Best- Practice Instruction
The third item in our list of things on which Lakeside Christian School focuses in order to prepare students for college is this:
best- practice instruction.
Best practice, as you may know, is using proven, research-based methods to achieve a desired result. These will vary, naturally, depending on the goal. Because Lakeside Christian School desires to prepare each student for college and career, that means in this case, best- practice instruction is using the methods that are proven to help ready students for life after high school.
Here is what Lakeside Christian School does, and one of our best practices that is producing results:
Closed-Loop Instructional Process
Technology can be integrated into instruction to track outcomes student by student, to create what is known as a “Closed-Loop” Instructional Process. This is done in elementary language arts. In the first week, each student is tested through “benchmark” assessments. Through prior grade level standards, students are tested to determine individual standards mastered or not mastered. At that point, students are placed into small groups based on similarities: those who are working above grade level, on grade level, and those with some un-mastered skills both up to a year below grade level and beyond a year below grade level. After this, teachers provide targeted daily instructions to the small groups in order to bring mastery to the standards found in prior tests. Every 8 weeks, students are re-tested, re-grouped, and the process begins again. This closes the loop. Therefore this practice is a fluid thing, allowing students to move into appropriate groups throughout the year and receive the specialized instruction they need in order to close academic gaps and succeed.
How do we know this works? What makes this a best practice? Here’s what happens when technology provides the instructor specific feedback used to provide specific instruction to each student (in just one school year):
The school year began with 63% of elementary students scoring on or above grade level.
The school year ended with 85% of elementary students scoring on or above grade level.
The school year began with 37% of elementary students with un-mastered skills below grade level.
The school year ended with 15% of elementary students with un-mastered skills below grade level, and those had closed all prior gaps in just months.
All of this aligns with our purpose statement, which indicates that we wish to “prosper or community.” As our website details, 55% of all 4th grade students in the nation have developed learning gaps of un-mastered skills from prior grades. If this is ignored, this leads to 80% of all 8th grade students’ success inhibited in high school and scores that impact college entrance.
Lakeside Christian School will not ignore this problem. We invest both money and time in this process: the technology and consistent staff. We know that this instructional process is necessary for our students’ success in high school and beyond; we have a responsibility to provide that for them. Additionally, it’s our mandate as Christians to improve our community, and this is achieved as we improve our educational process and through the proclamation of God’s Word.
If you’d like to know more about this process or any other best- practices used at Lakeside Christian School, call today to schedule a free tour.
Leap Year
What would you do with an extra 24 hours?
Sleep? Run errands? Work?
This year is a leap year. We get a whole extra 24 hours more than we do in a normal year. Sure, most of us have to go about our daily routine on February 29th. But the fact remains that we are given an extra day.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”– Psalm 90:12
Can you make those extra 24 hours count for something? Consider doing, in those hours, what you might do if they were your last 24 hours.
Tell your children you love them and hold them tight.
Share the gospel with those who need to hear the good news.
Listen carefully to those who confide in you.
Laugh and smile.
Tell stories.
Appreciate the little things.
Watch the sunrise and sunset.
Eat good food.
Write letters to the ones you love.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. What important, meaningful thing could you do with your 24 hours? Be inspired to do it. Number your days and make them count… and make the most of your bonus day.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
“We love because he first loved us.”– I John 4:19
This is what drives our mission at Lakeside Christian School.
We know what love is because God is love, and God’s character is revealed in His Word, the Bible. In all that we do as believers, educators, and administrators, we seek to imitate God’s character, for His glory.
I Corinthians 13:1-7 paints a beautiful picture of true, biblical, godly love:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
As we approach Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to the idea of love, we hope you will meditate on the One who loved so well that He gave His life.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”– John 15:13
This is real, true love. While the hearts, romance, chocolate, and flowers are lovely, this is what real love is. We pray you’ll know it and feel it on this Valentine’s Day.
