by Adam Kronberger / Head of School

The official results of the April AdvancEd Accreditation Visit were recently presented to the CCS School Board. While the accreditation visit, which occurs every five years, currently focuses on the high school, the results generally reflect the larger scope of the school on both campuses. During their visit, the accreditation team interviewed 17 students, 17 teachers and staff, 7 parents, and 7 board members from both CCS and Church on the Hill. At least 26 classroom sessions were also observed. As a result, the visitation team has recommended continued accreditation for CCS. As part of their review, the following standards and benchmarks were highlighted as strengths of our school community:
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• The governing authority adheres to a code of ethics and functions within defined roles and responsibilities. 
• The governing authority establishes and ensures adherence to policies that are designed to support institutional effectiveness. 
• Leaders implement staff supervision and evaluation processes to improve professional practice and organizational effectiveness. 
• The institution attracts and retains qualified personnel who support the institution’s purpose and direction. 
• The institution implements, evaluates and monitors processes to identify and address the specialized social, emotional, developmental and academic needs of students. 
• Learners demonstrate a congenial and supportive relationship with their teacher.
• Learners are supported by the teacher, their peers and/or other resources to understand content and accomplish tasks.
• Learners speak and interact respectfully with teacher(s) and each other.
• Learners demonstrate knowledge of and/or follow classroom rules and behavioral expectations and work well with others.
• Learners are actively engaged in the learning activities.
• Learners engage in activities and learning that are challenging but attainable.
• Learners use digital tools/technology to gather, evaluate and/or use information for learning.

The main areas of improvement suggested by the team focused on areas the school has already targeted for needed growth. The school is in its first year of transition from the TerraNova 3 standardized testing platform to the NWEA MAP platform. The new platform has less interruption to student instruction and provides data that is readily available for teachers to make adjustments to curriculum and individualized student learning. Student growth is also more accurately tracked and individual student growth data will be available to parents this coming fall. Another targeted area of growth is to expand the school’s leadership team in response to continuous growth in enrollment.  Adjustments in this area are already being made. In conclusion, perhaps the most notable remarks made by the visiting team are...

“A strong strength observed and heard often by team members is that CCS has a very supportive environment for students and adults. Students are happy to be at this school, and students and parents report feeling welcomed and safe. Finally, strengths observed and heard often is the CCS Discipleship Model based on: Discover – Develop – Deploy. The school leadership, teachers, school staff, students, and parents and community are committed to these goals as a part of their daily routine at CCS.” 
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– Adam Kronberger / Head of School

by Adam Kronberger / Head of School

Life is full of dualistic balancing acts. As an OSU graduate, the black and orange are often prominently worn, and other times of the year I confess the Beaver colors are hidden in my closet. After a hike I am proud to be an Oregonian, but after a difficult political season, perhaps not as much. Even as Christians, we experience citizenship in this world, but also citizenship in His Kingdom. We choose daily which Kingdom to serve as these Kingdoms collide.

Christian schooling is such a great example of this fragile balancing act. As parents release their children to the care of others, the influence from adults and other peers will greatly determine the formation of children’s lives. It is easy to simply want our children to be safe, protected, and completely shielded from the world. This loving intention is our responsibility as parents. Jesus helps clarify the larger responsibility in John 17:16,18 “They (God’s children) are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” The process of discipleship training certainly requires an environment that places the gospel of Jesus Christ at its center. Yet the process is for a greater end of bringing glory to God through the demonstration of His love to a fallen world.

The past few years, elementary students on the Keizer campus have committed to praying and helping support a missionary family in Ukraine. The family has committed their life to helping orphans in Ukraine who desperately need to experience God’s Fatherly love that comes from another Kingdom. The missionary family continues to adopt those society has discarded, and is building facilities to broaden the impact of their ministry. At a recent chapel, students were introduced to the fruit of their commitment as they met those who have been adopted, both in person and in video. While students are daily impacted through Biblical teaching and discipleship training, they are also called daily to consider God’s purpose for their lives. The inward transformation as a disciple is designed for an outward manifestation that shares His goodness to the world.

June Jubilee Update
Gifts have already been pledged in preparation for the capital campaign during the month of June.  A generous donor is providing $100,000 in matching funds. The value of every cash gift will be matched and doubled during the month of June. Many families are choosing to give their monthly tuition payment that is not collected during the month of June. If everyone participates in some way, we can maximize this opportunity and raise $200,000. Your giving allows the school to continue to grow its programs, facilities, and resources without large tuition increases. 
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– Adam Kronberger / Head of School

by Molly Dillon / Keizer Campus Principal

I love a good spring thunderstorm, and last weekend provided quite a show where I live! Even though I’m “all growed up” I still enjoy counting “One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi…” after each flash of lightning, waiting in eager anticipation for the thunder, to determine whether the lightning is moving closer or farther away. Sometimes it’s underwhelming, barely detectable, yet on rare occasions it can be exhilarating as the powerful, thunderous boom reverberates through the neighborhood, the impact shaking my house. As God lit up the Saturday night sky, I enjoyed a front row seat to the awesome display of creation in action.

As parents and educators, we have been given a front row seat to an equally awesome display of our children living out their discipleship. We may not often experience a thunderous boom, but the impact is both seen and heard throughout our community.  In a recent journal entry, a second-grader beautifully documented the significance of a missional field trip she had just returned from. “Today we went to be missionaries at the Brookdale Retirement Center. The people there liked all of us and thought we all were pretty. We handed out May Day baskets with flowers in them. Being a missionary brings me joy and everlasting joy for the people.” As our second-graders exuberantly recited their bible verses, sang praises and honored their elders, they were, as the Apostle Paul describes, “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:2).    

A speech pathologist providing services to one of our students in first grade was recently moved to tears after their session. She shared with her student that she needed to take a leave of absence to care for her sick husband.  Without hesitation, the student quickly replied, “I know what I am going to do, I am going to PRAY for you!”  This was a profound moment of ministry to an adult in her life who isn’t walking with the Lord. Each week at chapel, a preschool student distributes her offering to fellow students who do not have one so they may also participate in this important form of worship. In simple and magnificent ways, our students are demonstrating Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

God is doing a mighty work at Crosshill, beautifully orchestrating experiences by which our children are living out their discipleship. As they continue to follow and grow closer to Jesus, they are proving to be powerful flashes of godly influence, gloriously lighting up this dark world!
 
– Molly Dillon / Keizer Campus Principal

by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent

This past month, Crosshill Christian High School hosted a team from AdvancEd as part of its regular accreditation cycle. AdvancEd provides accreditation to schools and colleges across the nation to ensure the quality of its diplomas. The experience provided opportunity to celebrate the good things God is doing, while highlighting areas identified for continued areas of improvement. CCHS retains its accreditation and the visitation team had many positive things to say about the parents, staff, and students. 

While certainly profitable, the process was uncomfortable at times. It is often much easier to evaluate others than to examine your own life. The apostle Paul instructed the church in Corinth to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor. 13:5) Each week teachers give tests in their classrooms to motivate and measure learning. Without a doubt, the most important test that can be given in a school (or a home) is the test of faith. The test of faith cannot be taken on a piece of paper. Just because a student aces their multiplication table, that doesn’t make them a mathematician. When a student memorizes a sonnet, it does not make them a poet.  

In the same way, authentic faith cannot be judged by answers to simple questions. Most students at Crosshill Christian are blessed to be in a home of faith, a church of faith and a school of faith. Some day these students will move on from their current home, church and school. If their faith has not become integrated into their lives, their faith will be left behind. The first priority of discipleship training is guiding students to develop an authentic faith that they own and travels with them beyond their childhood circumstances. 

There are six strands of faith that can contribute to the formation of a student’s authentic faith (adapted from Steven Garber’s book “Fabric of Faithfulness”):

1. Reasonable Faith (Believe it)

• A faith that accepts God’s power and understands creation, fall, redemption, and restoration

 
2. Integrated Faith (Absorb it) 

• A faith that accepts God’s power and understands creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.

3. Embodied Faith (Live it)

• A faith that is both inward and outward, doing not just knowing.  

4. Willing Faith (Own it)

• A faith driven and developed by personal initiative, not indoctrination.

5. Community Faith (Share it)

• A faith experienced with others.

​6. Consuming Faith (A true disciple)

• A faith that founded upon on eternal beliefs that drive unchanging values               that becomes evident in consistent behaviors.

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– Adam Kronberger / Superintendent