Thursday, March 26, 2009

On Starting a Christian School in Makati That Uses the School of Tomorrow System

Our intention to start a Christian school using the School of Tomorrow system in our church in Makati has never died. Actually, when my wife and I began researching about schools two years ago because of our now three-year-old son, the desire to start a school continued to grow. I saw to it that I learned the School of Tomorrow system so I did everything to convince our senior pastor to send me to the administrator’s training.

I have been exposed to Christian schools using the School of Tomorrow system (also known as Accelerated Christian Education) before and have been impressed with students who studied using this system. That’s why I wanted to learn the philosophy and the methodology of this system which uses an individualized curriculum per student.

Even though our church encountered some Startups & Growth Challenges, the reason why we haven’t started the school yet, we still want to pursue this direction for our ministry. We want to provide an alternative to parents in Makati for their child’s education and we want to be able to provide quality academics guaranteed by the School of Tomorrow system.

How is this guaranteed? You see, students entering the system are given a diagnostic test (for both entering a school and the home schooled. They are then placed in the curriculum in each subject at their own pace and performance levels which are determined by the results of the diagnostic test. The format of the School of Tomorrow (SOT) curriculum allows the students to advance as they demonstrate mastery – a key component in the SOT system. The system generally requires 80% (90% for model schools) grade in the exams before a student advances to another unit in the curriculum.

But aside from academics, we want our school to provide education that helps develop children into individuals who will make their relationship with God and their personal responsibilities to their family, church and community a priority in life. Character building is another important component of this system and curriculum which is founded on theistic philosophy.

So, right now I am in the process of fulfilling other requirements of SOT Philippines so we can start working on starting a Christian school that uses the School of Tomorrow system.

Jeff

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