Christian teachers, your mission is to equip students to impact the world for Christ. To achieve your mission, you need to increase your students’ understanding and use of a biblical perspective of course content. So you:

1. Identify the content that students are to learn.
   
2. Design an assessment, being sure it requires your students to connect course content, their lives, and a biblical perspective.
   
3. Provide engaging instruction, including using models of student work, explaining rubrics, and giving direct instruction on vocabulary.
   
4. Provide effective tools that your students can use to prepare for the assessment, including templates and web sites.
   
5. Use a rubric to assess each student’s work, and provide each student with specific feedback designed to increase performance as described on the rubric.
   
6. Give your students repeated practice on using a biblical perspective of course content.

Christian school accreditation agencies, your mission is to equip Christian schools to achieve their missions. So you:

1. Identify the content schools are to learn (the definition of mission achievement, the current level of mission achievement, and the strategic steps needed to close the gap between targeted and current levels of mission achievement).
   
2. Design an assessment that requires schools to demonstrate the identified content (see #1).
   
3. Provide instructional support, (1) including sample documents (that come with a standards-based rubric ratings), rubrics for accreditation standards and benchmarks, and vocabulary lists; and (2) through workshops, conventions, teleclasses, videoconferences, coaching, and online interactive tutorials.
   
4. Provide effective tools for schools to use to prepare for the assessment, including an online survey and an online database (see “Christian school accreditation agencies, please help”).
   
5. Use a rubric to assess each school’s work, and provide each school with specific feedback designed to increase performance as described on the rubric.
   
6. Give your schools repeated practice by requiring them to use the online database (see #4) to update current levels of mission achievement on a semesterly or annual basis.

To achieve the mission, teachers and accreditation agencies must target mission achievement. Using the 6-step process can help.

Christian school accreditation agencies, please help. Measuring current mission achievement is both challenging and worthwhile. If Christian school accreditation agencies provided 2 tools, the task would be easier and schools could spend less energy on measuring current mission achievement and more energy on achieving the mission:

(1) A password-protected, customizable, online survey (a paper version would also be available):

• That has survey items that are aligned with accreditation standard.
  
• That tabulates, disaggregates, and graphs the data.

(2) A password-protected online database (complete with templates and data analysis tools):

• That can be used to monitor task completion.
  
• Into which report narrative can be inputted by standard and benchmark.
  
• Into which documented evidence can be submitted.
  
• From which the current level of mission achievement can be determined.
  
• From which a scoreboard of the current level of mission achievement and a self-study report can be published online, as a PDF, or on paper.