Why Bios? #1 It works.

As a proud father, teacher, and principal, Bios did an excellent job of educating my three children. My daughter graduated with honors with her under graduate degree in agriculture. She enjoyed a scholarship that covered the costs of all four years. This December she will complete her master's in agricultural business. In the midst of his second year of med school, my oldest son enjoyed a full ride for his first four years of education at a small private college. And finishing the last year of his master's degree, my youngest son begins to ready himself for the string of exams required to be a certified architect. They all acquired many advanced skills to prepare them for their future lives.

Why Bios? It works. Not only for my own children, but for the almost 170 students who we have the privilege to teach everyday. It would be tough to find a better overall math, reading, or writing program for college preparation in the state.

This is exemplified through each students daily progress, the 50% of our senior class that has exceeded all three tests of the state AIMS exam, and the SAT scores which are at least 40 points above national averages in all three subjects.

All of this is a waste of time if we don't ground our students in the solid foundation of the Bible. Everyday, all of our students, K-12, spend at least forty minutes in the Word. Reading, listening, and memorizing our guiding light. It gives purpose to the education so diligently worked on.

First Fireside Chat

Mrs. Ihms and I will have our first Bios Community Fireside Chat in November. It is for all the families that are presently a part of our wonderful community. Where we stand financially, future plans, and a general question time are the discussion items for the evening. The hope is to provide an informal and informative opportunity for our families to feel even more a part of the Bios community.

In the past, we have all come together in the large sanctuary for a similar time. Those times of gathering worked well then, but the gatherings became more of a principal/board presentation instead of a small, intimate community coming together to learn about and share their concerns as a community. In a healthy community, questions asked in a group can affirm our own fears or hopes. Discussions with groups are able to dissuade leadership's delusions or support their actions. So we will have a change in venue.

At 7:00pm on Thursday, November 4^th all Bios Community members are invited (not required) to attend our first Fireside Chat at the Agritopia clubhouse. The clubhouse is located on Agritopia Loop in the center of the Agritopia community on the northwest corner of Ray and Higley. We will have a supervised room for your children ages two to eight during the meeting. I expect it will last 60-90 minutes.

We hope to see you there.

Starbucks and Bios: Dependent on Respect and Trust

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was recently interviewed in the July/August issue of Harvard Business Review. In it he has a lot of interesting thoughts on his return as the CEO of Starbucks. Those thoughts include the pressures on a public company to continuously perform, trying to keep employee trust amidst layoffs, and defining shareholder value. That last point on defining shareholder value caught my attention. Finishing his idea, he said, " We built Starbucks not through traditional marketing or advertising but through the experience. And that experience can come to life only if people are proud, if they respect and trust the green apron and the people they represent." Those thoughts reflect Bios Christian Academy and what we work at daily.

A friend of mine once said to me as we had just passed another automobile on the road with one of those Christian fish symbols attached to it's back side, how he could never place a fish symbol on the rear of his vehicle because of his sinful driving habits and how everybody on the road would see how he consistently dishonors God's name when he starts his engine.

On our website we have a cross with a vine wrapped around it as a symbol of Bios. Everyday the students, parents, and the surrounding community watch to see if we come close to representing the meaning of that symbol as we serve our families. And Mr. Schultz is right in saying that the experience provided to the students and parents is built on a trust. A trust that the men and women of Bios are going to strive always to honor God in all they say and do, to build their teaching through a knowledge built over time of each student, and supported by clear and individualized daily goals.

We don't have much in common with Starbucks but what we do share, people based companies built around experience and trust, are the best commonalities to share.

Bios, SAT Scores, and ASU Ranks

Two straight days of relevant education news. Weeks can go by without nary a peep from the writers of news on education and then we have two days in a row of interesting stuff.

First, on Monday, the Wall Street Journal contained an interesting story about how many companies like to hire graduates from top public universities including our very own Arizona State. Two main reasons were given for hiring from public schools. One was because recruiters found that graduates from top public universities " are often the among the most prepared and well rounded." ASU was particularly noticed for the second reason of forming strong ties between companies and universities.

Though a majority of the article emphasized the business ties to public colleges, an important part of the story was the effect recruiting had for students. Essentially, the article pointed out that this could be very useful information for potential students choosing a college. The example was given on how GE put their recruitment focus on forty schools to determine the 2,200 interns they hire each summer. If a student was confident of their major, then finding out which universities were shopped at by which companies could be helpful toward future jobs.

National SAT scores were discussed in today's Wall Street Journal. Reading remained the same at 501, math went up to 516 from 515, and writing fell from 493 to 492. The national SAT scores are the results of over 1.5 million students taking the exam.

The Bios Christian Academy scores compare well to the national SAT scores. Sorry, that is an understatement. Our scores look fantastic when compared to the national scores. This year's seniors have achieved the following averages as of August 19. Critical Reading: 583.3; Math: 570; Writing: 568.3. Our students have been blessed with really good scores that reflect their hard work as well as that of their parents and teachers, and the kindness of God.

The Journal also included an interesting paragraph to the article. It said, "The SAT results suggested that students who took a core curriculum in high school - defined as four years of English and three of math, science, and history - scored on average, 151 points higher than those who didn't take the curriculum." Our students all have those expectations plus an additional fourth year of math (and four years of Bible).

Clear academic expectations, teachers who know your child, small class sizes, supportive parents, and a challenging Core curriculum all assist in our students achieving scores 60 to 80 points higher than the rest of the nation.

Kindergarten Homeschool

We are going to open our half day and full day kindergarten to our homeschool families. You, our homeschool families, have the option to choose any two days of the week for us to instruct your child in either a half day or full day class. The class sizes are a maximum of ten students. The tuition is $1,600 for the half day and $3,200 for the full day. All of the homeschool students will enjoy the same full, individualized instruction that our full time students receive. Each day your child will have individual goals in math, phonics, reading, and penmanship. In addition the students spend time in Bible instruction, physical education, group calendar time, and story time.

Life is not fair but...

Recently, I met with the parents of a Bios student who through a series of assumptions and mistakes on the school's part had caused a normally straight A student to receive a failing grade on a test. As a school we quickly changed the situation and the future circumstances so the incident did not occur again and the student's educational goals would be stronger than ever.

But at the end of the meeting, the father explained that he had already told his child that the grade would stay. And for no other reason than life was unfair. The father went on to explain how he gave examples from his job on how there was always going to be unfairness in the world. His child just had to let it slide and move on.

After listening to the father's story, I explained to him that I understood that life could be unfair, but part of our job at Bios was to provide a fair treatment for each student. Life could be unfair but we are to be diligent in making it fair here. With that said, the failing grade which was a result of the schools decisions was dropped, and the student began fresh with the new goals.

Life is not fair, but at Bios we strive to do better at life.