Gary Kilburg and Scot Headley

1. An examination of collegiality in selected
Christian schools in Oregon, Washington and
Idaho:
Evaluating the effects of the Christian School
Leadership program
Gary Kilburg and Scot Headley, George Fox University

2. A scholarly agenda regarding professional development
of educators in Christian Schools
Headley, W. S. (1996). “The Role of Teacher Education In-service teacher
Departments of Christian Colleges in In-Service Teacher education, how
Education” Nurturing Reflective Christians to Serve in Public and who?
and Private Education Symposium, Azusa Pacific University,
Azusa, CA.
Headley, W. S. (2003). “Professional development policies
and practices in schools affiliated with the Association of School-based
Christian Schools International”. Journal of Research in professional
Christian Education. 12 (2) pp. 195-215. development
Birky, V., Shelton, M. and Headley, S. (2006). “An
Administrator’s Challenge: Encouraging Teachers to be Teacher Leadership
Leaders”. NASSP Bulletin, 90 (2) pp.1-15.

3. A scholarly agenda regarding professional development
of educators in Christian Schools
Headley, W. S. (2008). The academic preparation of educators Preparation of
in the K-12 schools of the Association of Christian Schools educators in
International. Private School Monitor, 29 (2) pp 1-10. Christian schools
Shelton, M., Birky, V. D., & Headley, W. Scot. (2008). Encouraging
Encouraging teacher leaders. In W. K. Hoy & M. DiPaola teacher leadership
(Eds.), Improving schools: Studies in leadership and culture:
Vol. 7. Research and theory in educational leadership (7th ed.,
pp. 169-191). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Shelton, M., Headley, W. S. and Birky, V. (2008, May). School-based
Discernment in decision making: implications for leaders. decision making
Presentation made at the International Community of
Christian Teacher Educators Conference, Gordon College:
Wenham, MA.

4. Kilburg, G. and Headley, S. (2009). The Christian school Mentoring
leadership mentoring program at George Fox University: A programs in
ministry of service and encouragement. In C. Wong (Ed.), Christian schools
Proceedings of the 2009 Mentoring Conference (pp. 104-111).
Albuquerque, NM.
Kilburg, G. & Headley, S. (2010, May). Christian School University-based
Leadership Program. Paper presented at the International professional
Community of Christians in Teacher Education Conference. development
Letourneau University, Longview, Texas. programming
Kilburg, G. and Headley, S. (2012, May) An examination of Collegiality in
collegiality in selected Christian schools in Oregon, school
Washington and Idaho. Paper presented at the ICCTE improvement
conference, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA.

5. From a scholarly point of view, this project has significance that
goes beyond the work being done in the Pacific Northwest. Since
Headley’s (1997) initial work in the late 1990s additional scholarly
work along similar lines has occurred in New York, Illinois and
Virginia.
Finn, D. E., Swezey, J. A., & Warren, D. P. (2010). The perceived
professional development needs of Christian school teachers.
Journal of Research on Christian Education, 19(1), 7-26.
Looney, J. (2008). Developing comprehensive induction programs at
Christian schools. The ICCTE Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2009,
from http://icctejournal.org, 3(1).
Neuzil, L., & Vaughn, M. (2010). An examination of professional
development activities available to teachers in the Mid-America
region of the Association of Christian Schools International. The
ICCTE Journal, 5(1).

6. Our previous research showed that PK-12 Christian
schools in the Northwest were offering minimal
mentoring and professional development work. Further,
only about one-half of the educators at those schools had
formal preparation in teacher education, with less than
one-fourth receiving preparation at a Christian institution
of higher education.
Ongoing service work in Christian schools, as well as our
engagement with the professional and scholarly literature
regarding professional development of educators has led
us to believe that:

7. • Individual and group professional growth goals and activities are
sorely lacking in Christian schools;
• Effective Christian school leadership is a process (not just a role)
and a series of commitments involving an interplay between
organizational mission and vision and professional relationships
focused on accomplishing agreed upon ends;
• Collegiality (as described by Barth, 2006) is a robust conceptual
model for creating a climate of effectiveness and accountability
within the school community; and
• Collaboration between schools has great potential for providing
sustained commitment to professional growth of educators in
Christian schools.

8. Collegiality is about getting [educators] to play together, about
growing a professional learning community. When I visit a school and
look for evidence of collegiality among teachers and administrators—
signs that educators are "playing together"—the indicators
I seek are:
•Educators talking with one another about practice.
•Educators sharing their craft knowledge.
•Educators observing one another while they are engaged in
practice.
•Educators rooting for one another's success. (p. 11)
Barth, R.S. (March 2006). Improving Relationships Within the
Schoolhouse, Educational Leadership, Vol. 63, No. 6, 8-13.

9. The Christian School Leadership (CSL) Program Purpose
The CSL professional development program is funded by the MJ
Murdock Charitable Trust, a Northwest Philanthropic organization,
based in Vancouver, WA. The CSL program is designed to support
appropriate leadership in PK-12 Christian schools by promoting
collaborative leadership and shared responsibility and
accountability. The program is administered by faculty in the
School of Education at George Fox University.
We are grateful to the Trust for their support of this and several
similar projects funded in the Northwest serving the needs of PK-
12 Christian schools.

10. Most schools are not structured to sustain collegiality, therefore
professional development and mentoring provides a means of
addressing the need of assisting schools in moving toward
collegiality.
To strengthen leadership and promote a culture of collegiality, the
CSL program design emphasizes these key principles:
•Shared vision, mission, and goals
•Collaboration within and across school boundaries
•Shared leadership and decision making
•Enhanced knowledge and support for professional growth
•Shared knowledge and support of best practices within
schools

11. Design of specific professional development activities includes:
•A negotiated process of determining need and response to
need in consultation with CSL staff
•Offering of protocols and procedures based on best practices
within the field of professional development and consistent with
CSL purpose and philosophy
•A proposed school-specific plan with acknowledged challenges
and benefits
•An assessment of program implementation

12. The Program has provided professional development and
mentoring support for Christian school leaders and personnel for 4
years. During this timeframe, 31 schools and approximately 200
Christian school educators serving an estimated 2000 students
have been impacted by the program.
The type of specific support provided includes
•mentors for novice administrators and teachers,
•an administrators’ bimonthly collaborative support network,
•Professional Learning Communities at school sites,
•credit-bearing coursework,
•mentor institute seminars,
•professional development seminars,
•resource materials,
•accountability and assessment processes, and
•consultations with GFU faculty on school-specific concerns.

13. Trust-Mandated and Managed External and Summative
Evaluation of the Program
To determine the impact of Trust investment on Christian schools
in the Northwest. Of interest to the Trust are the following:
•School Achievement Data
•Program Elements (are they consistent with the literature
base)
•Transformational and Sustainable New Practices adopted as
a result of program participation
•Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Schools
Mixed methods approach with a combination of site visits, school
survey through self-study, gathering of institutional data from
websites and documents, interviews with key stakeholders. A
combination of external evaluator and CSL personnel conducting
the study

14. School Achievement Data
Although an analysis of comparable standardized test scores is limited,
recorded school scores do evidence successful outcomes and high
achievement in the areas of college readiness, college admission and
grade-level performance.
Schools that use ACT, SAT, and ITBS standardized tests report scores
exceeding the academic performance of most public schools. For
example, the ACT composite mean score for college readiness is 21. All
reporting schools achieve mean scores between 22 and 26.
High schools report 85% -100% of their graduates attend 2 or 4-year
colleges in contrast to 60% of Oregon public school graduates. The
Oregon governor’s goal is to raise the public school standard to 80%~ a
standard already surpassed by CSL project high schools.

15. Program Elements
•From one-shot teacher workshops to structured professional
scaffolding and accountability over months and years (i.e., monthly
logs, administrator regional meetings, mentor institute
conferences).
•From teacher isolation to structured collegiality within the school
(i.e., Professional Learning Communities (PLC) of teachers,
committed time during school hours to meet and plan for
implementation of best practices in administration and teaching, in-
school mentoring and classroom observations).

16. Program Elements
•From teacher and administrator isolation to structured collegiality
beyond the school (i.e., cross-school mentoring and classroom
observation, administrator support network, consultation with GFU
staff).
•From a “one size fits all” model of PD to needs assessment by
schools as their foundation for requests, funding, and consultation.
•From limited help-seeking and help-offering patterns of interaction
to sanctioned and encouraged communication between novice and
veteran educators committed to the integration of Christian faith
and learning.

17. Transformational and Sustainable New Practices
•Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) focused on connecting
curriculum and instruction with student learning and assessment
•Pilot programming to whole-school adoption of PLC planning
structures including allocated in-school v. after-school planning time
•Cross-school administrator support network meetings facilitated by
GFU and focused on personnel issues, board relations, budget,
policies/procedures, and professional growth of leaders
•Online resource identification including PD webinars
•Increased trust and confidence in sharing areas of expertise by
veteran and novice educators

18. Transformational and Sustainable New Practices
•Renewed sense of calling and commitment to teaching and/or
administering in Christian schools
•School-wide professional development seminars provided by
knowledgeable educators from GFU and other institutions of higher
learning (requires funding)
•Mentor assignments, accountability structures, and mentor training
(requires funding)
•Regional invitational seminars hosted by schools (requires funding)
•Stipends for PD leadership roles within schools such as lead teacher
position, outside consultant position, and mentor roles (requires
funding)

19. Characteristics of Successful (28) and Unsuccessful Schools (3)
Successful
Supportive administrative leadership
Focused goals aligned with teacher growth and student learning
Support structures of accountability (mentor logs, report
procedures, etc.)
Norms of professional collegiality
Unsuccessful
Political discord within the school’s administrative leadership
Poor planning that resulted in school closure before it could open
Financial constraints exacerbated by the economic downturn

20. Top 5 sustainable transformations
•Administrator cooperation and collaboration between schools in
identifying and discussing shared areas of concern and interest
•Teacher-leadership development through mentoring, Professional
Learning Communities, and structural changes to facilitate during-
school planning time
•Accessibility to CSL-developed online resources and materials, CSL
Team leadership and training
•Participants’ trust and confidence in their abilities to both seek help
and offer help to other educators resulting in greater collaboration
versus isolation
•Participants’ renewed sense of calling in their commitment to
teaching and/or administering in Christian schools

21. The Murdock Trust funding has allowed the Christian School
Leadership program to offer leadership support for school-
identified needs over several years in contrast to the more
typical one-shot workshop approach to staff training. Through
this sustained effort, relationships foundational to professional
development within and between schools have been
established.
Intention
Intervention
Incentive
Trusting Relationships
Changed Behavior
Changed Culture
Improved Outcomes