Category Archives: Healthy Schools

Grading Is Broken, and It Needs Fixing

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Written by Dr. Ryan Rathje

Why do the vast majority of classrooms use traditional point/percentage/letter grading systems?

Do these systems effectively communicate the progress of student learning?
No.

Do these systems give the student feedback on how to improve?
No.

Do these systems output data that are valid or reliable?
No.

Do these systems support a growth mindset in students?
No.

Do these systems align with what we believe about student growth and development?
No.

Do these systems help students who need the most help?
No.

Are letter grades, points, and percentages necessary for someone to learn?
No.

Do these systems align with common sense?
No.

Are parents aware of how faulty the traditional system is?
Absolutely not.

Is there any justifiable rationale for these systems to continue?
No. Continue reading →

Our Students Need Trained Special Education Teachers in Their Schools

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Written by Michelle Yotter

Whether you have a class of 10 or 25, meeting each student’s needs can be challenging. This is especially true when working with students with special needs. Some may come struggling to understand math concepts or to grasp the strategies needed to comprehend informational text. Others may come with lots of energy but not the strategies or tools to channel that energy. Others may storm out of a room when something does not go their way or melt down into tears because that is the only way they know how to cope. Some may be a puzzle that is not figured out quite yet.

No matter what challenges each student brings as they walk into the classroom, each is a child of God. Each child is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 NIV). As teachers, we have the privilege and amazing opportunity to share the wonderful news of salvation with them every day and help them use their God-given gifts and abilities. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About Helping Parents Fulfill Their Role

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Written by Dr. Kenneth Kremer

A distressing number of teens and 20-somethings have abandoned their faith. Many attended Lutheran schools and were confirmed. Their eternal future is in jeopardy. Those who become parents will likely lead future generations away from God’s grace. We know culture plays a major role in breaking down the spiritual home. But so does the church. The former promotes godless ideas (2 Timothy 4:3); the latter unintentionally enables parents to neglect their God-ordained role or fails to adequately prepare and encourage parents to fulfill that role (Romans 15:14). Continue reading →

Principals Really Matter

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Written by Dr. John Meyer

If your school has a principal, be thankful. Many Lutheran schools began this year without one. One in eight Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod schools have an interim principal, such as a retired teacher, a pastor, or a teacher team filling the void (Rademan, 2021). That’s too bad because according to a recent Wallace Foundation report, “principals really matter” (Grissom et al., 2021, p. 43).

Principals Affect Student Achievement
The Wallace Foundation study examined research from the past 20 years, and found that a principal’s effect on student achievement is nearly equal that of the classroom teacher. However, a teacher impacts the students in her classroom for one year, while the principal affects all students in the school every year. Thus, a top performing principal’s students learn nearly three months more in math and reading than a low performing principal’s students (Grissom et al., 2021). Continue reading →

The Crisis for Teens Today

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Written by Dr. Phil Huebner

What’s going on with teens today? It doesn’t take much effort to see that hiding behind all the photo-shopped pics and forced smiles in the hallway are teens who are suffering immensely. So what’s the tea on teens? (Tea is teen speak for info, gossip, or the lowdown.)

As the campus pastor at a Lutheran high school, this is something I think about and get asked about often. There are certainly many pressing issues today. The breakdown of the family, the absence of fathers, social media influence, the non-stop onslaught of temptation and easy access to evil, the overwhelming schedules, the pressure to perform in classes and tests in order to build the perfect college resume—all these things and more are major teen problems today.

But I will suggest to you that these present realities contribute to one greater, fundamental problem for teens today. Teens are suffering from an identity crisis. More specifically, Christian teens today are losing focus on who they are in Jesus. Continue reading →

Developing a Growth Mindset in Churches and Schools

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Written by Aaron Markgraf

It’s no secret. Many Lutheran churches and schools around the country are struggling to find ways to grow. They see many of the long-time members of their congregation go home to heaven. They’re trying to find ways to replace large graduating classes with equal or greater incoming classes. They’re competing with other churches that offer more “modern” worship styles. They’re battling other private or even public schools with updated facilities and numerous extracurricular offerings. So what do we do?

It starts with leaders.
I’ve had the chance to be a part of many different ministry teams in my life, and one thing about successful, growing ministries always holds true: solid leadership. It’s people who focus on relationship building and working to make sure that students and their families are connected to Jesus through the work of the church and school. It’s people who understand education and what students need to be successful. One person alone cannot carry a ministry on their back with these things alone. Rather, it takes an entire faculty, staff, and ministry team that buy into this mindset. Continue reading →

Serving Families in Crisis:

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Understanding What Is Needed in Light of the ‘One Thing Needful’

By Dr. Joshua Mears, Christian Family Solutions

A child suddenly loses a parent. A teen begins acting out after years of abuse. Chronic illness. Suicide. Divorce. Addiction. All of these situations shake individuals to the core and threaten to destroy the foundational units of society—our families.

Called workers often have the distinct opportunity to minister to families in their times of greatest need. I want to encourage and embolden you, “and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

While assessing needs and intervening with appropriate treatment is the work of a clinical counselor, called workers can be an important support. Clinically trained Christians in the counseling vocation see called workers as important partners to serve families in crisis. Continue reading →

Hitting Reset on Classroom Management

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Written by Professor Benjamin Clemons

The past year and a half has brought countless changes to education. We have had to reformulate and reexamine all aspects of teaching, including classroom management. As we, Lord willing, begin to transition back to “normal” face-to-face instruction, we have a golden opportunity to restart better by evaluating the routines and procedures that constitute much of the school day.

We will essentially be reteaching how to go to school. Do we want to return to what we were doing before, or is this an opportunity to rethink how we manage our classrooms? Continue reading →

Moments of Learning in Mathematics

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Written by Dr. James Carlovsky

Important moments of learning do occur in a classroom. For many classroom teachers, these moments can be difficult to describe. “Skilled teachers often recognize when important mathematical moments occur during a lesson” (Leatham et al., 2015, p. 88). This article intends to shed light on these important moments of learning on behalf of the classroom students and their teachers.

Pedagogical Moves
So, what does a teacher do? These classroom student moments of learning often can lead to a classroom teacher action, also known as a pedagogical move (Jacobs et al., 2010). These moments of learning may lead a classroom teacher to ask a specific question, to revise a portion of a lesson, to refine what a classroom student has expressed, or even to test a classroom student in a formal or informal way (Lesh et al., 2003) So, what do teachers do in the process of student learning? Sherin suggested that “emphasis on understanding the ideas that students offer is one of the hallmarks of mathematics education”(2001, p. 84). A teacher should keep a focus on the student and their thought process. Continue reading →

Cultural Responsiveness in Christian Education – Part 2

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Part 2 – Cultural Responsiveness in Schools

Written by Benjamin Clemons

This article is part 2 of a 2-part series. As WELS schools experience growing diversity in their enrollments through either active outreach or demographic shifts, they will need to examine the ways in which culture influences teaching and policy. In part 2 we will consider the impact of culture in schools.

Recognizing the Influence of Culture
A school’s operation consists of more than the policy written in the handbook, and classroom instruction involves much more than the lessons printed in the textbooks. We design school policy and instructional practice based on multiple factors. In WELS schools, we begin with the purpose of Christian education, often explicating foundational principles and explaining how the school serves the mission of the congregation and the work of the kingdom. We also consider pedagogically sound practices, the faculty’s composition and gifts, and the resources available.

We produce school handbooks and curriculum guides to spell out much of our rationale, but there are often unwritten rules based on common assumptions or beliefs. For example, traditionally, schools held parent/teacher conferences in the afternoon and evening based on the often reasonable and accurate assumption that most of their parents work one job during the day. In a school serving primarily middle-class two-parent families, this model probably causes little conflict. However, as more parents work multiple jobs or work in the afternoon and evening hours, and as our schools encounter more single-parent families, this assumption no longer holds. Continue reading →