The Transforming Power of Adventist Education

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Seventh-day Adventist educators have long maintained that their students’ achievement test scores (Iowa Test of Basic Skills scores), pass rates, and college matriculation percentages consistently outpace most public school and even other private school systems. The Annual Council of American Private Education Report indicates performance of private education students on nationwide standardized tests routinely outpaces  those of public school students. Are these impressive facts or just well-intentioned propaganda?

 The CognitiveGenesis study was born out of the desire to create an empirical data bank that could answer the following questions:

• a. How well are students doing academically?
• b. Are there unique, identifiable qualities that are related to Seventh-day Adventist academics and, if so, what are they?
• c. How do Seventh-day Adventist students compare in academic performance to their counterparts in public and private schools?
• d What needs to be improved in order to provide the best possible education for our young
• e Researchers at La Sierra University with the cooperation of the North American Division Office of Education (NADOE) and all nine unions, undertook the first division-wide (United States, Canada, and Bermuda) study to assess Adventist academics in elementary and secondary schools. 

The four-year study documented the academic achievement of approximately 30,000 students in the NAD and examined the various factors that are related to achievement.