schools typically become so singularly focused on meeting
the detailed guidelines established during the accrediting
process that they often miss key success factors specific to
their school. The accreditation/reaccreditation audit is then
viewed as the pinnacle event which rewards the desired
certificate of achievement. With said “stamp of approval” in
hand, school personnel breath a collective sigh of relief and
carry on with the day to day. Like a student who studied
and aced a huge test simply to generally retain the knowl-
edge, rather than seek deeper understanding for futuristic
growth and understanding, schools operate similarly.
With common sense operational processes implemented
and signed off by the accreditation auditor, the risk of
complacency looms with key internal factors being ignored.
Accreditation is extremely critical to legitimacy and public
perception of a Christian school; however, it alone does
not provide for the robust assessment needed to evaluate
and measure the wholistic factors that are key to a thriving,
forward thinking institution.
A truly objective and thorough assessment process can be
extraordinarily powerful to a Christian school in numerous
ways. First and foremost, assessment conducted by a third
party entity can better aid in the identification of blind spots.
Renewanation serves to partner with schools in this way.
The ebb and flow of day to day school life is extremely varied
and oftentimes riddled with ongoing troubleshooting. Many
times, the struggles at hand are a result of weak processes.
Such an environment understandably lends itself to “fix
it” strategies that address symptoms, while unfortunately
ignoring the often obvious root causes. Impartial, in-depth
appraisal serves to identify and equip with best practices
to achieve foundationally solid methods of operation. This
model of assessment also provides a Christian school with
the opportunity to benchmark against other similar entities,
further helping to identify their relative core strengths and
weaknesses. Renewanation assessments conducted over
the past two years have often yielded appreciated astonish-
ment from headmasters and board chairs who are learning
of critical issues that have never been communicated or
identified. An essential element of Renewanation’s method-
ology is providing respondents an outside party for candid
communication without fear of retribution, creating an
atmosphere of honest evaluation.
As a school board and headmaster prepare for strategic
planning, a solid baseline from an independent perspective
is critical before launching into the development of a path
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for the future. Engaging multiple stakeholders such as the
administrative team, faculty, parents, students, donors, and
even community leaders in this assessment process will
allow for a rich, meaningful data set, which will in turn
provide a strong understanding of the current state. When
conducted with a broad reach, this data gathering process
provides stakeholders with an avenue to express their
concerns in a non-threatening way and results in the fortu-
itous benefit of increased morale. School boards find that
constituents connected to their Christian school will be
more aligned with and supportive of the resulting strategic
plan when they are included in the developmental process.
Christian school stakeholders engaged with Renewanation
assessments have experienced newfound fervor through
this process. In fact, several former donors and supporters
have reconnected with their local Christian schools upon
discovering that an outside professional organization had
been sought out to assist with system development and
strategic deployment planning.
Lastly, a comprehensive assessment serves to distinctly
evaluate team dynamics. God’s gifting of our various
personalities and inherent communication styles plays a
significant role in both team dynamics and the organiza-
tion’s ability to effectively address challenges and leverage
opportunities. The culture and spiritual vitality of a school
is generally cultivated by purposeful and inspiring leader-
ship. As a result, both the leadership team and faculty will be
well positioned and aligned to meet the mission and vision
of their Christian school, reaching and discipling the next
generation for Christ.
Ron Gordon is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Of-
ficer of Renewanation and brings strong education and execu-
tive experience to the cause. Ron holds a Bachelor of Science
degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and an MBA from
Virginia Tech. Ron’s wife, Tonya, is a trained and passionate
educator. They have twin boys, Caleb and Jacob, and a daugh-
ter, Gracie.
For more information about the
Renewanation Christian School
Revitalization Program, please
contact Ron Gordon at ron@
renewanation.org.