eternity—devel-oping characters fit for heaven.

Adaptation of oral presentation atthe 2016 LEAD Conference held Octo-ber 5-7, 2016, at Silver Spring, Mary-land, U.S.A.

Elissa Kido,EdD, is the Direc-tor of the Centerfor Research onAdventist Educa-tion K-12 (CRAE)and also servesas a Professor of

Education at La Sierra Universityin Riverside, California, U.S.A. TheCognitiveGenesis Project waslaunched during Dr. Kido’s tenure asDean of the School of Education atLa Sierra University, and she servedas the Project Director.

NOTE AND REFERENCES1. For more about the CognitiveGenesis

study, see http://adventisteducation.org/assessment/cognitive_genesis/overview;Martha Havens, Jerome Thayer, and ElissaKido, “Small Schools: How Effective Are theAcademics?” The Journal of Adventist Educa-tion 77:3 (February/March 2015): 15-19;Elissa E. Kido, Jerome D. Thayer, and RobertJ. Cruise, “Assessing Adventist Academics—AMid-Point Update on CognitiveGenesis,” ibid.71:2 (December 2008/January 2009): 5-10.

2. These key questions guided the 2006-2009 study which collected data on students’academic achievement in Adventist schoolsthroughout the United States, Canada, andBermuda. Data were analyzed separatelywith one combined report for eight unions.The Canadian Union was not included in thecombined report because Canadian studentstake different achievement and ability tests.For more information, see “Assessing Ad-ventist Academics: A Mid-point Update onCognitive Genesis” by Elissa Kido, Jerome D.Thayer, and Robert J. Cruise in The Journal

✐

Which worldview do you want yourchild, your grandchild, your niece, yournephew, the children in our church tohave? “Me first,” “rules first,” or “oth-ers first”? Eighty-one percent of the stu-dents surveyed by Valuegenesis3 saidthat attending an Adventist school wasthe most important thing that hadhelped them develop their religiousfaith.12 In contrast, a survey of 10,000middle and high school students in theUnited States over 10 years found thatonly 22 percent thought that caring forothers was more important than theirown personal happiness or individualachievement.13

The development of a child’sworldview is critical because it helpsdetermine the kind of character chil-dren will develop and the type of Godthey will worship and proclaim. Thisworldview, this character, is devel-oped and molded by what childrensee, what they hear, what they are ex-posed to every day.

A discovery in the field of neuro-science really underlines the impor-tance of this daily exposure in achild’s life. Mirror neurons are neu-rons in the brain that fire when theyobserve someone doing something.They fire in a way that creates a mir-ror in the brain of the observationthat has been made, which allows theobserver to re-create or imitate thatbehavior later. For example, as a tod-dler sees her parents walking aroundin the house, mirror neurons fire.This lays the groundwork for the tod-dler to eventually pull herself up andstart walking, too.14

With this context, one has an evengreater realization of the importanceof our children’s environment, thebehaviors they see, and the wordsthey hear. A teacher in an Adventistschool recently said: “Teaching in anAdventist school is participating inthe longest evangelistic event that thechurch holds every year.” When thatis the belief of our teachers, whenthat is the mission of our teachers,


Ours is a distinct privilege to think through foun-dational truths for a few minutes. A word is inorder lest you look for a textual study of Scriptureor possibly Ellen G. White quotations. All of us

are quite familiar with these. This is a time for worship, notanalysis. It is an occasion for looking past the unquestionedvalue of technical studies into the beyond, for the scope ofeducation, especially Christian education, stretches across avast plane of thought, intellectual and spiritual, where ourpath toward heaven sometimes leads us through thorns andthistles. We dare not underestimate the importance of thisjourney, for its consequences will impact millions.

Christian education is nothing new to Seventh-day Ad -ventists. As an introduction, look at our masterfully crafteddocument titled “A Statement of Seventh-day Adventist Edu-cational Philosophy,”1 a vision of our goals. This documentis worthy of thoughtful examination, for it clarifies objectives,and to a degree methods, that will be useful to us in thisHeaven-sent assignment.

But let us begin our pilgrimage with what we acknowledgeas inevitable truths that underlie all else, truths that the Latinsdescribed as sine qua non. It focuses on the divine element ofour worship. We look first to God, especially as He reveals

Himself in the Scriptures, but even further in our contact withHis works. We marvel at His immeasurable power and wis-dom, stretching far beyond our feeble ability to understandthese things to the full. Here He is above us, Creator of allthings, Maker of a universe of majestic proportions, where inspace He hangs millions of heavenly bodies, fixed or rotating,sustaining them moment by moment in courses of His design.

Such complexity lies beyond our imagination but, by specialrevelation, God traces in great detail His profound concern forour tiny planet. He has personally placed us here as humansmade in His image, originally perfect in form and living in aperfect environment. Here is the Almighty One, the Eternal Fa-ther, Son, and Spirit functioning in matchless harmony, bent onrescuing us from the eternal loss that befell us. God is the sourceof all understanding and of life itself, Lord of space, time, and allsensory encounter. It is He who initiates our education by re-vealing His nature and intention for us. And it is our privilegeto represent our Creator not only as a Being of power, but alsofilled with love, compassion, grace, and indeed all things to ourbenefit. Christian education extols God with all His works.

Beyond all this, we marvel as we consider His incredible in-timacy with us and personal affection toward each of us. Withall the universe under His command, how can this be possible?

B Y G E O R G E W . R E I D

THE DIVINE BLUEPRINTFOR EDUCATION

A Devotional


He guides us, calls us toward His righteousness, listens to ourprayers, is at our side in every joyful moment or disappointmentwe encounter. Can we imagine better news than this and theprivilege of sharing it in every contact with others? To introducethis to our companions and students is the pinnacle of privilege.

But this pristine picture is not all. The Scriptures describesomething unthinkable but true: revolt in heaven. All of usknow the story. Into the Lord’s paradise Lucifer introduced cos-mic conflict. This brought to all of us the infection of sin, withits terminus in death. How would the Lord deal with this? Ourparents, blessed with the ability to make choices, fell to decep-tion in the very Garden of Eden, spreading evil through thehuman family. God’s perfect character was distorted and mis-represented entirely. Heaven’s response: Father and Son in con-sultation would make the unthinkable decision.

As Jesus told us, He was sent by the Father to take humanflesh, reveal the character of God in a manner all couldsee, participate in the human experience, and conclude theissue by taking to the Cross the terminal event of sin. ThereHe erased the scheme of Lucifer and provided eternal life, agift to all who sincerely believe. The appeal from Christ is toserve Him with our hearts, for His is the only way to life eter-nal. The Bible traces the sorry story of this planet, a mixtureof good and evil, and a sorry mess it is. Into this matrix theheavenly Father sends us to lead His children to the outwork-ing of His plan. Humanity, described symbolically in the Scrip-ture as the product of God’s fingers, makes its decisions in aspoiled environment and must understand what is involved,and this calls for a Christian education, one that addresses thepractical elements of living as well as how we should respondto God. This becomes the goal of Adventist education.

Ideal education opens every option to examination and in-terpretation, where it becomes the guide to making choices.Secular education will make all this the product of accident andsurvival of the fittest, the very existence of all things attributedto a massive random explosion in unmeasured antiquity. Thebiblical picture is vastly different, and this imposes a huge re-sponsibility on Adventist education, not simply in organized in-stitutions, but also from the beginning of cognition, startingwith mother’s caress and father’s knee. There true educationreaches for the truth of our past, an understanding of the pres-ent in which we dwell, and our destiny. True education includeseverything we can know about ourselves, our world, and theconsequences that follow from our choices, correctly envi-sioned. It is a ministry of vital importance, spanning worship,judgment, and discovery in the laboratories of experience.

As we have seen, the fullest revelation of God came whenthe Son took on the garb of humanity and in our own settingtaught us valuable lessons and challenged us to search thedepth of the divine message. All this is teaching. How couldthe heavenly Father have spoken to us in a better way? We be-held Him, the only begotten of the Father, whose repeatedmessage was, “‘I and the Father are one’” (John 10:30, NIV).2

Jesus was an emissary of truth, tasting the final wages of sinin death. He went where He passed through the consequences

of our sin. What greater revelation could we see than this?But in glory He arose from the tomb, leaving Lucifer’s

scheme in shambles, and promised to return for those whohonor Him. For Adventists, this promise is in the heart of ourfaith that must not be reduced to a liturgical dogma. God’spurpose for us is full restoration.

Today, we look at the structure of Adventist education, itsprogress to a worldwide chain of institutions, but beyond that,a vision of God’s plan for education. Does such a plan exist?Beyond question, the answer is Yes. It reaches from the homeand church to formal education, both as a practical prepara-tion for life today and as the experience of spiritual growththat fulfills the church’s great commission. Where the educa-tional world around us minimizes the idea of any divine in-volvement, we rise to challenge their idea and inculcateknowledge that reaches from eternity past to eternity to come.

Can anyone imagine a plan more comprehensive? As edu-cators, we occupy a cherished and profoundly influentialplace in life as well as the church. Here in classrooms andlabs, people entrust their precious youth into our hands. Whatwill we give them? A rehashed version of what is socially invogue today, even if flavored with religious language here andthere? Or will it present real leadership, demonstrating howGod’s purposes can guide not only in our curricula butthrough our example as well? Our youth will proceed fromour hands into an essentially God-free world and must be pre-pared to make wise decisions. God has entrusted them withfree choice and us with influence. He has brought the two to-gether, entrusting the young to the old. Will we be faithful inpreparing our young people for life here and in eternity? Weask this question of ourselves, but God poses the same ques-tion and will require an accounting for our stewardship. Letus be found worthy of this enormous trust.

A devotional presented at the 2016 LEAD Conference on“Educating for Eternity” held at the General Conference WorldHeadquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, October 5-7, 2016.

George W. Reid, ThD, served as Directorof the Biblical Research Institute (BRI) atthe General Conference of Seventh-dayAdventists from 1984 to 2001. Among hismany books are Seventh-day Adventistsand Life Insurance and Another Look atAdventist Hermeneutics.

✐

NOTES AND REFERENCES1. “A Statement of Seventh-day Adventist Educational Philosophy” (2001):

http://education.gc.adventist.org/documents/A%20Statement%20of%20 Seventh-day%20Adventist%20Educational%20Philosophy% 202001. doc.

2. Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978,1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


It’s truly an honor and privilegefor me to talk about some of thechallenges we face in AdventistChristian education and some of

the opportunities we have to make adifference. I want to begin with agreat Thank you for what Christianeducation has done for me.

I am a product of Christian educa-tion. I began my educational journeyin the Inter-American Division,1

where I attended elementary andhigh school on the island of St. Lucia,graduated from Caribbean Union Col-lege (now the University of theSouthern Caribbean), and later be-came an alumnus of Andrews Univer-sity (Berrien Springs, Michigan,U.S.A.) and Loma Linda University(Loma Linda, California, U.S.A.). Godblessed me with that preparation sothat I was accepted into one of thetop three departments in my field fordoctoral studies, and for the past 30

years to work at three of the best uni-versities of the world—Yale Univer-sity, the University of Michigan, andHarvard University, to be a co-authorof more than 400 scientific papers,and to enable me to become one ofthe most highly ranked social scien-tists in the world, by objective crite-ria.2 So, I really want to begin withwhat Christian education can do andhow God can also fulfill His prom-ises. He can do exceeding abun-

B Y D A V I D R . W I L L I A M S

INCREASING STUDENTACCESS IN K TO 12

EDUCATION:A Challenge for Adventist Schools

in the 21st CenturyThe following is an adaptation of Dr. David Williams’ oral presentation to attendees at the

LEAD Conference held October 5-7, 2016, in Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A. His presentationaddressed the need to increase student access to Adventist education, and issued a call to

action and an appeal for innovative thinking about funding, teacher quality, visionary leader-ship, and collaboration among all levels of Adventist education.


dantly, above what we can ask orthink.3

I want to talk about three majorthemes this morning: (1) the chal-lenge of youth retention in the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church and therole that Christian education canplay; (2) the challenge we face of pro-viding high-quality education; and(3) the challenge of making Adventisteducation affordable for our con-stituency.

The Challenge of Retention

First, the challenge of youth reten-tion. You are probably all familiarwith the statistics that reveal the largeloss that the church is experiencingglobally, as has been shown by themembership audits4 that have beendone by the General Conference in re-cent years (see Figure 1).5 I want tofocus not just on the global loss, butalso on what is happening to ouryouth.6

In 1987, Roger Dudley conducteda study in which he selected a prob-ability sample of 15- and 16-year-oldbaptized Seventh-day Adventistsacross the North American Division.7

Dudley attempted to interview eachperson in the survey populationevery year for 10 years, and finally atages 25 and 26. How many of thoseteenagers who were baptized mem-bers of the Seventh-day AdventistChurch had we lost? Half. One half.We are losing one-half of our youthin the North American Division.8

This is not one lost coin. This is halfof the coins. This is a crisis if wedon’t take steps to be more effectivein retaining our youth and connect-ing them to our Lord and SaviorJesus Christ.

As we think of Christian educa-tion, let us consider the organiza-tional structure that God has givenus. Every day, we all are engaged inChristian education—which is morethan schools, curriculum, or institu-tions. Christian education is what we,through our lives, are doing as rolemodels for our young people. I’m

going to read a statement from EllenWhite that I would never have thecourage to say myself: “It is becauseso many parents and teachers professto believe the word of God while theirlives deny its power, that the teachingof Scripture has no greater effectupon the youth.”9

These are not the factors we usu-ally point to when we talk about thechurch’s loss of young people, butthe Spirit of Prophecy says we needto begin by taking a look at our-selves. As Ellen White wrote in thebook Education: “It is one thing totreat the Bible as a book of goodmoral instruction to be heeded, sofar as it is consistent with the spiritof the times and our position in theworld; it is another thing to regard itas it really is, the word of the livingGod, the word that is our life, theword that is to mold our actions,our words and our thoughts. Tohold God’s word as anything lessthan this is to reject it, and this re-jection by those who profess to be-lieve it, is foremost among thecauses of skepticism and infidelityin the youth.”10

We all have work to do in faith-fully modeling what it means to be afollower of Jesus. The time hascome for us as leaders of the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church to reaf-

firm the central role of Christian ed-ucation as part of the evangelisticmission of the church. I emphasizethe evangelistic mission of thechurch because Christian educationis a part of that.

I believe, having worked 30 yearsin secular education, that the needfor Adventist education has neverbeen greater than it is right now. Weare counseled that there should beschools established wherever there isa church or company of believers,and teachers should be employed toeducate children of Sabbath keepers.We have work to do.11

What are three predictors thatRoger Dudley found in the youth whowere 10 years later committed to theAdventist Church in his study ofNorth American Division young peo-ple?

1. Youth who saw the church asrelevant to their lives were still com-mitted 10 years later. That is, youthwho regarded Sabbath sermons intheir church as interesting and feltthat their church met their spiritualand social needs.

2. Youth who had a grace orienta-tion regarding salvation also re-mained committed. Someone with agrace orientation believes that salva-tion is based on what Jesus has done

Figure 1. Seventh-day Adventist World Church Membership Audit

-6M -4M -2M 0 2M 4M 6M 8M

Our net loss rate was 43.36%.

In 2000-2012, there were13,648,281accessions.

Chart created by John Wesley Taylor V.


for us, not on what we do for our-selves.

3. Enrollment in a Seventh-day Ad-ventist college was another predictorof those young people who remainedactively involved in the AdventistChurch.

The Challenges of Providing High-quality

Education

We also have a challenge of pro-viding high-quality education. Yearsago, if you opened a Seventh-dayAdventist school, Adventist parentssent their kids to that school withoutquestion. Today, Seventh-day Ad -ventists have come of age. Likethose before us, we want the bestfor our children. I know many Sev-enth-day Adventists who are prod-ucts of Christian education and whonow believe that Christian educationis not good enough for their chil-dren. I encounter these parents, andthey want to know how they can gettheir children into the Harvards andYales of the world. They believe thatAdventist schools do not provide theacademic rigor that will make theirchildren competitive in today’sworld.

One challenge, I believe, is thatmany Seventh-day Adventist parentsare using secular criteria to determinewhat is best for their children. And Iwould say to them, “What shall itprofit someone to gain the finest edu-cation the world has to offer and losehis or her own soul?”12 We have apastoral responsibility, as a church, toeducate our members about the valueof Christian education.

At the same time, I honestly be-lieve there’s another side to that coin.At many of our Adventist schools,there is room for improvement. Toomany of our schools are run by ad-ministrators who lack vision. Ourconstituencies have changed. Today,parents are looking for excellence,and I believe that we shouldn’t criti-cize these parents. They are lookingfor exactly what God is looking for.

He wants our schools to be the best!He is also looking for excellence. Godwants us to be the head and not thetail, and He places no premium onmediocrity.

What are some of the challengesof addressing equality and access inAdventist education? One challenge isthe cost of Adventist education, andthe low socioeconomic status profileof many Adventist households. I havedata only for the North American Di-vision, but I think these are commonissues around the world. In 2008, themedian household income in theUnited States was $50,000, and thepoverty line was $22,000. Forty per-cent of Seventh-day Adventists in theNorth American Division in 2008 hadincomes close to the poverty level,and 70 percent (seven out of 10 Ad-ventist families) had incomes belowthe median level of the country13 (seeFigure 2).

We are facing a constituency thatis not rich with economic resources,and we have to figure out ways tomake Adventist education affordableand within their reach. Historically,Adventists have recruited the major-ity of its new members from thelower socioeconomic status groups inour society, but with our emphasis oneducation, the second generation ofAdventists has typically transitionedinto the middle class.14 The bottomline is that around the world, manyAdventists, especially recent converts,come from the poorer sectors of oursociety, and we need to think of whatcan be done to make education avail-able to them.

What are some of the implicationsof the economic demographics of ourconstituency? We know that childrenfrom low-income U.S. households re-ceive less cognitive stimulation andenrichment at home. They are lesslikely to have their parents read aloudto them or take them to a library.Low-income parents spend less timein face-to-face interaction talking totheir children. Low-income homeshave fewer educational resources.Children in low-income homes watch

more television and get less parentalmonitoring.15

In the United States, one of theaptitude tests students take at theend of high school is the ScholasticAptitude Test (SAT), which manyobservers refer to as “The StudentAffluence Test” because of thisgraded, straight-line relationship be-tween levels of family income inAmerica and SAT scores. Nationaldata for SAT scores in the UnitedStates in 2014 revealed that higherfamily income was associated withhigher academic performance.16 So,academic performance is directlylinked to the economic resources ofthe household (see Figures 3 and 4).

Keys to Excellence

• Money Alone Is Not Enough.What do we do? How do we moveforward facing these challenges? Thefirst point I want to make is thatmoney alone is not enough, and thisis based on studies that have lookedat what happens in secular educa-tion when local and state govern-ments just give additional money tostruggling schools. The research in-dicates that simply giving moremoney does not have a big impacton academic performance.17 Statesin the U.S. that have equalized fi-nance among schools have reducedthe gap in academic scores betweenhigh-income and low-income stu-dents by five percent. This is a verytiny amount of reduction. Purchas-ing computers and other upgradesfor school facilities has had eitherno effect on academic performance,and in some cases, a negative effecton performance. So, it’s not justabout technology, and it’s not justabout money.18

• The Primacy of Teacher Quality.Based on the existing scientific re-search, what is the key to academicsuccess? Excellence is not producedby chance. The single biggest predic-tor of superior student educationalperformance in the United States


(where these studies have beendone) is the quality of instructionprovided by their teachers. Researchshows even economically disadvan-taged children who are taught athigh levels achieve at high levels.Given the right teacher, the rightclasses, the right support, all of ourstudents, regardless of their eco-nomic background, can performwell.19 So, this is a call to excellencein the way we prepare our teachers,in the way we prepare our princi-pals. And this is simply following theexample of Jesus.

Ellen White in The Desire of Agessays: “Jesus sought to do the bestwork in every line. He was not will-ing to be defective, even in the han-dling of tools. He was perfect as aworkman, as He was perfect in char-acter. By His own example Hetaught that it is our duty to be in-dustrious, that our work should beperformed with exactness and thor-oughness, and that such labor ishonorable.”20 God is calling us to arenewed commitment to excellencein Adventist education. Excellence inhow we represent Him; excellence inhow we teach; excellence in how weprepare our students for the joy ofservice in this world, and for thegreater joy of wider service in theworld to come.21

God is calling for our teachers tobe a key part of the gospel commis-sion—a calling as important as thatof pastors.22 Teachers are preparingGod’s children to sit on thrones(Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30).Imagine how teachers in your divi-sion would approach their job if theyknew that Jesus, the majesty ofheaven, was going to be a student intheir class. Jesus is, indeed, in theirclasses, because He said: “‘Inasmuchas you did it to one of the least ofthese My brethren, you did it to Me’”(Matthew 25:40, NKJV).23 We needto create a new vision of the oppor-tunities we have to educate His chil-dren.

• Leadership Matters. High-qualityprincipals have a large impact on

Figure 2. Socioeconomic Profile of U.S. Adventist Households

Figure 3. U.S. Math, Reading, and Writing SAT Scores by Family Income

Figure 4. U.S. Math and Reading SAT Scores by Family Income

Fair Test, College Board, Wall Street Journal, Oct 7th, 2014

Fair Test, College Board, Wall Street Journal, Oct 7th, 2014

SAT Scores (Math & Reading Only)

SAT Scores (Math, Reading & Writing)

<$25K $25K-K<$50K $50K-$100K $100K+

• In 2008, medianHH income in theU.S. was $50,303

• Poverty line was$22,025 fora family of four

Chart created by John Wesley Taylor V.


student academic performance.24 Thecentral factor in quality schools, andin schools that turn around and pro-duce quality, is the leadership. Itstarts with a vision. We need to askourselves: “What are we doing totrain our principals and educationalleaders to be high-quality adminis-trators who hire high-quality teach-ers, and recommend the firing of un-derperforming ones?” I believe thatone of the challenges in Adventisteducation is the need for “blessedsubtractions.” What does this mean?There is a story about an evangelistwho went out and conducted a re-vival series. When he returned, hewas asked: “How did things go?” Hesaid: “It was great—the Holy Spiritwas poured out. We were blessed.”And he was asked: “How many addi-tions were there as a result of yourministry in this place?” He said:“There were no additions, onlyblessed subtractions.”

We need continuous quality im-provement. We need to make a long-term and tangible commitment to im-prove the quality of teaching inSeventh-day Adventist elementaryand secondary schools. We need asystematic plan to evaluate, nurture,and to monitor our primary and sec-ondary teachers, and to enhance theirskills. And local conferences that de-sire to have schools of excellencemust have the courage and the back-bone to remove teachers who are stillnot doing an outstanding job ofteaching after having provided themwith all of the resources to improve.We will never have a quality system ifwe are not willing to make tough de-cisions.

• The Role of Universities. Seventh-day Adventist institutions of higherlearning have a role to play instrengthening teacher quality. Manyteachers in elementary and secondaryschools are being asked to provide in-struction in subjects for which theyare not adequately trained. In all ofour divisions, we have institutions ofhigher learning, and we need to build

Box 1. Programs That Support Teachers and Students

1. Loma Linda’s EXSEED Program

http://home.llu.edu/academics/academic-resources/educational-effectiveness/exseed

Loma Linda University, in collaboration with six other Adventist institu-tions, started the Excellence in STEM Experimental Education Program(EXSEED). This one-week summer program brings selected K-12 educatorsfrom Adventist schools to the Loma Linda, California, campus to enhancetheir skills and their teaching of math and science.

2. Apprenticeship Bridge to College (ABC) Program

http://medicine.llu.edu/chdmm/education-and-training/high-school-studentsThe Apprenticeship Bridge to College program, established by Dr. Marino

De Leon, is a high school summer research program at Loma Linda University.Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this eight-week summer intern-ship program provides high school students with hands-on research experi-ences in the biomedical field, enrichment in areas that will strengthen theirperformance in the biomedical sciences—math, English, analytical thinking,and scientific communication, and seminars on health disparities in under-served populations. The program prepares young people, Adventist and non-Adventist, from the San Bernardino, California, community and nationwide,and gives them exposure to learning experiences they did not have in highschool. As a result of this program, 80 percent of past participants are pursu-ing degrees in a scientific discipline.

3. Loma Linda University’s Undergraduate Training Program (UTP)

http://medicine.llu.edu/chdmm/education-and-training/undergraduate-training-program

Loma Linda University’s Undergraduate Training Program (UTP) is a nine-week summer research internship for undergraduate college and universitystudents. The goal is to increase the number of biomedical and physician sci-entists from diverse backgrounds involved in research to help eliminatehealth disparities. Participants receive practical lab research experienceunder supervision of a faculty mentor, and present their findings at the HealthDisparities Research Symposium, which takes place at the end of the ses-sion. The program is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Na-tional Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Participants in theUTP program are selected from colleges and universities nationwide.

4. Southwestern Adventist University’s Summer Bridge Program

http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/en/jae201678053307.pdfSummer Bridge at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas, is

an intensive three-week session designed to help at-risk students prepare forcollege. All invited students meet one, but not both, of the two academic en-trance requirements for regular admission (GPA and SAT/ACT scores). Theprogram is designed to help close the gap between current skills and thosenecessary for college success in the areas of reading, writing, math, andstudy skills. Participating students receive one unit of academic credit (inkinesiology) for the three-week program.


programs that support K-12 teachers(see Box 1). We need to strengthenand expand globally so that we canenhance the quality of instruction ofall of our teachers.

The quality of our academic pro-grams varies. We need to design andtest new strategies. We need science-based and principles-based innova-tion that can lead to dramatic im-provement in the impact of our work.Without innovation, we will notachieve our ambitious goals. Some-one wrote a book some time ago say-ing the seven last words of thechurch are “We’ve never done it thatway before.” We need to mobilize thecreative talents of Seventh-day Ad-ventists within and outside of oursystem. We need new ways of think-ing, new ways of working; we need acommitment to research-based inno-vations so we can provide our best toall of God’s children.

• Revival and Reformation. Thisis a call for revival and reformation.We need revival—a renewal of spiri-tual life, a quickening of powers ofmind, a resurrection from spiritualdeath. We often stop there, butEllen White goes on to say what ref-ormation is—and most of us are un-comfortable with the definition:“Reformation signifies a reorganiza-tion, a change in ideas and theories,habits and practices.”25 When refor-mation comes, we’ll be doing awhole lot of things differently be-cause we will be doing that whichbest brings honor and glory to God.She also says: “Those who thinkthat they will never have to give upa cherished view, never have occa-sion to change an opinion, will bedisappointed. As long as we hold toour own ideas and opinions withdetermined persistency, we cannothave the unity for which Christprayed. . . . God and Heaven aloneare infallible. . . . We have manylessons to learn, and many, many tounlearn.”26 So a whole new open-ness of mind is needed as we ap-proach keeping to our principlesand providing quality.

The Challenge of Making Adventist

Education Affordable

Finally, the challenge of makingAdventist education affordable. Ac-cording to the 2007-2008 Demo-graphic Survey of the Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church in North America,27 thelow socioeconomic status of many ofour Seventh-day Adventist house-holds in the North American Division(NAD) meant that many parents whowanted to send their children to Ad-ventist schools were unable to affordthe tuition payments and desperatelyneeded financial assistance. The

same can be said for parents in otherparts of the world.

Compared to an earlier survey,Seventh-day Adventist membershipin the North American Division hadincreased among the lower-middleand middle class, but declinedamong households above the na-tional median income. The member-ship is growing primarily amongpoorer segments of the population.As a result, under the current fund-

come in the United States based onrace and ethnicity. In the U.S., forevery dollar of income white house-holds earned, black householdsearned 59 cents, Latino households70 cents, and Asian households$1.15. Asians had the highest levelsof education of any group the U.S.,and 70 percent of them were immi-grants.28

The 59-cents figure for the blackpopulation in the U.S. in 2013 is iden-tical to the racial gap in income thatexisted in 1978. Data on income un-derstate data on wealth and economic

ing arrangements, a large and grow-ing percentage of our church mem-bership will be unable to financiallyafford Adventist education. We needto think of ways we can make Ad-ventist education affordable. Thechanging demographics of NorthAmerican Division Adventism high-light this challenge: the decline inmembership, trends in ethnicity—adecline in white membership and agrowing minority membership. Whyis this of relevance?

National data for the United Statesin 2013 revealed differences in in-

W e need to design and

test new strategies. We

need science-based

and principles-based innovation that

can lead to dramatic improvement in

the impact of our work.


resources of households. Wealth in-cludes assets or economic resources(inclusive of property, investments,and economic reserves) that house-holds have. The data show for everydollar of wealth that white house-holds have, black households havesix pennies, and Latino householdshave seven pennies. When we talkabout our growing minority member-ship, we’re talking about populationsthat lack the traditional economic re-sources we think about when consid-ering how to pay for Adventist educa-tion (see Figures 5 and 6).

The U.S. is not alone in having in-come disparities between whites andminorities. Data from the UnitedKingdom (U.K.) show that for everypound (100 pence) of income thewhite majority earns, immigrantsearn much less: Other white groupsearn 79 pence, Indians earn 86 pence,Pakistanis earn 57 pence, Bangla -deshis earn 56 pence, Chinese earn76 pence, blacks from the Caribbeanearn 77 pence, and black Africansearn 60 pence. So we see striking dif-ferences in wealth, as well, in theU.K. Caribbean blacks have 34 pencefor every pound of wealth (earningscombined with assets such as prop-erty and investments) whites have,with African blacks having 7 pencefor every pound of wealth owned bywhites. As we look at our world divi-sion fields, and we look at our con-stituencies, we need to acknowledgethe economic challenges theyface29 (see Figures 7-9).

What Can We Do?

What does the Spirit of Prophecytell us? It says: “Worry is blind, andcannot discern the future; but Jesussees the end from the beginning. Inevery difficulty [and we are in diffi-culty in Adventist education] He hasHis way prepared to bring relief. OurHeavenly Father has a thousand waysto provide for us, of which we knownothing. [A thousand ways to providefunding for tuition in our institutions,of which we know nothing!] Those

Figure 5. U.S. Median Household Income and Race, 2013

Figure 6. U.S. Median Wealth and Race, 2013

Figure 7. U.K. Median Household Income, 2009/2010-2012/2013

For every dollar of wealth that whites have,

Racial differences in income are substantial.

For every £ of weekly income of white majority,

Other whites earn 79p

Indians earn 86p

Pakistanis earn 57p

Bangladeshis earn 52p

Asians have 81 cents

Blacks have 6 cents

Latinos have 7 cents

U.S. Census Bureau, 2014

Fisher & Nandi, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2015

U.S. Census Bureau (DeNavas—Walt and Proctor 2014)


who accept the one principle of mak-ing the service and honor of Godsupreme will find perplexities vanish,and a plain path before their feet.”30

We need to find ways to rethink whatwe do.

There are alternative approachesto funding that Adventist educationmay wish to consider: The Five-Per-cent Solution; The Phaedrus Initia-tive; The College of the Ozarks/free-tuition model; and the school changemodel.

1. The Five-Percent Solution.31

Thambi Thomas, formerly associatedirector of education for the Pacific

Union Conference, proposed the five-percent solution and called for an up-date to the formulas used to supporteducation. He proposed that thechurch increase its commitment tofunding primary and secondary edu-cation by allocating an additional fivepercent of tithe income in every con-ference in the North American Divi-sion to support church school educa-tion. While this may not be the rightsolution for every division, it is anexample of the kind of thinking inwhich we need to engage. He showedthat if the Pacific Union had done this

in 2009, the plan would have gener-ated an additional $8 million for K-12Adventist education in that union.This proposal is fully consistent withregarding Christian education as anessential evangelistic ministry of thechurch.

2. College of the Ozarks/Free Tu-ition Model.32 The College of theOzarks in Point Lookout, Missouri, isa Christian liberal-arts college with1,500 students that provides free tu-ition. Instead of paying tuition, allstudents must work on campus,performing jobs ranging from dairyfarming to custodial services, whichcovers the cost of their tuition. If stu-dents work 15 hours a week and two40-hour weeks while on schoolbreaks, the school guarantees tocover tuition expenses that exceedwhat is paid by other scholarshipsand grants. Seventy percent of collegerevenue comes from gifts and earn-ings from the school’s endowment,and a constituency that is committedto education.

3. The Phaedrus Initiative andBlended Learning.33 Urban Catholicschools, like many Adventist schools,have been facing declines in enroll-ment. They, too, have closed a largenumber of schools in the U.S. SetonEducational Partners developed thePhaedrus Initiative, which has suc-cessfully increased student enroll-ment, decreased staff, reduced per-pupil costs by 20 to 25 percent, andimproved academic achievement. ThePhaedrus Initiative uses a combina-tion of blended learning and imple-mentation of best practices in educa-tion. The blended-learning modelcombines computer-based learning insmall groups with traditional class-room instruction. In this model, aclassroom is divided into two groupsand for the first half of the class pe-riod, a teacher works with half of thestudents, while the other half useclassroom computers to get their in-struction. For the second half of theclass period, the students switchplaces: The students who began the

Figure 9. Race and Wealth, U.K., 2009

For every £ of weekly income of white majority,

For every £ of wealth that whites have,

Caribbean blacks have 34p

Bangladeshis have 10p

African blacks have 7p

Chinese earn 76p

Caribbean blacks earn 77p

African blacks earn 60p

Fisher & Nandi, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2015

Source: The Runnymede Trust

Figure 8. Median U.K. Household Income, 2009/10-2012/13

class period with the teacher move tothe computers, and those who usedthe computers work with the teacher.Both groups of students, then, havetime with the teacher and with com-puter-aided instruction. The teacherthus is able to capitalize on the learn-ing and the challenges faced by bothgroups of students. The combinationof this approach, along with revamp-ing their entire curriculum to includebest practices in education and strate-gies that have proved successful, hasled to a dramatic transformation ofeducation.

4. School Change Models.34 Pur-pose Built Communities is a nationalmodel for revitalizing communitiesand changing schools. The first turn-around school was in East LakeMeadows, Atlanta, Georgia. In 1995,East Lake Meadows was a publichousing project with high crime.Ninety percent of the residents in thathousing project were a victim of afelony every year. The crime rate was18 times higher than the nationalcrime rate, and only 13 percent ofadults were employed. The publicschool in the community was one ofthe worst-performing schools in theentire state of Georgia.

By 2016, compared to 1995, EastLake had a 90 percent reduction in vi-olent crime, and all of the residentswere in high-quality housing. While50 percent of the residents still qual-ify for public housing, every able-bodied person in that community isemployed. And they have developedan educational model that trans-formed the worst-performing schoolto the best-performing school in thestate of Georgia through the use ofproject-based learning and teaching-and-learning strategies based on criti-cal thinking, collaboration, creativity,innovation, and problem-solving.East Lake adopted a rigorous processthat they use in hiring every newteacher. Every potential teacher is in-terviewed by two of their existingteachers, and has to teach a class aspart of the interview process. Theyare not trying to identify the prob-

lems the teacher has in teaching thecourse, but the willingness of thatteacher to receive feedback and im-prove his or her teaching practices.East Lake is also part of the NewTech Network, the leading designpartner for comprehensive schoolchange. New Tech uses a project-based learning platform and powerfulprofessional development.

Why couldn’t we, as Seventh-dayAdventists, offer a model of innova-tive education? As Adventist educa-tors, we must begin to think of waysto effectively fund denominationaleducation and utilize proven schoolimprovement models that willstrengthen the quality of our schools.

Conclusion

Every time we use the lack ofmoney as the reason not to do whatGod has asked us to do, we sin:“Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.”35

In the life of the Christian and in thelife of Christian workers, our problemis not money. Our problem is to ask:“What does God want us to do?” Andonce we align ourselves with God’spriorities, money becomes God’sproblem, not ours. So we shouldn’tmake decisions based on money. Thisdoes not mean being haphazard withour planning or careless about stew-ardship; but in terms of deciding whatis the right thing to do, money shouldnot be the first barrier. We need toask: “What is God calling us to do?”And when we step out in faith, wewill say: “Lord, we will be obedient,and we will do what You ask us todo,” and then we will say: “Lord, Youown the cattle upon a thousand hills.It’s time to sell some cows, so that wecan do what You want us to do.”

We know that God has a thousandways to accomplish His objectives.Adventism started with sacrifice. Weare told that as we face the end, therewill be greater calls for sacrifice.36 Weneed to think of what our prioritiesare and make the sacrifices so thatGod’s work can be completed. Advent-

ist schools have an enormous oppor-tunity to become centers of excellencethat specialize in ensuring academicsuccess for students from low-incomebackgrounds. Our Adventist institu-tions have an opportunity to becomenational and global models for otherschools in how to effectively nurture,support, and ensure academic excel-lence for students who come to uswith less-than-optimal academicpreparation. God has brought us tothis moment. He has a plan for us tomove forward, and I pray that we willcommit our lives to making the educa-tion of His children our priority so thatwe can accomplish what He wants usto accomplish. Because, who knows,perhaps we have come to the kingdomfor such a time as this.

This is adapted from a transcript ofthe presentation by David R. Williamsat the 2016 LEAD Conference, held Oc-tober 5-7 in Silver Spring, Maryland,U.S.A.

David R. Wil -liams, PhD, MPH,MDiv, is the Flo-rence Sprague Nor-man and LauraSmart NormanProfessor of PublicHealth at the Har-

vard T. H. Chan School of PublicHealth and Professor of African andAfrican American Studies and of Soci-ology at Harvard University, Boston,Mass a chusetts, U.S.A. He has held ap-pointments at Yale University in bothSociology and Public Health, and theUniversity of Michigan, where heserved as the Harold Cruse CollegiateProfessor of Sociology, a Senior Re-search Scientist at the Institute of So-cial Research, and a Professor of Epi-demiology in the School of PublicHealth. Dr. Williams is a graduate ofthe University of the Southern Carib -bean, Andrews University, LomaLinda University, and the Universityof Michigan.

✐


NOTES AND REFERENCES1. The Inter-American Division (IAD) is

comprised of Mexico, the Caribbean, CentralAmerica, and the five northernmost countriesof South America. See https://www.adventist.org/en/world-church/inter-american/.

2. David R. Williams: http://scholar.harvard.edu/davidrwilliams/home.

3. Ephesians 3:20. Unless otherwise indi-cated, all Scripture quotations in this articleare taken from the New International Version(NIV). Holy Bible, New International Ver -sion®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984,2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.All rights reserved worldwide.

4. Membership audits are processes foridentifying and removing from membershiplists the names of people who have died orleft the church. For example, during the prior15 years predating the recent round of thor-ough audits, for every 100 new membersbaptized, 48 people left the church. See “ToEvery Nation: A Report From the GeneralConference Secretary,” Adventist Review2015 General Conference Bulletin 2 (July2015) by G. T. Ng: http://www.adventistreview.org/1515-18.

5. In one recent five-year period, 2010-2014, 6.2 million members were welcomedinto the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dur-ing the same period, 3.7 million membersleft the church. Excluding death, the net lossrate for the quinquennium was 60 per 100new members. This stunningly high loss ratewas revealed after membership audits. See“To Every Nation: A Report From the Gen-eral Conference Secretary,” ibid.

6. See presentation to the 2016 AnnualCouncil by David Trim, Director of GeneralConference Archives, Statistics, and Re-search, titled “Data on Youth Retention,Non-retention, and Connectedness to theChurch”: http://www.adventistresearch. org/sites/default/files/files/Annual%20Council%202016%20Presentation%20on%20Youth%20Retention%2C%20David%20Trim.pdf.

7. This landmark North American Divi-sion study surveyed more than 1,500 bap-tized 15- and 16-year-olds representative ofall NAD youth in big and small churches,small towns and big cities, public schoolsand Adventist schools, and all ethnic groups.See Roger L. Dudley, “Youth Religious Com-mitment Over Time: A Longitudinal Study ofRetention,” Review of Religious Research 41:1(Autumn 1999): 110-121.

8. Trim, “Data on Youth Retention, Non-retention, and Connectedness to the Church.”

9. Ellen G. White, Education (MountainView, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1903), 259.

10. Ibid., 260.11. Ellen G. White, Home and Church

School Manual (Healdsburg, Calif.: Healds-burg College Press, 1900): 23.

12. Paraphrase of Mark 8:36.13. In 2008, 40 percent of NAD Adventist

households had an annual income of lessthan $25,000; 30 percent had incomes of$25,000 to less than $50,000; 24 percent hadincomes of $50,000 to $99,000; and sevenpercent had incomes greater than $100,000.See Demographic Survey of the Seventh-dayAdventist Church in North America con-ducted by the Center for Creative Ministryfor the NAD Secretariat (2008): http://www. creativeministry.org/article/1106/research/published-research-reports/nad-demographic-profile-2008.

14. Ibid.; Malcolm Bull and Keith Lock-hart, Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-dayAdventism and the American Dream (Bloom-ington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2006).

15. Gary W. Evans, “The Environment ofChildhood Poverty,” American Psychologist59:2 (February/March 2004): 77-92.

16. Josh Zumbrun, “SAT Scores and In-come Inequality: How Wealthier Kids RankHigher,” The Wall Street Journal (October 7,2014): http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/ 2014/10/07/sat-scores-and-income-ine quality-how-wealthier-kids-rank-higher/;FairTest, The National Center for Fair andOpen Testing, “2014 SAT Score Trend Re-mains Flat; Test-Fixated School Policies HaveNot Improved College Readiness” (October7, 2014): http://www.fairtest.org/2014-sat-score-trend-remains-flat-testfixated-scho.In addition to the Scholastic Aptitude Test,many students also take the American Col-lege Testing (ACT) college-readiness assess-ment. Earlier studies have also shown a rela-tionship between income and SAT/ACTscores. See Catherine Rampell’s “SAT Scoresand Family Income,” (August 27, 2009):https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/sat-scores-and-family-income/?_r=2;and Rebecca Klein’s “If You Want a GoodACT Score, It Really, Really Helps to BeRich” (July 2014): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/act-score-family-income_n_5600065.html.

17. Julie Berry Cullen, et al., “WhatCan Be Done to Improve Struggling HighSchools?” Journal of Economic Perspectives27:2 (Spring 2013): 133-152.

18. Ibid.19. The Education Trust, “Yes We Can:

Telling Truths and Dispelling Myths AboutRace and Education in America” (2006):https://edtrust.org/resource/yes-we-can-telling-truths-and-dispelling-myths-about-race-and-education-in-america/.

20. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages

(Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1898),72.

21. __________, Education, 13.22. __________, Gospel Workers (Wash-

ington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1915), 29.23. Matthew 25:40. Scripture quoted

from the New King James Version®. Copy-right © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used bypermission. All rights reserved.

24. National Association of SecondarySchool Principals, Leadership Matters: WhatResearch Says About the Importance of Prin-cipal Leadership (2013): http://www.naesp. org/sites/default/files/LeadershipMatters.pdf;Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, andSteven G. Rivkin, “School Leaders Matter:Measuring the Impact of Effective Prin -cipals,” Education Next 13:1 (Winter 2013):http://educationnext.org/school-leaders-matter/.

25. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages,Book 1 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Her-ald, 1958), 128.

26. Ibid., 37.27. Demographic Survey of the Seventh-

day Adventist Church in North America.28. United States Census, 2014: https://

www.census.gov/quickfacts/.29. Paul Fisher and Alita Nandi, “Poverty

Across Ethnic Groups Through Recessionand Austerity,” The Joseph Rowntree Founda-tions (March 2015): https://www.jrf.org.uk/ report/poverty-across-ethnic-groups-through-recession-and-austerity.

30. White, The Desire of Ages, 330.31. Thambi Thomas, “The Five Percent

Solution: Making the ‘Vision’ Viable Again”:https://crae.lasierra.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/thomas-thambi.pdf.

32. See College of the Ozarks, “Tuition,Fees and Cost of Education Scholarship”:https://www.cofo.edu/Page/Admissions/Financial-Aid/Tuition-Fees-and-Cost-of-Education-Scholarship.362.html. As of 2015, thecollege endowment was $427.3 million.

33. See Seton Education Partners BlendedLearning Initiative: http://www.setonpartners.org/what-we-do/blended-learning-initiative/.

34. See Purpose Built Communities:http://purposebuiltcommunities.org/ andNew Tech Network: https://newtechnetwork.org/. For more information on Project-based Learning, see The Buck Institute:https://www.bie.org/.

35. Romans 14:23, KJV.36. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the

Church, Vol. 3 (Mountain View, Calif.: PacificPress, 1875), 450.


Choosing where their child will go to school is ar-guably one of the most important decisions par-ents make. This decision is bound not only withconsiderations for their children’s academic edu-

cation, but also heavily complicated by factors such asworldview, peer influence, safety, and a myriad of other con-cerns that affect the child’s success in school. We have seenmany parents overwhelmed by the responsibility of thischoice, turning from friends to family members to colleaguesto certified professionals to help them decide what school,what system, what option would be best for their child.

Those of us who are passionate about Adventist educa-tion believe that Adventist schools make this decision easy,don’t we? We believe that Adventist education providesa quality academic foundation through a curriculum in-formed by biblical principles and infused with Christ’s pro-found love and grace. We believe that our schools offer en-vironments in which children can thrive wholistically,

growing physically, mentally, and spiritually—a clear“win” for parents.

And yet, the enrollment decline in Adventist K-12 schoolsacross North America suggests that many families are notmaking that choice anymore—that the decision is not sosimple and that in the end, many are opting for a differenteducational system for their children.

North American Division (NAD) leaders have been con-cerned about this issue for some time as they have witnessedschools closing and enrollment numbers dwindling; and so,in May 2014, the NAD Administrative Summit appointed aNAD Education Task Force (NADET), chaired by Elissa Kidofrom La Sierra University with Larry Blackmer, NAD vicepresident for education, as secretary, to critically assess thecurrent state of Seventh-day Adventist education in the di-vision and, based on that analysis, make recommendationsto strengthen the educational system.

In early 2015, two Andrews University professors, Anneris

BY JEROME THAYER, ANNERIS CORIA-NAVIA, AIMEE LEUKERT, ELISSA KIDO, and LARRY BLACKMER


STRENGTHENING ADVENTISTEDUCATION IN THE NORTH

AMERICAN DIVISION—Recommendations for Educators

Coria-Navia and Jerome Thayer, began a Strengthening Ad-ventist Education (SAE) research project with NAD supportto study the same issues concurrently. They collected datafrom 27 interviews (about half with educators and half withnon-educators), 16 focus groups (with 184 K-12 educatorsand 108 conference and union officers), and online surveys(95 K-12 educators and 52 officers).

The NADET, with its team of 19 educators, lay persons,and administrative officers, worked for two years, discussingthe myriad of factors affecting Adventist education, drawingperspectives from a think tank comprised of more than 40individuals both within and outside of education, and work-ing in subcommittees to further focus on specific issues.

Both groups functioned independently and came up withmany recommendations for strengthening Adventist edu-cation, which, upon closer analysis, revealed many similarfindings.

The NADET presented their report at the NAD Year-endMeeting in October 2016. All recommendations in the reportwere discussed and approved by a strong majority of the at-tendees.

As stakeholders in Adventist education, we believe thatthis journal’s readership should not only be informed aboutthese recommendations, but also equally inspired and con-cerned by the findings of the two studies. The recommen-dations shed great insight on the current state of Adventistschools in the North American Division and make clear sug-gestions regarding the direction the NAD needs to take inorder to build a stronger educational system.

The recommendations in the next eight sections are basedon the consensus of the members of the NADET and theconference and union educators and officers in the SAEfocus groups. The full 63-page NADET report1 and the full77-page SAE report2 can be obtained online.

Importance and Mission of Adventist Education

The Seventh-day Adventist Church was founded on firmbiblical principles, such as an unwavering belief in the Sec-ond Coming and the all-encompassing saving grace of Jesus.These tenets directed the formation of the Adventist educa-tional system, as early church members built schools thatwould academically educate and spiritually nurture theirchildren. The desire for quality education met with the con-viction to share Adventist beliefs and in that intersection,Adventist education was born.

As time has passed, however, there has been a notablechange among NAD members as to the value of belongingto and supporting the Adventist Church, which has led to adistinctly different perspective on the place and necessityof the Adventist educational system. Adventist educationshould be rich with strong academics, yet there are ingredi-ents unique to successful Adventist schools that demandfocus. These elements are centered in religion/spirituality,service and caring, and also include the extent to which theconstituency values an Adventist education.3

RecommendationsWe recommend more attention to increasing denomina-

tional loyalty and stewardship, specifically as it relates to theimportance and mission of Adventist education.

At every level (local church to General Conference), thereneeds to be a renewed focus on the value of belonging toand supporting the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Withoutdenominational loyalty, parents are less likely to support Ad-ventist education.

Since many members and pastors have not attended Sev-enth-day Adventist schools, there needs to be increased focuson the importance of Adventist education to the mission ofthe church. Many members who become Adventists as adultsare unlikely to embrace the value of Adventist education un-less effort is made to facilitate their understanding in thisarea. This is particularly important for pastors who joinedthe church as adults and did not attend Adventist schools.

When selecting teachers and principals, their commit-ment to the church and to Adventist education and their abil-ity to articulate the unique mission of both need to be con-sidered.

Collaboration Between Teachers and Pastors

Although it is common for those who engage in the church’sevangelistic ministries (pastors) and educational ministries(teachers and educational administrators) to function some-what independently, both ministries are crucial to the devel-opment of children, and therefore collaboration between themcan facilitate the success of mutually held objectives. The re-sults of a study exploring the qualities of exceptional partner-ships between teachers and pastors demonstrate that such part-nerships yield varied streams of financial support, a meaningfulpastoral presence among students and faculty, spiritual sup-port, mutual accountability, and church-based promotion ofthe school such as regular student and school staff participationin worship services.4

A healthy church-school relationship can exist only if theteachers and principal of the Adventist school realize the valueand importance of their involvement in the local Adventistchurch, and likewise the pastor realizes the value and impor-tance of involvement in the local Adventist school. The teach-ers, principal, and pastor need to value one another’s workand collaborate in their ministry to the children of the church.

RecommendationsWe recommend that those who engage in the church’s

evangelistic ministries and educational ministries collaborateeffectively for the spiritual nurture of children and their fam-ilies connected to the church and/or school. This will requiremore communication between educators, pastors, and offi-cers, and greater intentionality at the conference, union, anddivision levels, as well as at the local level. Both partiesshould collaborate in developing a plan that articulates howteachers should work with pastors in the church and howpastors should work with the teachers in the school. Barriers


to ensure that all Adventist schools provide quality educa-tional offerings, have adequate facilities, and that rigorousaccreditation standards are applied consistently. We specifi-cally suggest the following:

• Ensure that the membership of the NAD Commissionon Accreditation includes persons who are not involved inAdventist education, including lay persons and other impar-tial members committed to education;

• Evaluate adherence to standards using objective meas-ures in order to reduce subjective bias;

• Institute accountability for adherence to standardsacross organizational boundaries within the NAD;

• Apply rigorous accreditation standards consistently;• Restructure the evaluation process for elementary schools

to align with the current secondary/junior academy model.

Leadership Development

Leadership has been likened to a “silver bullet” in enroll-ment growth.8 Osborn9 embraced the assertion that “the waya school is operated” ultimately impacts the school’s suc-cess. Effective school leaders must master and employ goodmanagement and leadership skills.10 They must be empow-ered to carry out a clear vision and mission; uphold high ac-ademic expectations; and cultivate mutually supportive con-nections between the school, the home, and the church.11

This vision must convey to everyone that a high standard is“expected, facilitated, and celebrated.”12

Good leadership is an essential component of a qualityschool. The development of Adventist school leadership mustbe a top priority for the Adventist Church. This developmentprocess must include attracting good leaders, training thembefore they assume a leadership position, continual profes-sional development, and supporting and affirming them.

RecommendationsWe recommend the following to enhance the quality of

leaders for Adventist schools:• Develop a recruitment plan to attract educational leaders. • Develop a plan to address the following areas to help

retain quality educational leaders:Address educator burnout, especially for teachers insmall schools, principals of boarding academies, andteaching principals;Give adequate support that would include necessarysupport staff, additional conference assistance, and fostering networking with other educational leaders; Provide an improved compensation package.

• To improve the quality of leaders, we recommend thefollowing:

that make it difficult for pastors and educators to cooperate,such as not involving evangelistic and educational ministriesin each others’ strategic planning, need to be eliminated.

Finances

The matter of cost and affordability of sending a child toan Adventist school is a recurring theme in the literature.Mainda5 found that parents, regardless of school choice for oragainst Adventist education, have indicated that the cost of tu-ition is unaffordable, requiring financial sacrifice and/or finan-cial aid. In the absence of either or both of these, parents aremore inclined to select public education. In a study by Mar-shall,6 high tuition cost was the most common reason givenby parents for not enrolling their children in Adventist schools.

The pricing model for Adventist education must bebrought into focus and properly examined, given current con-ditions. Mainda7 highlights the need for a pricing restructurein light of the effect on enrollment of an increasing numberof parents who find that Adventist education is unaffordable.

Financing Adventist education should be the responsibilityof the whole church, as it is an important part of our denom-inational mission and a practical expression of both steward-ship and evangelism. To deal with increasingly higher tuition,lower average income levels, and societal changes, a newmodel for financing Adventist education is needed.

RecommendationsWe believe that the problem of low enrollment can only

be addressed if there is less reliance on tuition and more em-phasis on other sources of revenue. In particular, we recom-mend that more of the financial burden should be shiftedfrom parents of children in Adventist schools who are mem-bers of a constituent church to all members in all churches.

For greater transparency and increased accountability, werecommend that all schools be required to adopt and imple-ment a financial dashboard, use a standard accounting/financial reporting system, require yearly assessment ofschool sustainability and viability, and include financial ac-countability in the accreditation evaluation process.

We also recommend the development of a comprehensiveplan for strategic placement of boarding academies to ad-dress whether certain schools should be consolidated orclosed.

School Quality and Accountability

Adventist schools should be held to high academic stan-dards. In order to achieve academic excellence, there mustbe quality educational offerings, excellent teachers, adequatefacilities, and a process of accountability for what the schooldelivers and what its students achieve. The primary way thathigh standards can be maintained is through a rigorous ac-creditation process.

RecommendationsWe recommend that a comprehensive plan be developed


Develop a training program for new principals inwhich they would participate before beginning theirleadership role;Establish a network of collegiality among principals;Develop a network of leadership coaching and men-torship;

School Personnel and Accountability

A prevalent challenge to Adventist education worldwideis attracting, retaining, and professionally developingteachers and academic leaders.13 While part of this chal-lenge is financial in nature, it is not an impossible barrierto overcome. The approach taken by the Inter-AmericanDivision to devise financial initiatives geared towardteacher training, increasing teacher salaries, implementinga bonus for top elementary teachers, alongside other non-personnel initiatives is evidence of this.14 An investmentin securing and further developing quality educators hasthe potential to yield significant dividends. In addition, re-cruitment, training, and mentorship deserve considerableattention in order to improve the quality of teachers whoare hired and retained.

The NAD Adventist educational system is uniquely posi-tioned to both academically educate and spiritually nurturethe children of our church. The complexity of this task restson the shoulders of our educators, who must be providedwith adequate training and resources to effectively fulfill thisresponsibility.

RecommendationsTo develop a system-wide framework that supports edu-

cators, upholds high standards, and strengthens schools, thefollowing are recommended:

• Develop a plan to identify, recruit, and groom qualitypersons (teachers and principals) who can be placed in aprospective candidate pool from which to draw when vacan-cies arise. This would include attracting quality undergrad-uates to the teaching profession, perhaps by providing tu-ition loan repayment when they are officially employed by aconference.

• Include in the teacher-training curriculum the uniquemission and value of Adventist education, skills needed toteach in small schools, and more emphasis on practicalskills.

• Devote more attention to teacher quality in employmentdecisions, both for initial hiring and for continuing employ-ment.

• Enhance financial and curriculum resources (especiallyonline) to facilitate professional growth. Continual profes-sional growth should be expected for all teachers.

• Address teacher burnout, especially for teachers in smallschools and for boarding academy and teaching principals.

Distance Learning

Collaboration is a key to strengthening schools at all lev-els.16 But since most K-12 Adventist schools in the NAD aresmall schools with few teachers and are not close to otherAdventist schools, it is difficult to have face-to-face collab-oration with other Adventist teachers. Given the growingtechnologies increasingly available, the ability to makeglobal resources accessible to teachers and students is aneffective way to bring teachers and students together. How-ever, Haerich17 found great resistance to the idea of adoptinga particular brand of online education because conferencesand unions do not want their constituents to pay an entityoutside their territory for education. Open-mindedness to-ward cooperation has great potential to increase enrollmentopportunities, enabling students to be educated in Adventistschools even if they live outside a school’s particular terri-tory. Beverly18 advances the concept of partnership by pro-posing the engagement of distance-learning opportunities,with other institutions providing “advanced placementcourses” and even “institutional interfaces and programsoutside of the Seventhday Adventist world.”

The potential and attractiveness of distance-learning op-portunities suggest a need for additional development andcoordination in this area.


T he NAD Adventist

educational system is

uniquely positioned to

both academically educate

and spiritually nurture the

children of our church. The

complexity of this task rests

on the shoulders of our educa-

tors, who must be provided

with adequate training and re-

sources to effectively fulfill

this responsibility.

Develop a well-defined, high-quality, educationalleadership institute—an intensive program that in-cludes practical training, a competency-based pathto administrative certification, and a formal mentor-ship/coaching program.

RecommendationsWe recommend increased funding for and development

of distance-learning resources through the NAD’s AdventistLearning Community (ALC). Additional materials andcourses can be developed for students—whether or notthey are enrolled in Adventist schools—and to promote theprofessional growth of teachers, pastors, and school boardmembers.

Currently, there are several division-wide approved dis-tance-education providers, such as Atlanta Adventist Acad-emy and Griggs International Academy, which offer a widerange of services to both schools and families. It is importantto coordinate the development of these programs in order tomaintain and uphold the mission of Adventist education.

Cooperation between schools, especially small schools,using videoconferencing should be encouraged.

Marketing and Public Relations

Studies suggest that parental perceptions are importantin overcoming financial and other barriers that typicallychallenge school choice.19 Indeed, parents who choose to en-roll their children, and who continue to send their childrento Adventist schools must have both the “money and the de-sire” to do so.20 Beyond this, parental satisfaction is a keyfactor in retention.21

More attention and support need to be allocated to mar-keting and public relations for Adventist education. Thereneeds to be a shift to include both “quality” and “purpose”in the content of marketing materials. While the quality ofeducation is a significant factor in a family’s choice of aschool for their child, belief in the purpose and mission ofthe school is equally important.

RecommendationsWe recommend that each school develop a comprehen-

sive marketing and public-relations plan. This plan must in-clude cooperation between teachers, the principal, and thepastor as they work in an intentional way to both conveyimportant, accurate, and timely information to parents andconstituents, and receive helpful feedback from them. Sincemost educators and pastors are not trained in marketing andpublic relations, the conference, union, or division shouldprovide extensive support resources in these areas.

Market research is needed to determine the level of satis-faction and accuracy of perceptions of parents and con-stituents. Each school should have access to an accuratedatabase that includes information about all students livingin Adventist homes in the community.

Each school should compile relevant data that can be usedto communicate the quality of the school to parents and con-stituents. Teachers and pastors must be able to clearly com-municate the value and uniqueness of Adventist education.

Schools need to have a strategy for creating positive firstimpressions and a plan for maintaining a visible and positivecommunity presence.

Conclusion

Clearly, there are a number of issues that need to be ad-dressed by educators, pastors, and conference and union offi-cers in order to strengthen NAD Adventist K-12 education. Thelist is daunting and the task monumental, but we find the al-ternative—the continued decline of enrollment—unacceptable.

The strong approval of the NADET recommendations atthe Year-end Meetings as well as the administrative supportgiven to the SAE study provided an excellent first step in ef-fecting change in the educational system, but it will take acommitment and investment from all stakeholders in Ad-ventist education to ensure continued progress.

These recommendations call for teachers and pastors toinvest extra effort to collaborate as a ministry team, and forleadership at the division, union, and conference levels tomake necessary changes in the system to more fully supportAdventist schools. A number of areas are begging for atten-tion—distance learning, marketing, finances, and leadershipdevelopment—each of which must be addressed in order forour educational system to thrive.

We strongly believe that Adventist schools have a uniquerole to play in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its future.They have the opportunity to provide children with a qualityeducation alongside lessons in growing a deep relationshipwith their Savior—and there should be no price too high orobstacle too difficult to ensure that enrolling their child in Ad-ventist education is an easy decision for every parent. ✐

This article has been peer reviewed.


T here should be no

price too high or

obstacle too diffi-

cult to ensure that enrolling

their child in Adventist edu-

cation is an easy decision

for every parent.

A companion article with recommendations for pastorsand church administrators will be published in the June

2017 issue of Ministry magazine.

Jerome Thayer, PhD, is Professor Emer-itus of Research and Statistical Method-ology at Andrews University, BerrienSprings, Michigan, U.S.A.

Anneris Coria-Navia, EdD, is AssistantProfessor of Curriculum and Instructionat Andrews University.

Aimee Leukert, MA, is the Assistant Di-rector for the Center for Research on Ad-ventist Education, La Sierra University,Riverside, California, U.S.A.

Elissa Kido, EdD, is the Director for theCenter for Research on Adventist Educa-tion, La Sierra University.

Larry Blackmer, EdD, is Vice Presidentfor Education for the North American Di-vision of Seventh-day Adventists in SilverSpring, Maryland, U.S.A.

resource.phtml?leaf=27873.3. Richard C. Osborn, “Ingredients of the Most Successful Schools

in the North American Division,” The Journal of Adventist Education68:1 (October/November 2005): 4-9: http://circle.adventist.org//files/ jae/en/jae200568010406.pdf; Berit von Pohle, Constituents’ Perceptionsin Northern California Conference: Determining What Aspects of Sev-enth-day Adventist Education Are Important (EdD dissertation, La SierraUniversity, 2013).

4. Bill Keresoma, “Pastors and Schools—A Dream Team,” The Jour-nal of Adventist Education 71:2 (December 2008/January 2009): 27-32:http://circle.adventist.org//files/jae/en/jae200871022706.pdf.

5. Philip Omenge Mainda, “Selected Factors Influencing SchoolChoice Among the Seventh-day Adventist Population in SouthwestMichigan,” Journal of Research on Christian Education 11:2 (2002): 185-218: http://circle.adventist.org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=10456.

6. Dennis E. Marshall, “An Investigation Into the Issue of Low En-rollment in Adventist Schools in Canada and How It Is Being Addressed”(November 2008): http://catnet.adventist.ca/files/resources/res_41.pdf.

7. Mainda, “Selected Factors Influencing School Choice.” 8. Jerrell E. Gilkeson, Success Stories: The Development of a Theory

to Explain the Qualities Found in Adventist Schools That Show ConsistentEnrollment Increases (EdD dissertation, La Sierra University, 2008):http:// circle.adventist.org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=11282.

9. Osborn, “Ingredients of the Most Successful Schools.” 10. Lyndon C. Furst, “Managing the Small School: Being Your Own Ad-

ministrator,” The Journal of Adventist Education 66:1 (October/November2003): 15-19: http://circle.adventist.org//files/ jae/en/ jae200366011505. pdf.

11. Gilkeson, Success Stories; Osborn, “Ingredients of the Most Suc-cessful Schools in the North American Division”; Keresoma, “Pastorsand Schools—A Dream Team”; Rick Newberry, Nine Factors That AffectSchool Enrollment Growth (2012): http://www. enrollmentcatalyst. com/ 2012/03/21/nine-factors-that-affect-school-enrollment-growth/.

12. von Pohle, Constituents’ Perceptions in Northern California Con-ference.

13. Humberto M. Rasi, “Adventist Education in the 21st Century: EightSignificant Trends,” The Journal of Adventist Education 72:5 (Summer2010): 6-9: http://circle.adventist.org//files/ jae/en/jae201072050604. pdf.

14. Ella S. Simmons, “Getting Down to Business: Thinking Strategi-cally About Adventist Education,” Adventist World 6:6 (May 2010): 36,37: http://archives.adventistworld.org/2010/may/getting-down-to-business.html.

15. Stephanie Saroki and Christopher Levenick, Saving America’sUrban Catholic Schools: A Guide for Donors (Washington, D.C.: The Phi-lanthropy Roundtable, 2009): https://www.cristoreynetwork.org/uploaded/Document_files/CathSchGuidebk_low_res.pdf.

16. Shirley Freed, “An Update on K-12 Distributed Education in theNorth American Division,” The Journal of Adventist Education 70:2 (De-cember 2007/January 2008): 33, 46, 47: http://circle.adventist.org// files/jae/en/jae200770023303.pdf.

17. Donna Haerich, “Adventist Education in the 21st Century,” Spec-trum (July 23, 2010): http://spectrummagazine.org/node/2539.

18. Olivia Dianne Beverly, An Assessment of Factors Influencing Stu-dent Enrollment Within the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-dayAdventist Secondary Schools (PhD dissertation, Wayne State University,2010): http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/137/.

19. Gus Gregorutti, Factors Influencing Enrollment in Adventist K-12 Schools: A Review of the Literature (2007): http://circle. adventist. org/download/FactorsInfluencingK12Enrollment.pdf; Beverly, ibid.

20. Loren Seibold, “Why Adventist K-12 Education Struggles,” Spec-trum (January 8, 2009): http://spectrummagazine.org/node/1326; GeneEdelbach, “Helping the Impossible Become Possible: Removing the Finan-cial Barriers to Enrollment,” The Journal of Adventist Education 64:1 (Oc-tober/November 2001): 14-17: http://circle.adventist.org// files/jae/en/ jae200164011404.pdf.

21. Newberry, Nine Factors That Affect School Enrollment Growth.


NOTES AND REFERENCES1. NAD Education Taskforce Final Report (2016): http://circle.advent

ist. org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=28693.2. Jerome Thayer and Anneris Coria-Navia, Strengthening Adventist

Education—NAD 2016 Research Report: http://circle.adventist.org/ browse/

Given the effort and thecosts involved, Seventh-day Adventist parentssometimes wonder: “Does

Adventist education truly make a dif-ference? Do the benefits gained out-weigh the expenditure? Is sending mychild to the Adventist school an ex-pense or an investment?”

Pastors and other church leadersalso ponder: “Is Adventist educationtruly evangelism? Does it justify theresources that we invest? If so, howcan we present a persuasive case forAdventist education to parents andother church members?”

Writing to church leaders and edu-cators, Ellen White declared that theall-important issue in Adventist edu-cation is the conversion of the stu-dent.1 While there have been studies,

such as the CognitiveGenesis re-search,2 which have examined theacademic performance of students inAdventist schools, this article willfocus on two key outcomes: acces-sion and retention—joining the Ad-ventist Church and remaining in thedenomination.

So what do we know about accessand retention, and the role of Sev-enth-day Adventist education? Inshort, there is a consistent and impor-tant relationship between attendingan Adventist school and the likeli-hood that a child or youth will jointhe Adventist Church and thenchoose to remain a member. We’lltake a look at the evidence.

Joining the Church

In the biblical model, conversionis expressed through baptism.3 Bap-tism, in turn, is a public statement ofone’s desire to formally join thechurch. Is there support for the roleof Adventist education in accessionto the church?

Adventist education is the longestand largest evangelistic event held bythe Adventist Church. It is also one ofthe most effective.

Depending on the country andthe educational system, the durationof a school day can range from fiveto nine hours, and a school year canrange from 160 to 260 days.4 An in-dividual student could attend an Ad-ventist school from a single year toperhaps 16 years or more. At mini-


B Y J O H N W E S L E Y T A Y L O R V

JOINING AND REMAINING:A Look at the Data on

the Role of Adventist Education

mum, if a student attends an Ad-ventist school for just a single year,this represents an evangelistic op-portunity of at least 800 hours. Touse evangelistic terminology, thisequates to a person attending anevangelistic series two hours pernight for 400 nights. If a student,however, continues in Adventist ed-ucation from 1st grade through uni-versity studies, the evangelistic po-tential could increase to more than37,000 hours.

In Adventist education, 5,705evangelistic sites specialize in chil-dren 5-12 years old, with 51,965evangelists and 1,188,910 persons at-tending each day. Also, 2,336 evan-gelistic sites focus on adolescents 13-16 years old, with 36,711 evangelistsand 583,946 in attendance. For youthand young adults, there are 167 evan-gelistic venues, with 14,103 evangel-ists and 142,530 attending. All told,Adventist education represents morethan 8,000 evangelistic sites, withmore than 100,000 evangelists in-volved and nearly 2 million in atten-dance each day.5 Certainly, it is thelargest evangelistic endeavor of thechurch.

Is it effective? Each year for thepast 10 years, there have been at least30,000 and in some years, more than50,000 students in Adventist schoolsbaptized during the school year, pri-marily in culminating events such asa Week of Prayer. The total for the2006-2015 period was 427,313 bap-tisms.6 To look at it another way, thisis equivalent to a typical-size confer-ence being established each yearthrough the evangelistic ministry ofAdventist education.

While only a few studies havecompared attendance at Adventistschools with the baptismal rate ofchildren from Adventist families, theones that have examined this connec-tion concluded that Adventist educa-tion does make a significant differ-ence in terms of children and youthjoining the church.

A 1990 study, for example, ana-lyzed 844 children and youth from Ad-ventist families in the Southern UnionConference of the North American Di-vision.7 Of those children and youthwho had no Adventist education, 40.1percent were never baptized. Of thosewith one or more years of Adventisteducation, 15.4 percent were neverbaptized; while in the group with 11or more years of Adventist education,

only 3.1 percent were never baptized(see Figure 1).

Another study conducted in 1985of 807 children and youth from Ad-ventist families in the Lake UnionConference of the North AmericanDivision found similar results.8 Ofthose children and youth with noAdventist education, 38.3 percentnever joined the church. In thegroup with some Adventist educa-


No Adventisteducation

1+ years Adventisteducation


Neverbaptized

Baptized

15.4%

Figure 1. School Attendance and Baptism Source: Kenneth James Epperson study

84.6%96.9%

3.1%

40.1%

59.9%


Some Adventisteducation

12 grades Adventisteducation

4.6%

95.4%100.0%

0.0%

38.3%

61.7%

Neverjoined thechurch

Joined thechurch

Figure 2. School Attendance and Church MembershipSource: Warren Minder study

tion, 4.6 percent never joined thechurch, while 100 percent of those inthe sample who studied all 12 gradesin Adventist education joined thechurch (see Figure 2).

Remaining in the Church

While joining the church is foun-dational, retention is equally impor-tant. Sadly, many of those who jointhe Adventist Church subsequentlyleave the denomination. Over thepast 50 years (1965-2015), for exam-ple, there have been 34,385,004 ac-cessions in the Adventist Churchworldwide. During the same period,13,737,205 people left the church.9

This represents a net loss of 39.95percent. In effect, for every 10 peoplewho joined the church, four haveslipped away.

The ratios are no better for youngpeople. In the Youth Retention studythat attempted to track more than1,500 baptized 15- and 16-year-oldsin the North American Division for10 years (1988-1998), results indi-cated that in most of the demo-graphic groups, at least 40 to 50 per-cent had left the church by theirmid-20s.10 Tragically, we are not justlosing one of 10 coins, as describedin Jesus’ parable.11 We are losinghalf of the coins! The questionposed by the prophet Jeremiah be-comes increasingly poignant:“Where is the flock entrusted toyou, your beautiful flock?”12

We turn now to the matter of theretention of children and youth inthe Seventh-day Adventist Church.Over a span of some 25 years, atleast seven studies have examinedthe role of Adventist education in re-tention, with the most recent re-search reported in 2014. Some ofthese studies have focused on spe-cific regional populations, while oth-ers are more global in nature. Somepresent a snapshot in time, whileothers have taken a longitudinal ap-proach. While each has inherentlimitations, as do all studies, to-gether they present a picture that isconsistent and clear.

One of the largest studies wasthe set of Valuegenesis surveys, con-ducted over a 20-year period, from1990 to 2010.13 Valuegenesis1 datafrom 2,267 12th-grade Adventist stu-dents in Adventist schools in theNorth American Division, for exam-ple, showed that the more years ofAdventist schooling, the greater theperson’s reported loyalty to the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church, his orher belief in the fundamental teach-ings of the church, and his or herintention to remain an Adventist atage 40. In the 2010 Valuegenesis3

survey, 81 percent of all students in-dicated that attending an Adventistschool was the most important fac-

tor that had helped them developtheir religious faith, with the Ad-ventist school ranking more highlythan any other factor (see Figure 3).Across all three Valuegenesis studies(1990-2010), a full 75 percent of Ad-ventist students in Adventist schoolsbelieved that the chances of their re-maining in the Adventist Church atage 40 were good to excellent.

We have noted the Youth Reten-tion study, which endeavored to fol-low high school students for 10 years,utilizing a sample about evenly di-vided between students in Adventistschools and in non-Adventist schoolsin the U.S. and Canada. One of thekey findings of this research was thatthe number of years in an Adventistschool was positively related to com-mitment to Jesus Christ and to com-


Attending an Adventist school

Family I grew up in

Mother’s faith

School weeks of prayer

Father’s faith

Grandparent’s faith

Adventist summer camps

Student weeks of prayer

Pathfinders

My Bible teacher

Bible classes in school

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Figure 3. Faith Development Factors

Very much

Not at all

Source: V. Bailey Gillespie, Valuegenesis3

mitment to personal Bible study, aswell as to the statements “My rela-tionship with Christ is stronger now”and “Religion is important in mylife.”14 Furthermore, intention tomarry an Adventist in students whoattended an Adventist school wasnearly twice the proportion of thosewho had not attended an Adventistschool (83 percent vs. 46 percent, re-spectively). At the 10-year mark, theprobability of leaving the AdventistChurch was 3.9 times greater forthose who had attended non-Advent-ist schools, compared to those whohad attended Seventh-day Adventistschools (see Figure 4).

Several doctoral dissertations havestudied retention in the context ofAdventist education. In KennethJames Epperson’s study, children ofAdventist families in the SouthernUnion Conference who had no Ad-ventist education were 4.5 timesmore likely to have infrequent or nochurch attendance, compared tothose who had 11 or more years ofAdventist education (see Figure 5).15

This is a significant finding, giventhat a lack of active involvement inthe church is often a precursor toleaving the church.16

In 1990, Robert Rice carried out alongitudinal study in which he com-pared baptized Adventist youth insouthern California who graduatedfrom public high schools and thosewho graduated from Adventist acade-mies.17 Thirteen years after gradua-tion, 37 percent of those who hadgraduated from public high schoolsremained in the church, comparedwith 77 percent of those who hadgraduated from Adventist academies(see Figure 6). Rice also found thatthose who had graduated from Ad-ventist academies were twice as likelyto pay tithe (50 percent vs. 26 per-cent), twice as likely to attend an Ad-ventist church service regularly (59percent vs. 32 percent), twice as in-clined to educate their own childrenin an Adventist school (59 percent vs.29 percent), and nearly three timesmore likely to have married an Ad-


Figure 4. Youth Retention Study Source: Roger L. Dudley study




20.8%

79.2%90.7%

42.0%

58.0%

Infrequentor no churchattendance

Regularchurchattendance

Remained in the Adventist Church 10 years later

Probability

of leaving

the church:

4.5x more

likely

3.9xgreater

Yes No

91%

9%

35%

65%

9.3%

Figure 6. Retention and Baptism Source: Robert Rice study

Public high schoolgraduates

37%

18%

63%

23%

38%

7% 77%

13%5%

Never baptizedNo longer a memberMember not attendingBaptized and attending

Adventist academygraduates

6%{

{Figure 5. Church Attendance

Source: Kenneth James Epperson study

ventist spouse (78 percent vs. 27 per-cent), compared to those who gradu-ated from a public high school.18

Warren Minder’s study, conductedin the Lake Union Conference, alsoconsidered retention, identifyingthose who joined and remained, andthose who joined but subsequentlyleft the church.19 In sum, only 50.8percent of those youth from Adventistfamilies who had not experienced Ad-ventist education joined and re-mained in the church, compared to98.2 percent of those who had stud-ied all 12 grades in Adventist schools(see Figure 7).

The Center for Creative Ministryrecently conducted a global qualita-tive study in which 925 former or in-active church members were inter-viewed. Findings indicate that only17 percent of lapsed and ex-mem-bers had received any form of Ad-ventist education, compared to 56percent of those who were currentmembers.20 This threefold differenceprovides evidence that those whohave not experienced Adventist edu-cation are disproportionately morelikely to become inactive or leave(see Figure 8). The study concludedthat one of the greatest retention is-sues for the Adventist Church relatesto young adults rising into the mid-dle class. These were individualswho joined the church when theywere younger and had less educa-tion. As their education, predomi-nantly in non-Adventist institutions,progressed, however, they quit at-tending regularly and eventually leftthe Adventist Church.

Global studies conducted by theGeneral Conference Office ofArchives, Statistics, and Research in2013 and 2014 have also revealedkey differences between ex-membersand current members in terms of theproportion who have attended Ad-ventist schools.21 Current memberswere twice as likely to have Seventh-day Adventist tertiary educationcompared to ex-members who had

studied at the tertiary level. Currentmembers who had secondary educa-tion as their highest education were2.5 times as likely to have studied inan Adventist school, compared toex-members who had secondary ed-ucation as their highest level ofstudies. Finally, current memberswho had elementary education as

their highest education were threetimes as likely to have studied in anAdventist elementary school, com-pared to ex-members who had ele-mentary education as their highestlevel of studies (see Figure 9). Thismay suggest that early Adventist ed-ucation is an especially powerfulfactor in retention.



Some Adventisteducation

12 grades Adventisteducation

16.4%

78.9%

98.2%

50.8%

Never joined

Joined butthen left

Joined andremained

1.8%

0.0%

Figure 8. School Attendance of Former and Inactive MembersSource: Center for Creative Ministry study

3.x

4.6%

10.9%

38.3%

Current members

Only SDAeducation

Othereducation

Lapsed Adventistmembers

17%

83%

44%

56%

Figure 7. Retention and MembershipSource: Warren Minder study

Conclusion

Although further research, particu-larly in specific populations aroundthe world, would be beneficial, theresearch that we have presents a per-suasive conclusion: Adventist educa-tion is a consistent and importantpredictor of children and youth join-ing and remaining in the Seventh-dayAdventist Church. As Ellen White ob-served: “In the highest sense, thework of education and the work ofredemption are one.”22

In essence, Adventist education ismission. Through Adventist educa-tion, children and youth experienceaccession and retention, for the ulti-

mate purpose of redemption (see Fig-ure 10). Consequently, the Seventh-day Adventist Church must reaffirmand uplift the central role of Advent-ist education in the evangelistic mis-sion of the church.

The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Allyour children shall be taught by theLord, and great shall be the peace ofyour children.”23 The Hebrew wordtranslated “peace” in this passage isshâlôm. While shâlôm does includethe concept of peace, it incorporatesmuch more—safety, well-being,health, prosperity, and happiness.Shâlôm is what we want for our chil-dren and youth. There is a condition,

however. In order to experienceshâlôm, our children and youth mustbe taught by God.

Taught by God. Through Seventh-day Adventist education. ✐

Adapted from a presentation at the2017 Pan-African LEAD Conference inKigali, Rwanda, February 15-19, 2017.

John Wesley Tay-lor V, EdD, PhD,serves as an Asso-ciate Director ofEducation in theGeneral Confer-ence Departmentof Education in

Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A. Hisgrandfather, John Wesley Taylor III,joined the Seventh-day AdventistChurch while attending an Adventistacademy, and later, as a physician,served as a missionary in SouthAmerica and in Inter-America. Sincethat time, three generations have beeneducated in Adventist schools, haveremained in the Adventist Church,and together have provided more thana century of service to the church.

NOTES AND REFERENCES1. Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Chris-

tian Education (Nashville, Tenn.: SouthernPublishing, 1923), 436.

2. CognitiveGenesis was a longitudinalstudy conducted from 2006 to 2009, involv-ing more than 800 Adventist schools in theUnited States, Canada, and Bermuda, withapproximately 52,000 participating studentsin grades 3-9 and grade 11. Standardizedachievement test results indicated that stu-dents in Adventist schools in the U.S. out-performed the national average in all sub-jects; for all grade levels, school sizes, andethnic groups; and regardless of abilitylevel. Furthermore, the more years a stu-dent attended an Adventist school, thegreater the improvement in performance.This “Adventist advantage” in educationbecame the subject of a PBS documentaryThe Blueprint by award-winning producerMartin Doblmeier. Further information on


Ex-Members

Stayed: 3x 2.5x 2x

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

84.5%

15.5%

53.9%

46.1%

85.7%

14.3%

64.9%

35.1%

93.1%

6.9%

87.0%

13.0%

Only SDA Education Other Education

CurrentMembers

Ex-Members

CurrentMembers

Ex-Members

CurrentMembers

Figure 9. School Attendance of Current Members Source: General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research

{

Elementary/Primaryschool attendance

{ {

Secondary/Highschool attendance

Tertiary: College/university attendance

Figure 10.

In Adventist education, children and youth experience. . .

Accession Retention Redemption

the CognitiveGenesis study may be found in“CognitiveGenesis (CG): Assessing Aca-demic Achievement and Cognitive Abilityin Adventist Schools,” Journal of Researchon Christian Education 21:2 (2012): 99-115by J. Thayer and E. Kido. A summary isalso available at http://adventisteducation. org/assessment/cognitive_genesis/overview.

3. Matthew 3:6, 11; 28:19; Mark 1:5;16:16; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12, 13, 36-38; 13:24; 16:31-33; 18:8. Unless otherwiseindicated, all Scripture quotations in this ar-ticle are taken from the New InternationalVersion (NIV). Holy Bible, New InternationalVersion®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978,1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permis-sion. All rights reserved worldwide.

4. “School Days Around the World”:https://norberthaupt.com/2012/04/20/school-days-around-the-world/; “School DaysAround the World” (June 2015) Infographic:http://elearninginfographics.com/school-days-around-world-infographic/. Total number ofhours in school can range from 15,200 in Fin-land to 37,400 in China, which holds therecord for both highest number of hours perday and highest number of days per year, at 9and 260 respectively.

5. General Conference Office of Archives,Statistics, and Research, 2016 Annual Statis-tical Report: 152nd Report of the General Con-ference of Seventh-day Adventists® for 2015:http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR2016.pdf.

6. Statistics provided by the Departmentof Education, General Conference of Sev-enth-day Adventists.

7. Kenneth James Epperson, The Rela-tionship of Seventh-day Adventist SchoolAttendance to Seventh-day AdventistChurch Membership in the Southern UnionConference. EdD dissertation, Loma LindaUniversity, 1990. In this study, 300 familyunits were randomly selected from theSouthern Union Conference of the NorthAmerican Division, and 210 families re-sponded, representing a return rate of 70percent. Of the individuals in the study, 40percent had never attended an Adventistschool. Children and youth from Adventistfamilies who were baptized into the Ad-ventist Church had attended an Adventistschool for 8.06 years on average, whilethose children and youth who were neverbaptized into the Adventist Church had at-tended Adventist schools for an average ofonly 2.42 years, yielding a significant rela-tionship (p<0.000) between the number ofyears in Adventist schools and baptism.The study also indicated that of those whowere baptized, 2.6 percent were baptizedprior to the age of 8 years old, 63.7 percentwere baptized between the ages of 8 and15, while 14.2 percent were baptized be-

tween the ages of 16-23. The 7th grade wasthe most frequent grade level at whichchildren were baptized, with 61.0 percentof those baptized having been baptized be-tween grades 5 and 8.

8. Warren E. Minder, A Study of the Re-lationship Between Church-sponsored K-12Education and Church Membership in theSeventh-day Adventist Church. EdD disser-tation, Western Michigan University, 1985.In this study, 400 family units were ran-domly selected from the Lake Union Con-ference in the North American Division.The study reported a return rate of 71.8percent and a sampling error of approxi-mately 3.25 percent. The study found a sig-nificant relationship (p<.001) between thenumber of years in grades 1 to 12 that aperson attended an Adventist school andwhether or not the person was baptizedinto the Seventh-day Adventist Church.There was also a significant relationship(p<.001) between the church membershipof each parent and baptism of the child, aswell as between parental active involve-ment in the church and baptism of thechild (p=.0011 for the mother; p=.0191 forthe father). Minder also cited results froman earlier study, “A Study of Seventh-dayAdventist Church Members,” conducted inthe Pacific Union Conference in 1962(N=83,662; 68 percent return rate). Thatstudy reported that for young people whohad attended all 12 grades at an Adventistschool, 97 percent had joined the church,as opposed to 32 percent of the young peo-ple from Adventist families who did not at-tend any Adventist school during elemen-tary and secondary schooling. Further, itwas reported that in the group that had re-ceived some K-12 schooling in Adventistschools, 57 percent joined the church.

9. Figures provided by the Secretariat ofthe General Conference of Seventh-day Ad-ventists.

10. Roger L. Dudley, Why Our TeenagersLeave the Church: Personal Stories From a 10-year Study (Hagerstown, Md.: Review andHerald, 2000), 35. “At least 40 percent to 50percent of Seventh-day Adventist teenagersin North America are essentially leaving thechurch by their middle 20s.”

11. Luke 15:8-10.12. Jeremiah 13:20 (CEB). Copyright ©

2011 by Common English Bible.13. Roger L. Dudley and V. Bailey Gil -

lespie, Valuegenesis1: Faith in the Balance(Riverside, Calif.: La Sierra University Press,1992); Roger L. Dudley and Janet LeighKangas, “Valuegenesis1: How Does Advent-

ist Education Affect Youth Attitudes?” TheJournal of Adventist Education 52:4 (April-May 1990): 24-29, 45, 46; Jerome Thayer,“The Impact of Adventist Schools on Stu-dents.” Paper presented at the 4th Sympo-sium on the Bible and Adventist Scholar-ship, Riviera Maya, Estado Quintana Roo,Mexico, March 16-22, 2008: http://fae.adventist.org/ essays/iv_Thayer_Jerry.pdf.The Valuegenesis1 survey (1990) receivedresponses from 10,641 Adventist students inAdventist schools and 457 Adventist stu-dents in non-Adventist schools in NorthAmerica. Thayer subsequently analyzed asub-sample consisting of 2,267 12th-gradeAdventist students in Adventist schools.The report of a replication of the Valuegene-sis1 survey in the South Pacific Division in1993 is available at http://circle.adventist. org/files/download/VGCORERE.pdf. A fur-ther replication of the Valuegenesis1 surveywas conducted in Puerto Rico in 1995, withreports available at http://digitalcommons. andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&context=dissertations and http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1468&context=dissertations. See V. Bailey Gillespie, Michael J.Donahue, Ed Boyatt, and Barry Gane, TenYears Later: A Study of Two Generations(Riverside, Calif.: La Sierra University Press,2003); and V. Bailey Gillespie, “Valuegene-sis2: Adventist Schools Do Make a Differ-ence,” The Journal of Adventist Education65:1 (October/November 2002): 12-16.More than 16,000 Adventist students ingrades 6 through 12 completed the secondValuegenesis questionnaire. The Valuegene-sis3 survey (2010) received responses frommore than 18,000 students in grades 6through 12 in Adventist schools throughoutNorth America (Bailey Gillespie, “Valuegen-esis3 Update: Research Information Sum-mary,” Issues 1-5. Published by the JohnHancock Center for Youth and Family Min-istry, Riverside, California).

14. Roger L. Dudley, “Understanding theSpiritual Development and the Faith Experi-ence of College and University Students onChristian Campuses,” Journal of Research onChristian Education 8:1 (Spring 1999): 5-28;__________. “Youth Religious CommitmentOver Time: A Longitudinal Study of Reten-tion,” Review of Religious Research, 41:1(1999): 110-121; __________, “Christian Edu-cation and Youth Retention in the SDAChurch,” The Journal of Adventist Education62:3 (February/March 2000): 8-13;__________, Why Our Teenagers Leave theChurch: Personal Stories From a 10-yearStudy (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald,2000); Jerome Thayer, “The Impact of Ad-ventist Schools on Students” (Unpublishedpaper, 2008). This paper included a re-analy-


sis of the Youth Retention Study data. TheYouth Retention study (Roger Dudley) beganin 1988 with 1,523 baptized Adventist youthages 15 and 16 in the United States andCanada. These individuals were surveyedeach year in order to determine what fac -tors were related to staying or leaving thechurch. When the study ended 10 years later,783 (51.4 percent) of the original group, nowyoung adults, completed the survey. Dudleyspeculated that many of the young peoplewho dropped out of the study were nolonger church members.

15. Kenneth James Epperson, The Rela-tionship of Seventh-day Adventist School At-tendance to Seventh-day Adventist ChurchMembership in the Southern Union Confer-ence. EdD dissertation, Loma Linda Univer-sity, 1990. Further analysis yielded a posi-tive relationship (p<0.021) betweenAdventist school attendance and regular at-tendance at a Seventh-day Adventistchurch. Epperson also reported that chil-dren who had both parents as members ofthe Adventist Church averaged an atten-dance of 8.4 years in Adventist schools,compared to 1.19 years when only one par-ent was a member of the Adventist Church,representing a significant difference(p<0.000). For 53.6 percent of those who

no longer regularly attended an Adventistchurch, neither parent was a member ofthe church.

16. Paul Richardson, “Survey of Formerand Inactive Adventist Church Members.”Center for Creative Ministry, Milton Free -water, Oregon, 2013: https://www.advent istarchives.org/2013-retention-study.pdf.

17. Robert W. Rice, A Survey of the Rela-tionship Between Attending Seventh-dayAdventist Academies 9-12 and SubsequentCommitment to the Seventh-day AdventistChurch. PhD dissertation, University of Den-ver, 1990. There were 264 participants inthe North American Division study, repre-senting a 70 percent return rate (65 percentfor the public high school graduates and 75percent for the Adventist academy gradu-ates). In the study, 93 percent of those whograduated from an Adventist academy hadspent the 9th grade in an Adventist school,whereas only 71 percent of those from Ad-ventist families who graduated from a pub-lic school had spent the 9th grade in a pub-lic school. These statistics may indicate atendency for certain Adventist families,whose children may begin high school in anAdventist academy, to shift enrollment to apublic high school at some point duringsecondary education.

18. Data from the Youth Retention studyyielded complementary findings in regard totithe paying.

19. Warren E. Minder, A Study of the Re-lationship Between Church-sponsored K-12Education and Church Membership in theSeventh-day Adventist Church. EdD disserta-tion, Western Michigan University, 1985. Inthe sample (N=807), 215 individuals (26.6percent) were not Seventh-day Adventists.This group was comprised of 138 individuals(64.2 percent) from Illinois, Indiana, Michi-gan, and Wisconsin, who had never joinedthe church and 77 individuals (35.8 percent) who left the church after joining. Thestudy found a strong positive relationship(p<.001) between Adventist schooling andchurch retention, wherein increased years ofAdventist schooling were associated with anincreased probability of the person remain-ing in the church.

20. Paul Richardson, “Survey of Formerand Inactive Adventist Church Members.”ASTR Publication produced by the Centerfor Creative Ministry, 2013. Of the 17 per-cent of lapsed and ex-Adventists who hadattended Adventist schools, 6 percent hadattended an Adventist primary or elemen-tary school at some point in their life, 7 per-cent had attended an Adventist secondaryschool, and 8 percent had attended an Ad-ventist college or university. Participantswere from Africa, South America, Europe,and North America.

21. Data for the school attendance of ex-members are based on the ASTR report“Leaving the Church: Why Some Seventh-day Adventist Members Leave the Church,and Why Some Come Back” (2014), a studywhich was conducted in all divisions of thechurch. Data for members are from theASTR report “Global Church Member Sur-vey” (2013), conducted in 9 out of the 13world divisions. The category “Other Edu-cation” for ex-members includes atten-dance at both Adventist and non-Adventisteducational institutions, albeit these per-centages were low: 7 percent primary, 7percent secondary, and 5 percent tertiary(based on data presented by D. J. B. Trimat the LEAD Conference “Educating forEternity” on October 6, 2016, in SilverSpring, Maryland, U.S.A.).

22. Ellen G. White, Education (MountainView, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1903), 30. This re-demptive purpose perhaps led Ellen White tourge, “There should be schools establishedwherever there is a church or company ofbelievers” (“Special Testimony to the BattleCreek Church,” [1897], 40).

23. Isaiah 54:13, NKJV. New King JamesVersion®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nel-son. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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