Christian schools make a difference
Two Spirit issues ago, we looked at a George Barna study on why only 3 in 10 of 15 year olds who are in church remain or return there before they are 30 years old (and only a small additional number return after that). The cultivation of a mature, Christ-centered worldview was seen to be the biggest ‘difference-maker’ as to whether young people stayed connected to the church. Last issue, we looked at the multiple ways Cambridge Christian works to encourage that Christian worldview in our students.
Today, we’ll look at another major study completed last year called the Cardus Report. Led by a research organization and scholars from the University of Notre Dame, the study surveyed more than 2,000 people in the United States, ages 23 to 40, who had a least graduated from high scool They sampled for graduates of public school, secular prep school, Catholic Christian school, Protestant Christian school and home school.
Notice the ages of people studied. These cover two generations of graduates from these different types of schools. The results give us opportunity to see what difference is really made in students’ lives by different educational formation. And the differences were very noticeable to the objective researchers. We know anecdotal stories of some Christian school graduates who have flourished in the ways of the Lord and others who haven’t done so well. Of course, that variety happens with people, in church and out of church, trained in Christian schools and Christian homes and trained in non-Christian homes and schools. But this scientific research study identified clear differences.
The baseline ‘life impact’ was taken as public school education because there were many more of these graduates than for other types of schooling. Also, statistical work was done to allow for socioeconomic, family, religious, and other differences between the study participants so the “school effect” could be isolated.
Study results were very positive for many of the life outcomes we try for in Christian schools like ours. Protestant Christian school graduates were about twice as likely as public school students to maintain church involvement and express respect for following church teachings. These Protestant Christian school graduates were three times as likely to show church involvement and practice compared to graduates of secular private schools and Catholic Christian schools. Secular prep and Catholic educations showed a negative effect on church relationship when compared to public school education.
Though Catholic schools in the study expressed some different objectives than Protestant schools, many Catholic educators are troubled to see a Catholic education seeming to make a student less likely to practice Catholicism. Other results of the study have gotten the attention of other educational leaders.
On characteristics of commitment to personal morality and even expression of personal gratitude, the Protestant Christian school graduates showed stronger belief and practice than students from public school, Catholic Christian school and secular prep school. Students from religiously oriented home schools showed some differences but often tended to track with Protestant Christian school graduates. Home school advocates have disputed some findings because of the small sample size of their graduates studied. One finding among these homeschoolers was that they tended to have an overall negative view of their preparedness for college.
One finding on Protestant Christian school graduates went counter to the stereotype which many hold that these schools train students to withdraw from the culture and from service. These graduates showed the highest commitments to family, church and the broader community. Finally, academic results were measured, and some Protestant Christian school graduates showed themselves performing more poorly than other school graduates. An important distinction, though, was that graduates of Protestant Christian schools which are accredited (a measure of commitment to quality in education as well as character formation) showed academic performance just as good as or better than other school types.