1 Research on Adventist Education by Jerome Thayer, Andrews University NAD K-12 Teachers’ Convention Nashville, Tennessee August 7, 2006

1

Research on Adventist Education

by Jerome Thayer, Andrews University

NAD K-12 Teachers’ ConventionNashville, Tennessee

August 7, 2006

2

Types of Studies• Student Outcomes

– Staying in the church• Dissertations

– Minder– Rice– Epperson

– Values• Major studies

– Valuegenesis - Hancock Center (I and II)– Avance (NAD and PR)

• Dissertation– Carlson

– Cognitive achievement• Dissertation

– Pawluk• Other studies

– CognitiveGenesis– Thayer (2 studies)

• Constituent Opinion– Thayer (4 studies)

3

Dissertation #1

• Warren Minder – 1985– No Adventist education: 51% stayed in the

church– All Adventist education: 98% stayed in the

church

4

Dissertation #2

• Robert Rice – 1990– 13 year longitudinal study– Public high school graduates: 37% stayed in

the church – SDA academy graduates: 77% stayed in the

church

5

Dissertation #3

• Jim Epperson – 1990– No Adventist education: 58% stayed in the

church – Some Adventist education: 79% stayed in the

church

6

Dissertation #4

• Steve Pawluk – 1992– ITBS & CogAT– No difference between students in multi-grade

classrooms and students in single-grade classrooms on ITBS after controlling for CogAT

7

Valuegenesis

• Data – 4 studies– Valuegenesis I – 1990– Avance (NAD) – 1994– Avance (Puerto Rico) – 1995– Valuegenesis II – 2000

• Variables– Dependent variables

• faith maturity, denominational loyalty– Independent variables:

• Church, home, school, personal characteristics

8

Dissertation #5

• Richard Carlson – 1996– Replication of the Valuegenesis study using

both students from Adventist academies and public high schools

– No difference between the two groups in faith maturity or denominational loyalty after controlling for home and church background

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Personal Research Related to Adventist K-12 Schools

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• Subjects– 7,768 students in grades 2-8– 1974-1977 ITBS/CogAT scores

• Reference– “Will My Child Suffer Scholastically in Church School: A Report of

Achievement in SDA Elementary Schools”. Adventist Review, 1978.

• Questions:– Level of achievement controlled for ability– Differences based on:

• Amount of SDA schooling• School size

Study #1: 1978

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Results of 1978 Study

• Overall achievement – 1 month above national average

• The more years in Adventist schools, the higher the achievement– After controlling for ability, those with all SDA

schooling were 2 months ahead of those with no previous schooling

• Students in 1-2 teacher schools were 0.5-2.0 months ahead of those in 3+ teacher schools after controlling for ability

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• Subjects– 20,515 students in grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12– 1989-1992 SDA Religion Achievement Test scores

• Reference– “What We Have Learned About Religious Education From the Religion

Achievement Test Results.” A Report Prepared for the North American Division Commission on Religious Education. 1992.

– Available at CIRCLE (http://circle.adventist.org)

• Questions:– Achievement on the desired cognitive outcomes of the SDA Bible/Religion

curriculum– Differences based on:

• Fundamental Belief classification• SDA school background• SDA home background

Study #2: 1992

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• Good results– Overall good learning

• Equally high on understanding and application items as on knowledge items

– Good Home Effect• 13% average – 375 of 490 items with good home effect

– Good School Effect• 8% average – 328 or 490 items with good school effect

• Specific areas need improvement

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• Areas for improvement– No change over the four years

• Tests results were not being used– Some Fundamental Beliefs were quite low– 33% of the items showed poor learning– 19 items had no school effect and a moderate to large

negative home effect– 10 items had a negative school effect and either a

negative or no positive home effect– Many items had a substantial number of students

(20-50%) with a common misconception

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Misconception Example – Grade 8

What was the purpose of Ellen White’s inspired writings?

SDA Home SDA School

Low High Low High

4% 3% 3% 1% To show how other religions were wrong.

9% 3% 3% 1% To correct errors in the Bible

20% 21% 21% 23% To tell us about new doctrines not found in the Bible.

68% 73% 73% 75% To lead people to God.

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• Subjects– 7,567 students in grades 3-8– 2004 ITBS scores + parent and teacher surveys– No CogAT in the Pilot Study

• Questions:– Level of achievement– Controlled for:

• Parent level of education• Family income

Study #3: 2005CognitiveGenesis Pilot Study

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Overall Achievement

NCE means: 54.05 – 58.07 (50 = average)

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Effect of Multi-grade Classrooms

No difference between students based on number of grades in the classroom:

1 grade/class

2 grades/class

3+ grades/class

after controlling for:

Parent level of education

Family income

SDA home background

Home language

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Effect of Class Size

No difference between students based on class size:

1-3 students/grade

4-8 students/grade

9-15 students/grade

16-38 students/grade

21

Effect of Number of Years in SDA School

8th grade students: Yrs in an SDA school makes a big difference

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• Subjects– 288 parents – Illinois Conference– Phone survey

• Questions:– Attitudes concerning Adventist schools– Specific issues related to the conference

Study #4: 2002

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• Subjects– 280 parents – Wisconsin Conference– Phone survey


Study #5: 2004

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• Subjects– 199 parents – Texas Conference

• Phone survey– 87 pastors – Texas Conference

• Questionnaire– 144 teachers and administrators – Texas Conference

• Questionnaire


Study #6: 2004

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• Subjects– 540 parents – Southern New England Conference– Phone survey


Study #7: 2005

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• Subjects– 3,801 students in grades 2-8– 1995-2004 ITBS/CogAT scores

• Research Design– Longitudinal (students matched from year to year)

• Questions:– Level of achievement controlled for ability– Differences based on:

• Amount of SDA schooling• School size• Class size

Study #8: 2006

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Results by GradeComposite Score

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One Year Change – Longitudinal (Same Students)

Mean Change = 1.66

1 2

time

54

55

56

57

58

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8

Estimated Marginal Means of Composite-Lag 1 Year

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Two Year Change – LongitudinalMean Change = 3.40

1 2

time

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8

Estimated Marginal Means of Composite-Lag 2 Years

30

Three Year Change – LongitudinalMean Change = 4.08

1 2

time

56

58

60

62

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade5

6

7

8


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Four Year Change – LongitudinalMean Change = 4.46

1 2

time

58

60

62

64

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade6

7

8


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Five Year Change – LongitudinalMean Change = 6.80

1 2

time

58

60

62

64

66

68

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade7

8


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Effect of School Size (Multi-grade) on One Year Change– All Grades

No Significant Difference

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Effect of Class Size on One Year Change – All Grades

No Significant Difference

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Effect of Beginning Achievement Level on One Year Change

1 2

time

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

BeginningAchievementLevelPR1 to PR25

PR26 to PR50

PR51 to PR75

PR76 to PR99

Estimated Marginal Means of Composite

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Effect of Beginning Achievement Level on Three Year Change

1 2

time

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

BeginningAchievementLevelPR1 to PR25

PR26 to PR50

PR51 to PR75

PR76 to PR99


Results for All SubtestsOne Year Change - All Grades

Paired Samples Test

2.597

2.098

2.456

1.628

2.469

2.970

2.049

2.458

.803

.859

1.013

1.149

2.195

1.500

.716

1.211

1.417

1.122

1.662

NCE_Reading_Vocabulary - Lag1NCE_Reading_VocabularyPair 1

NCE_Reading_Comprehension - Lag1NCE_Reading_ComprehensionPair 2

NCE_Reading_Total - Lag1NCE_Reading_TotalPair 3

NCE_Language_Spelling - Lag1NCE_Language_SpellingPair 4

NCE_Language_Capitalization - Lag1NCE_Language_CapitalizationPair 5

NCE_Language_Punctuation - Lag1NCE_Language_PunctuationPair 6

NCE_Language_Usage - Lag1NCE_Language_UsagePair 7

NCE_Language_Total - Lag1NCE_Language_TotalPair 8

NCE_Mathematics_Concepts - Lag1NCE_Mathematics_ConceptsPair 9

NCE_Mathematics_Problems - Lag1NCE_Mathematics_ProblemsPair 10

NCE_Mathematics_Computation - Lag1NCE_Mathematics_ComputationPair 11

NCE_Mathematics_Total - Lag1NCE_Mathematics_TotalPair 12

NCE_Core_Total - Lag1NCE_Core_TotalPair 13

NCE_Social_Studies - Lag1NCE_Social_StudiesPair 14

NCE_Science - Lag1NCE_SciencePair 15

NCE_Sources_of_Information_Maps - Lag1NCE_Sources_of_Information_MapsPair 16

NCE_Sources_of_Information_Reference_Materials - Lag1NCE_Sources_of_Information_Reference_MaterialsPair 17

NCE_Sources_of_Information_Total - Lag1NCE_Sources_of_Information_TotalPair 18

NCE_Composite - Lag1NCE_CompositePair 19

Mean

PairedDifferences

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One Year Change: Composite

1 2

time

54

55

56

57

58

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8


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One Year Change: Language-Total

1 2

time

50

52

54

56

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8

Estimated Marginal Means of Language-Total

40

One Year Change: Sources of Information-Reference Materials

1 2

time

53

54

55

56

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8

Estimated Marginal Means of Sources of Information-Reference Materials

411 2

time

40

42

44

46

48

50

Es

tim

ate

d M

arg

ina

l M

ea

ns

Grade4

5

6

7

8

Estimated Marginal Means of Mathematics-Computation

One Year Change: Mathematics Computation

Documents

1 Research on Adventist Education by Jerome Thayer, Andrews University NAD K-12 Teachers’ Convention Nashville, Tennessee August 7, 2006