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It is with great sadness that we share the news that Reverend Dr. Charles K. Smith has passed away. Dr. Smith served as the head of the League of Christian Schools for nearly ten years. Dr. Smith continued to serve on the LCS Board of Directors faithfully until his untimely passing. Dr. Smith has participated in more school accreditations than can actually be counted. His valuable contributions to Christian education can be found in the organizational fabric in hundreds of schools he guided in long term improvement through the accreditation process. He was also a consummate mentor to pastors and school leaders all over world.
Additionally, Dr. Smith has impacted many teachers as a professor and coordinator of the Master’s program at Southeastern University. He taught in both the Masters and Doctoral programs.
Dr. Charles Smith was also an ordained Assemblies of God minister, having served in many pastoral positions, including senior pastor and as a Christian school administrator.
Services will be held:
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Want to learn from others who have paved the path and are keen to share their knowledge? Grow your leadership capacity, advance in your school’s mission and ministry.
The LCS Leadership Cohort Program is available for LCS Members from accredited schools on a first come first served basis. Learn from other school leaders with proven successes, and who want to be part of your future success!
The League of Christian Schools is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.
Members are eligible for the 2023-2024 leadership cohort based on availability. Limited spots will be assigned on a first come first served basis.
Applications are accepted until October 1.
Cohorts meet online for 1 hour each month.
The Annual Accreditation Status and Progress Report (ASPR) for continued accreditation is to be submitted by the administrator each school year following the visitation years. On the years that a school completes a self-study and hosts a site team, the ASPR is NOT required. The ASPR provides a periodic self-assessment and review of the current accreditation standards. Schools should review any accreditation updates or changes that may have been made to existing standards.
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According to a recent report:
U.S. eighth graders saw score declines in civics and U.S. history on the latest Nation’s Report Card (also called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP), another reminder that the nation urgently needs to turn its attention to learning at the secondary level.
The average score on the 2022 civics assessment declined by 2 points since students last took the test in 2018, the first decline since the assessment began in 1998. Only 22 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level in civics.
The average score dropped 5 points on the NAEP U.S. history assessment between 2018 and 2022. The decrease continues a trend of declining scores that began in 2014. Just 13 percent of eighth-grade students scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level in U.S. history. [emphasis added]
While NAEP Proficient remains the goal for students, nearly one-third of eighth graders are performing below NAEP Basic in civics, meaning they likely cannot describe the structure and function of government. In U.S. history, 40 percent of eighth graders performed below NAEP Basic, meaning they likely cannot identify simple historical concepts in primary or secondary sources.
Evangel University in Springfield Missouri is partnering with the League of Christian Schools in an effort to assist Christian school teachers in the LCS accredited schools gain their 5-year Professional Teaching Credential.
Evangel University is an Assemblies of God university in Springfield, Missouri and is the oldest higher education institution in the Assemblies of God denomination. Evangel serves undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students both on campus and online. This Christian School Instructor Certificate is an online certificate program offered for LCS instructors who need the Education Methods classes to qualify for the 5- year Professional Credential.
If you would like further information, please feel free to contact Dr. Sutherland at sutherlandk@Evangel.Edu and she will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
If you would like to apply to Evangel and get started on your classes this summer, please click the button below to get started! and get started!
Summer classes begin soon!
This excerpt is taken from This article appeared Monday on carolinajournal.com (link below).
Republicans have introduced a bill this session that would create education savings accounts in North Carolina. Here is a quick primer on what ESAs are, what other states are doing on this issue, and what could be on tap here in the Tar Heel State.
What are ESAs?
Education savings accounts are government-funded accounts controlled by parents that can be used for approved education expenses. ESAs shouldn’t be confused with a Coverdale ESA or a 529 account, both of which allow parents to fund education accounts using their own after-tax dollars and allow the investment to grow for tax-free withdrawals if the funds are used to pay for approved education expenses.
ESAs are one of the most ambitious forms of school choice because they exemplify the belief that education dollars should follow the child, not just fund a system.
What other states are doing
Six states have passed a universal ESA to date — Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, West Virginia, and Florida. Here is more detail on the specifics of each ESA plan.
Arizona: This state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are available to all students and are valued at around $7,000 each. Arizona became the first state to pass a universal ESA in 2022.
Arkansas: The Children’s Education Freedom Accounts were signed into law in March. The accounts will be phased in over two years until eventually becoming universally available to all students. The value of each account is based on 90% of the prior fiscal year’s per pupil allotment, which for the most recent year is around $6,600.
Iowa: This state’s ESAs became a reality in January and will fully kick in for all students by the 2025-2026 school year. The value is tied to the state’s per pupil allotment for public school students — around $7,400 for the current fiscal year.
Utah: The Fits All Scholarship account are valued around $8,000 per year. Although they are available to all students, priority is given to families to lower-income families before wealthier families have access to an account.
West Virginia: The Hope Scholarship is worth less than what other states offer — around $4,300 for the 2022-2023 school year.
Florida: The Sunshine State became the most recent state to enact a universal ESA after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law in late March. Each ESA is worth around $8,700 a year, making Florida not only the largest state to enact an ESA, but also the most generous in the amount provided.
Several other states are either poised to pass ESAs or are on the cusp of expanding special-needs ESAs to all students.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed legislation creating an Education Freedom Account program, the terms of which will allow parents to use most of their child’s state education dollars for private school tuition and other approved education expenses.
From Council for American Private Education (CAPE)
Here is an update to a previously published story (at the bottom of this article).
As we reported several years ago, New York DOE wanted to enforce a “substantial equivalency” rule requiring private schools to demonstrate they are equal to their public counterparts in educational quality. However, there were a few problems in the interpretation of the rule.
A judge has now ruled that parents cannot be forced to withdraw students from private schools that fail to demonstrate the school meets the self-designated state standards.
The Associated Press reported the ruling “came in response to a lawsuit brought by ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools…and related advocacy groups. Under the rules, the state’s 1,800 private and religious schools must provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that of a public school.
Although Judge Christina Ryba rejected an argument that the state regulations were unconstitutional, she did contend that state officials overstepped their authority in setting penalties for schools that don’t adhere to them.
Our friends at CAPE haver reported that a judge on the New York State Supreme Court has struck down the State Education Department’s “substantial equivalency” guidance as being in violation of the State Administrative Procedures Act. This decision renders the substantial equivalency guidance issued on November 20, 2018, null and void and puts on ice, for now, a frontal attack on private school autonomy.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed a bill that would make every K-12 student in Florida eligible for an $8,000 scholarship or education savings account from the state, regardless of family income. The new law goes into effect July 1.
H.B. 1 makes millions more students eligible for the state money, including home-schooled children, but projections of the program’s cost vary wildly because no one knows how many families will take advantage of the opportunity. The House estimates $209 billion for the program. The Senate has set aside $2.2 billion, but critics of the plan predict costs will be at least $4 billion.