DISSEMINATION AND MARKETING PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

Video Projects. Scouting and backdrop filming is underway as well as script re-writes for the 20 or so 2-3 minutes videos. A longer video that summarizes the important findings from the CognitiveGenesis Project is being developed. Videotaping has been done across the country to reflect the diversity of schools and locals in the North American Division. The videos are targeting parents and church members as the primary audience.

Bookazine. The Bookazine, Moving Hearts and Minds Upward: Numbers That Matter, is in the final stage before going to the printer. It is an attractive sixteen-page summary of the CognitiveGenesisdescriptive data. The target audience is comprised of stakeholders in Adventist Education – participating families and supporters. The style is easy to read and to understand. The date for release is estimated for March.

Book Compilation of Articles Submitted to the Education Summit. The book being compiled from presentations and papers submitted to the Education Summit of October 2010 is tentatively titled Crossroads of Peril and Promise: Selected Papers.  All but one of the articles is in and has been edited. The book consists of 19 chapters (papers) divided into five sections: Mission, Structure, Curriculum, Marketing, and Funding. Plans are to have the book printed in June, well in advance of the distribution at the teachers’ convention in Nashville in August 2012. We are on schedule, and the book is progressing smoothly.

Documentary Film. A documentary film for TV is being created. The core theme for the film is to show that Adventist education is highly successful in developing and educating students from across all walks of life–helping them exceed beyond their own identified potential and enabling them to outscore their other private and public school counterparts on comprehensive national tests. The film will show that Adventist education is working. The CognitiveGenesis project is a principal tool for presenting the facts behind Adventist school accomplishments.

Through on-location storytelling, interviews, the presentation of research, etc., the Adventist Education story will be told. The producer, Martin Doblmeier, will film at a number of schools throughout the United States – large, small, inner city, rural, in the search to understand what lies behind the numbers and statistics. In addition, an examination of Adventist schools in other countries, such as China and Ghana will be included.

In order to learn as much as possible about the history of Adventist Education, Doblmeier is consulting with Adventist historians and personnel at the General Conference and the North American Division as well as the Ellen White Estate archivists for information on church history and for relevant photographs.

Grant Application. A grant application has been submitted to Versacare. The foundation has been generous in its support of CG, and it is hoped it will support the efforts of Center for Research on K-12 Adventist Education (CRAE). The Center is supported by the outstanding generosity of those who want Adventist education to thrive in doing the work it is commissioned to do.

E-MAIL AND TELEPHONE CONTACTS OF NOTE

The months of October through December has brought a number of interesting queries to CRAE.  Here is a sampling:

  • From a graduate student in Northeastern Conference came a series of probing questions concerning the CG research;
  • From Minnesota a video was sent that a school had made for recruitment.  They wanted to be sure that the statistics quoted from the CG research were correct;
  • A concerned mother wrote asking what is being done to stem the flood of Adventist students leaving the educational system;
  • A question from Idaho requesting a dialog with Dr. Kido concerning a presentation she gave for North Pacific Union;
  • A question from Arkansas wanting to know what percentage of schools participated in the study? What criteria was used to pick schools for the study?  What percentage of students –both worldwide and in USA does the 51,706 students represent?
  • A query about the most current information from the study of pastors and their influence in support of Adventist education.
  • A former teacher who now retired near Huntsville, Alabama, offers to volunteer in any project that could help Adventist education.

RESEARCH AND CONTINUING ANALYSES

  • In order to make the CognitiveGenesis database more easily accessible to researchers, the CG team is working on transferring the data to a format that will facilitate inquiries and investigations from other researchers.
  • Using proprietary software developed by Claremont Graduate University researchers, the CRAE staff is identifying and analyzing the various stakeholders in Adventist education, trying to determine which group has influence and where and how that influence can be used to advance Adventist education.
  • The variables affecting achievement and ability continue to be analyzed.
  • A collaborative research proposal to study the achievement gap and demographic factors has been submitted to education researchers at University of Notre Dame who have expressed interest in doing such research with the CG team.
  • A plan is being developed to study schools that excelled in an academic area and share “best practices” is in the works.

PRESENTATIONS/PERSONAL APPEARANCES

October 3. Visited Columbine Christian School in Durango, CO, to assess its unique program of  “Place-based Education.”

October 25-28. NAD Year-End Meetings in Silver Spring, MD. Dr. Kido presented to the NAD K-12 Board of Education, Union Directors. Dr. Kido also interviewed each Union Director to gather information for another project.

January 2012. Dr. Kido will speak to pastors of the Iowa-Missouri Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.  She will also present to the pastors and teachers of the Indiana Conference.

February 2012. Elder Dan Jackson, North American Division President, has invited Dr. Kido to present at the Conference Presidents’ Retreat in Corpus Christi, Texas.

April 2012. Dr. Kido and Dr. Jerome Thayer, Andrews University, will present a paper at the American Educational Research Association (AERA): “A National Study of the Relationship between Achievement and Student, Home, Teacher, and School Factors.”