A Structured Framework at Bios

By Staci Fletcher, JH/HS Science and Mathematics

Recently I read an article written by a professor from Ball State University who was curious as to why his top performing students in his chemistry and physics classes were homeschool graduates. To appease his curiosity he did some research on studies completed about such students. Consistently what this professor found was that the homeschool students outperformed all other students from public and private entities. Furthermore he came across a study performed by Canadian scientists which more specifically compared two groups of homeschool students. These two groups were those students who were homeschooled with a "structured" curriculum and those students who were homeschooled with an "unstructured" curriculum. Although the sample used for this study was small, thus making the results insignificant on a grand scale, it is still an outcome to take note of. The results were that the homeschool students in the "structured" group far outperformed the homeschool students in the "unstructured" group.

Why would this article and more specifically, this Canadian study, matter to the Bios community as a whole? It is because this small study does have a very important concept to take note of in the context of our community. I don't think there is much significance in the fact that the homeschool students outperformed their public and private counterparts in the academic realm. I think the significance lies in the framework that was used to teach the best performing homeschool students. That framework having its foundation being a structure of expectations the students were required to meet. I personally put a lot more weight in the results of the Canadian study as compared to most educators. The reason why is because I teach at Bios.

I teach at Bios because I believe strongly in the significance of a "structured" framework for educating our students. Structure which is based on clear goals and expectations for every student every day. I believe this is why day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year we see great gains in each and every child that is in our midst for many of their formative years. So when most would say, from a scientific perspective, the Canadian homeschool study produces results which are barely even conclusive, I would disagree and say the results are definitively conclusive. I would venture to say this because I see the same results year after year in our own Bios community. Our students do outperform many of their counterparts; first, because every child in our community can learn and second, because every child has a structured set of clear goals and expectations they are to meet on a daily basis without fail.

Practicing Being a Servant

"Faithful servants never retire. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving your God. " Rick Warren

A pithy quote to begin my writing on how we work here at Bios towards training our students to be faithful servants of God.

To begin with, service to our Lord encompasses a very, very large, almost an infinite amount of activities. At Bios we want to develop opportunities of habit in service. These opportunities come in many forms.

The high school Mission Club sponsored by Mrs. Greene, plans and executes two to three school wide activities each year to provide for those in need in our area. These activities work towards involving the whole Bios community in working towards a common goal. The first of which began on Tuesday, September 6. Sunshine Acres, an orphanage in Mesa, is in need of liquid hand soap because of state regulations not allowing bar soap in their institution anymore. Look for more information in the Update and through posters on the wall.

Our seniors travel a mile down the road once a month to Sunrise Senior Living to spend time with the adults who live with Alzheimer’s. While there they play songs on the guitar, sing songs, and provide short theater. They will meet with this same group of adults up to eight times over the coming year.

On September 16 and 17, a group of fifteen high school students will be heading to Globe, Arizona to support Arizona Reservation Missions and their work on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. This initial trip will be spent on construction projects they have. A second trip in the fall will also include working with children from the reservation.

The Orange 08 Club was created as an invitation only club for high school students to have a guided or tutorial experience in developing projects which serve their church or community. Students must present their project with parental approval to me. If approved, each student meets with me weekly to discuss goals accomplished and new goals to attain. the projects this semester include helping those who suffered through Hurricane Irene, developing and starting a club for " Geeks " to share common interest, and the writing of a book on nutritional eating to be donated to the school as a reference.

Still in development is the creation of opportunities of service for our primary and elementary students that also allows for parents to participate. Finding practical yet safe ways to serve has been a challenge so far.

I have noticed when I am out at our own church or visiting other places of worship, kids seem to look more for what they are going to get from their Christian experience instead of what opportunities they had to serve. At Bios, developing habits of work and service is an important component of our learning community.

Peter Drucker, Albert Shanker, and Learning Responsibility

When people observe the students of Bios, they usually notice how well behaved they are, their positive attitude toward work, and the respect shown by teacher and students towards each other. But I would guess less than half the visiting families notice that the learning responsibility is put on the student instead of the usual expectation of the teaching responsibility on the teacher. It is a large reason the students at Bios learn and retain their learning so well.

One of the books I am reading this summer is "Managing the Nonprofit Organization" by Peter F. Drucker. Peter Drucker is a management legend, having written more than 35 books and is a professor at at the school of management at Claremont Graduate University. This is an excellent book filled with ideas, engaging examples, and interviews with leaders of the nonprofit sector. One of those leaders interviewed was Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers AFL-CIO.

In the following excerpt between Peter Drucker and Albert Shanker, the two are in the middle of a discussion following this comment by Drucker on his educational experience in school after Shanker comments on small learning gains made each semester, the trivial things learned, and how quick those meaningless things are forgotten.

Drucker: I think I'm a living example of this. My school grades were always excellent. I learned very little and studied less, but I knew how to take exams.

After Shanker comments on an excellent learning experience in the Boy Scouts, the two comment with this discourse.

Drucker: The implication of this is, first, that you put the learning responsibility on the student rather than the teaching responsibility on the teacher. Is that central to the way you see performance?

Shanker: Essentially, the way schools are organized is to get a lot of activity and work on the part of teachers while the students sit and, you hope listen. You hope that they are remembering something. And you create a few punishments or rewards in terms of grades or leaving students back. Without that responsibility and without that engagement by students, the results are very, very meager.

Drucker: For hundreds of years , then, our emphasis has been on how well the teachers teach rather on how well the student learns?

There is more, but I will stop and comment on these amazingly accurate comments on the present day American education system and how Bios is quite different.

Bios is built on a few foundational ideas. One is every day a student attends our academy, he or she will master or continue mastering a new skill under the guidance of a trained teacher, an instructor, mentor, and coach, all wrapped into the adult called teacher in front of them. Each day, every student at Bios has new daily, individual goals developed by the school and teacher for the student. Everyday. These individual goals have been developed over hundreds of hours and sixteen years of constant revision by myself and trained instructors. No one claims boredom at Bios.

And in this highly structured learning environment centered on individual mastery, there is room for every teacher at Bios to break the learning structure and say to the student,"Today we will leave the structure so that I may individualize your instruction even more so you will understand this goal and achieve mastery."

The nuts and bolts of the daily workings involve clear daily goals for each student, clear goals for the teacher's instruction of her students, plentiful instructional materials, and constant one-on-one teacher student contact.

Daily goals are provided through school-designed check sheets possessed by each student in all subjects. Each subject's check sheets contain varying amounts of information, depending on how we want the student's mastery outcomes expressed. In science, history, and Spanish the students goals are written on the check sheet while in grammar and math, the check sheet only records the completion of general skills. In specific areas, the check sheets are much broader because of the increased need for teachers to improvise if students stumble in their mastery.

Bios Christian Academy does not hand a pile of textbooks to a teacher, close the teacher behind a classroom door, and wish them luck. First, we pray for them. Second, we spend three days on Bios learning theory and classroom expectations, and lastly, each teacher has at least two well trained or master teachers in their classroom periodically throughout the year observing, modeling, and encouraging them as they instruct our students.

When it all comes down to it, the quality of the people God brings our way and he gives us wisdom to hire, make a key component successful or not; the component of constant one-on-one teacher/ student interaction throughout the day. Every subject. Every day. Students coming to their teacher for instruction, encouragement, correction, and some times even admonishment. Three to ten times per subject. This creates a very intense instructional day for our teachers.

Towards the end of our afternoon interview, two years ago by the accreditation leader from ACSI, his last question asked of me was, " How are you going to find teachers that are willing to work as hard and as intense as the teachers you possess now?" I told him I pray a lot for God's grace in bringing future teachers to Bios such as we now have.

School Buildings: Safety, Learning, Environmentally Friendly, and Sells the School

Finishing our third year as a school/business means banks and other money lending institutions will at least consider allowing us to borrow money to purchase land and build classes. It also helps to have a count of 202 students and a waiting list beginning for one of our classes. Buildings are tools, expensive and time consuming. But for our future families, buildings serve four important functions in the service of this educational community: the safety of all who walk the campus, instructional integrity, environmentally supportive, and pleasant to the eye.

Many, many years ago a very heavy contributor to a large church's building campaign said to me, " Buildings need just four walls, a roof, and to be built as cheaply as possible. Anything more is just feeding a pastor's ego." While that may or may not be true, at Bios Christian Academy buildings are here to serve us as we serve our families.

Safety is much more than well constructed buildings with approved NPPS playgrounds. It involves campus walkways which have potentially many adult eyes observing student and visitor actions, teacher and student accountability both in behavior and learning, and limited campus access throughout the day and evenings. The idea of safety also involves keeping students on campus for all school athletic offerings which reduces the inherent risks in driving to different off-site locations for practices and home games. Without a well thought out, secure and safe campus, learning would be difficult.

I am able to honestly say that of the few and far between complaints I hear, the most prevalent is that the materials, learning expectations, and teachers set a very high bar for learning and behavior. That's not such a bad complaint. Current and future buildings are designed to support those expectations at Bios. Future classrooms of 600 s.f. for primary and kindergarten, 750 s.f. for elementary, and 900-1200 s.f. in the Middle Academy and the Senior Academy will allow plenty of room for students to move and learn. Courtyards will be designed for the primary and elementary houses ( groups of classes ) to be built in order to support their communities and outdoor classroom experiences which take advantage of the amazing Gilbert weather. Both outdoor areas will include a reading amphitheater and science tables with sinks. Middle Academy (7-9) and Senior Academy (10-12) houses will be held in two separate buildings. Both will include space for common meetings, abundant natural light provided through skylights, and larger space for science labs.

An architect told me that to be a "green" building it would add about 3% to the total building costs. That is a lot of money. With always limited funds, some potential improvements towards going green would be: a forest of shade trees for keeping the campus and Gilbert cooler, a white concrete parking lot (concrete reflects 25-35% of the sunlight compared to the 5% reflection of asphalt.), inside classroom use of zero-VOL (volatile organic compound) paints, wood chips instead of gravel for landscaping (cooler and if you need more than that, it saves water, better for the soil, and increases the earthworm population), and individual room air conditioners which have high energy efficiency ratings. Other and even more expensive possibilities include the use of recycled water for landscaping and more energy efficient buildings along the design of the Meritage homes in Gilbert. The long term effects of environmentally friendly building practices, both financially and for the children's health, not to mention the benefits to our community, are invaluable.

Last and maybe least is the curb appeal both to our present families and to possible future Tigers. Many a comment on the last school we designed with Bardusen Architects, Surrey Garden Christian, came from moms and students on how happy they were with the physical beauty of the school. A well cared for and attractive site reflects well on an academy that takes such good care of it's buildings potentially caring for its students with the similar care and attention. All for His glory!

Fourth Year of Bios Christian Academy

As we look forward to the fourth year of Bios Christian Academy, I thought I would highlight the senior class of 2011.

Out of our eight graduates this year, three were either accepted or invited to Barret's Honor College at ASU. Combined with our first graduate, Austin being accepted into and attending Barret's, four out of our nine graduates in our first two senior classes have been accepted to Barret's Honor College. In addition, one of our other seniors was accepted into NAU's honors program. Giving our graduates five of nine being accepted to at least one honors program. One of our graduates who was already accepted to Barret's also earned acceptance into Texas Christian University's honors program.

Scholarships earned by our seniors the past two years also reflect their hard work and the challenging expectations at Bios. The average amount of accepted scholarships offered for the seniors was $46,858.

The schools, selected scholarships earned, and declared major are as follows:

Austin-ASU Barret's Honors; President's; engineering

Jacob-TCU honors;ASU-President's and TCU-Dean's; chemistry

Tim-Cal Baptist; President's and Engineering; engineering

Ian- Westmont; ASU-Healthcare; kinesiology

Emily-ASU Barret's Honors;Provost; nursing

Beth-Arizona Christian; President's; photo journalism

Bethany-NAU honors; Merit and 100 Club; chemistry

Kyle- Chandler-Gilbert CC; computers

Raynie- Murrieta Bible College; Bible

As you probably noticed, five of our nine graduates went to Christian colleges and universities. Four went to out of state schools and only two went to the same university.

As you can see, there is a lot for us to be thankful for in the opportunities provided to the Bios graduates.

Skateland: Fun Times and Smiles

On March 7 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at the Chandler Skateland, Bios Christian will be hosting a special evening of skating. For $2 admission and $3 for skate rental it is a great night to spend with your kids and the Bios community. The school makes no money from the event. The whole focus is to allow families and the Bios community as a whole to enjoy some time together. There is always a good turnout and a lot of smiling faces. Some people have even said they thought it was a happier place than Disneyland, at least for the three hours we inhabit the rink. Come out and see if you agree. And if not, I can almost guarantee you and your family smile a lot.

Grand Canyon University, Our First Partnership

We our proud to announce our school's partnership with Grand Canyon University. It is the first of many partnerships we are working on to benefit the students, parents, and faculty of Bios Christian Academy. Over the next six months we expect to announce other partnerships with universities and businesses. These partnerships are developed to increase opportunities for our community. These include increased student scholarship opportunities, dual credit courses, discounts for Bios staff and parents at select universities, use of college facilities for sports, increased name recognition for Bios locally and nationally, discounts in school materials, and opportunities for teachers to share their expertise locally and nationally.

Below are the initial opportunities Grand Canyon University has developed to support Christian schools in the area. We are very excited to be one of the first twenty schools to be a part of this unique and beneficial consortium of schools.

Canyon Christian Schools Consortium (CCSC) Member Benefits:

· High school students (grade 9-12) who are accepted to attend GCU will receive a $5,000 (in-residence) or $2,500 (non-residence) scholarship at GCU per year for each year of attendance at a coalition-member Christian high school. This could save students up to $20,000 on college tuition over the course of four years. The consortium-member school will provide GCU with names along with the number of semesters completed for each student.

· CCSC members will have access to an exclusive 15% discount for their teachers, providing savings toward tuition and fees for master’s or doctoral degree programs at GCU.

· CCSC members will have access to an exclusive 15% discount for their students’ parents, providing savings toward tuition and fees for bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree programs at GCU.

We hope to announce very soon a second partnership, which will also provide greater opportunities for Bios families.