The Value of a Faith Education

In tough economic times people assess their spending and look for value. The thrill of a new Lexus may give way to the economy of a Prius.  The deliciousness of Morton's may make way for the efficiency of MacDonalds.  Of course, value means different things to different people.  For some people their morning latte is the last thing they would give up; others have rediscovered their coffee pots.

I think it is increasingly clear that for many families, a Faith education for their children is among their highest priorities.  Too often over the last few months I have listened to families who are are the verge of losing their homes, but are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their kids in school.  That is both heart-breaking and humbling.  

Personally, those stories are a strong motivation to work as hard as possible to maintain and improve our quality.  If a parent is willing to give up a house rather than force their child into a different school, we have the obligation to make every possible effort to insure that education is worth the sacrifice. We have significant anecdotal evidence that it is.  It is not uncommon for me to hear stories from virtual strangers of the kindness shown by our students; their willingness to serve; or simply their politeness.  At a recent lacrosse game a player from Palo Verde went done with what appeared to be a serious injury.  A group of our players knelt on the field and offered a prayer on his behalf.  That powerful witness did not go unnoticed.

Producing nice kids is an important part of what we do.  Producing prepared students is a necessity. Results from recent standardized tests are just one measure of how effective that effort is, but I'll brag a little bit anyway.

The class of 2008 was an exceptional group and included two National Merit Scholars, but their classmates were pretty bright too. Our students bested the state and national averages on the SAT by substantial margins.  The class performed particularly well in critical reading and writing, but math scores were much better also. The class bested the state average in reading by 45 points; math by 26; and writing by 48.  And one important note about comparing schools, almost all of Faith's Seniors took either the SAT or ACT (and many took both). In some schools, only "upper-end" students are encouraged to take the test.  Our students who found themselves in the bottom quartile of the SAT test still scored substantially better than Nevada students in the same bottom 25%.  The gap was even bigger for students in the top 25%, where our students did 50 points better in reading; 40 points better in math; and 60 points better in writing than the Nevada averages for the students in the top 25%.

SAT scores have improved at Faith for eight of the last nine years. An increasing number of our students are admitted to highly selective universities.  This builds our reputation for excellence.  It is a nice by-product of a Christian education.