Rescuing Sectarian K-12 Education
By
David V. Anderson
June 26, 2008
Most Protestant
and other non-Catholic Christian denominations have placed
their trust in public schools rather than take those
responsibilities on themselves. Given the historical fact
that public education was established by and significantly
controlled by Protestant churches in its early European
development and to a lesser extent in its 19th century
American evolution, Protestants and others have felt a
traditional affiliation with public schools. That sentiment
seems to remain despite a widening divergence concerning
values and academic standards.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, public schools
are overwhelmingly separate from sectarian influences which
have been largely replaced by the politics of teachers'
unions and other lobbies dependent on the school revenues.
In consequence, one might ask if such schools still provide
the kind of academic, social, and moral education espoused
by Protestant churches and other sects?
If public schools are no longer providing the kind of
education being sought by sectarian groups, is it not their
obligation to choose appropriate alternative schools for
these pupils? We at Stellar Schools, whether under our
non-profit version or the for-profit, are ready to work
with sectarian reformers to help provide alternatives more
suitable to their values.
The features envisaged for Asora®
Education
Enterprises' Stellar Schools networks may be a good fit for
many of the needs of religious or values based K-12 school
systems. Using the Stellar Schools model within such
system(s) or schools is not an “all or none”
proposition because the features/offerings of Stellar
Schools can be introduced and evaluated one component at a
time. Stellar Schools are intended to simultaneously
improve student outcomes, lower operating costs and prevent
social promotion. These benefits are presumed to be of
interest to sectarian educators. Of particular interest and
concern is the promise of lower costs, which could help
save financially strapped schools.
Unlike the Catholic schools, that are already organized
into networks, many sectarian schools operate in very small
networks or often as stand alone entities. However,
sectarian schools could band together in special purpose
associations that would accommodate the networks and
economies of scale needed to make the Stellar Schools cost
effective. The provision of course content can be of a "mix
or match" format to accommodate client schools that might
want to choose among several courseware alternatives or
simply opt out of subjects they didn't want.
Asora and its "sister" non-profit effort, Stellar Schools
Development Corporation, are available to help sectarian
educators implement these proposals. For those who prefer
to work purely in a non-profit environment we are ready to
operate in that "world" too. We even have a (dormant)
website devoted to the non-profit version of Stellar
Schools at StellarSchools.Org.
Here now follows a recent essay we wrote suggesting a
better way to operate Catholic schools, many aspects of
which would apply to any religious or values based school
systems:
_____________
A New Model For
Catholic K-12 Education
By
David V.
Anderson
May 23, 2008
Schools
in the United States and other developed countries are
nearly all operated in an age-based group instructional
format. We believe that grouping children by age groups is
largely responsible for the poor average performance of
these students when they are tested for proficiency.
Typically, less than half of the children are found to be
proficient. These problems not only affect public schools
but also Catholic schools.
Under the label, Stellar Schools, we have designed a model
school, which uses online self-paced instruction for the
core curriculum. Children learn in a tutoring format but
within traditional schoolrooms. It is made affordable by
employing computers and the Internet to create an on-demand
(asynchronous) learning environment which is both higher
quality and less expensive than contemporary group
instructional arrangements. Age based group instruction is
eliminated from the core curricular areas. To minimize
their costs we envisage organizing these schools into
networks that would have economies of scale.
The networks of schools could be organized under a
non-profit service organization or under a for-profit
franchising company. We can work with interested parties in
either format. Our for-profit arm is the company, Asora®
Education Enterprises, while our non-profit effort will be
organized under the Stellar Schools Development
Corporation. Regardless of the profit nature of the service
organization, non-profit schools, such as Catholic parish
schools, could operate under its umbrella.
Stellar Schools networks may be a good fit for many of the
needs of Catholic K-12 education. In terms of getting costs
down, consider that:
A number of other features, potentially of interest in Catholic education, include:
We imagine that the twin benefits of improved student outcomes and lower operating costs are surely of interest to Catholic educators. Of particular interest and concern is the promise of lower costs, which could help save financially strapped schools.
Beyond those considerations, and unlike so many other private schools, which are not organized into large networks, Catholic schools often exist in sufficiently large systems where the economies of scale available from Stellar Schools may provide additional advantages. We are available to help Catholic educators and others implement these proposals.