The Cardus Education Survey Australia McCrindle Report as featured and discussed at the 2020 launch of the report. | Australian Schools and the Common Good - Full Report |
The Cardus Education Survey Australia McCrindle Infographic of Australian schools and the Common Good, as featured at the 2020 launch of the report. | Australian Schools and the Common Good - Infographic |
The Cardus Education Survey Australia McCrindle Summary Report of Australian schools and the Common Good, as featured and discussed at the 2020 launch of the report. | Australian Schools and the Common Good - Summary Report |
 This Executive Summary provides information about the national results of the "Christian Schools Community Profile: Why Parents Choose Christian Schools" research project.
A little about the project...
In early 2021, CSA embarked upon its third important piece of national research on Christian schools that sought to provide unprecedented understanding and insight regarding the parents that select Christian schools for their children. Over the past decade, there have been seismic shifts in the families that enrol students in our Christian schools, and families are coming to our schools with diverse and at times surprising expectations and motivations for choosing Christian schooling options for their children.
This project was the largest study of its kind ever undertaken on Christian schools in Australia and focused specifically on CSA member school parents from across the nation, providing for the first-time baseline evidence relating to the backgrounds, values, faith commitments, spirituality, interests and decision-making practices and expectations of parents who attend Christian schools across the nation.
100 CSA member schools from across the nation participated in this landmark project and the response from parents across Australia was excellent with 8595 responding to the survey. The survey was conducted online between 8 March and 16 April 2021, with survey distribution and communication managed by participating schools  | Christian Schools Community Profile (CSCP) - Executive Summary |
CSA has now published its third important piece of national research on Christian schools that provides unprecedented understanding and insights regarding the parents that select Christian schools for their children. This comprehensive national study entitled Why Parents Choose Christian Schools: Christian Schools Community Profile Survey, involved 101 CSA Member schools from across the nation and collected data from 8,595 respondents. The survey investigated the perceptions and priorities of our Christian school families as well as their demographic profiles and the way they engage, support and interact with their school communities.
This Report provides, for the first time, national trends, themes, and benchmarks that are unique to CSA schools across the nation. The survey was unprecedented in both its size and scope and establishes important national baseline data regarding parents’ values, spirituality, engagement, decision-making, levels of satisfaction and personal perceptions and engagement across CSA member schools in Australia.  | Christian Schools Community Profile (CSCP) - National Report |
A 2-page Infographic showing highlights from the National Report available to CSA Members.
CSA has now published its third important piece of national research on Christian schools that provides unprecedented understanding and insights regarding the parents that select Christian schools for their children. This comprehensive national study entitled Why Parents Choose Christian Schools: Christian Schools Community Profile Survey, involved 101 CSA Member schools from across the nation and collected data from 8,595 respondents. The survey investigated the perceptions and priorities of our Christian school families as well as their demographic profiles and the way they engage, support and interact with their school communities.
This Report provides, for the first time, national trends, themes, and benchmarks that are unique to CSA schools across the nation. The survey was unprecedented in both its size and scope and establishes important national baseline data regarding parents’ values, spirituality, engagement, decision-making, levels of satisfaction and personal perceptions and engagement across CSA member schools in Australia.  | Christian Schools Community Profile (CSCP) - Schools Summary Infographic |
A 2-page Infographic showing highlights from the National Report publicly available.
CSA has now published its third important piece of national research on Christian schools that provides unprecedented understanding and insights regarding the parents that select Christian schools for their children. This comprehensive national study entitled Why Parents Choose Christian Schools: Christian Schools Community Profile Survey, involved 101 CSA Member schools from across the nation and collected data from 8,595 respondents. The survey investigated the perceptions and priorities of our Christian school families as well as their demographic profiles and the way they engage, support and interact with their school communities.
This Report provides, for the first time, national trends, themes, and benchmarks that are unique to CSA schools across the nation. The survey was unprecedented in both its size and scope and establishes important national baseline data regarding parents’ values, spirituality, engagement, decision-making, levels of satisfaction and personal perceptions and engagement across CSA member schools in Australia.  | Christian Schools Community Profile (CSCP) - Summary Infographic |
The CSA Architecture, 2020 Horizon and Beyond, seeks to frame Christian education in terms of stages of development and maturity. The new conceptualisation recognises that schools are on a pathway to maturity and have varying needs, depending on the age and stage of their community. | CSA Architecture - 2020 Horizon and Beyond |
What a great session with Dr Darren Iselin, CSA Director of Research and Innovation, as he updated members on the Cardus Education Survey Australia, along with CSA’s other research projects. Find out more about these projects, how you can be involved, as well as the results and the implications for schools moving forward. | CSA National Portfolios: CSA Research Projects with Darren Iselin |
This download provides an overview of the instrument design and data analysis, the FSCM, the 2021 Australia pilot results, and understanding how the FSCI can be used in leading school-level change.
In late 2020, seven Australian Christian schools, from diverse locations and states across the country, were recruited by Christian Schools Australia (CSA) to participate in an Australian pilot of the FSCI. Qualitative follow-up surveys enabled Australian school leaders to provide feedback on the usefulness of FSCI insights in real-time. The qualitative data was positive and showed that leaders are already using FSCI results in their school improvement plans and overall strategic planning.
For each of the seven schools participating in the Australia pilot, the FSCI identified a set of five top strength areas and five major areas for growth (based on each school’s individual construct scores). This information is valuable not only for the participating schools themselves but also for the Christian school sector, as it provides a snapshot of the key strengths and areas for improvement for a sample of schools in CSA membership.
The resulting research is groundbreaking both in terms of its scope and findings and provides the basis for the first-ever empirically validated model of flourishing in Christian schools.  | Flourishing Schools FSCI Australia Pilot Report - ACSI |
 Hear from Dr. Lynn Swaner as she provides an overview and synthesis of the Flourishing Schools Culture Model Australia Pilot, the instrument and the five key domain areas, presented by Dr. Lynn Swaner of ACSI.
About the Australia Pilot
In 2018, the Association of Christian Schools international (ACSI) sought to explore the following questions: How do Christian schools flourish? What elements of school culture contribute to flourishing, and do some elements matter more than others? Is there a roadmap to school flourishing that can be validated by empirical research in Christian schools? The outcome of their rigorous investigations and testing within over 65 schools and 15000 participants was the development of this exciting new survey research tool—the Flourishing School Culture Instrument (FSCI).
The survey clusters a range of validated constructs into five domains of flourishing: Purpose; Relationships; Teaching and Learning; Expertise and Resources; and Well-Being. These domains provide a compelling and comprehensive picture of the areas in which Christian schools can focus their efforts and resources in order to promote a flourishing school culture and community. | Flourishing Schools FSCM Australia Pilot Overview - ACSI |
This document provides an overview of ACSI's Flourishing Schools Research by Dr Lynn Swaner & Matthew H. Lee and the use of the FSCI - Flourishing Schools Culture Instrument.
It was an article originally published in "Research in Brief" Fall 2020. Volume 2. Issue 1. | Flourishing Schools Research - an overview - ACSI |
This fact sheet provides an overview of ACSI's FLourishing Schools research and also includes an outline of the Flourishing School Culture Model.
Validated by research, the Flourishing School Culture Model (FSCM) provides culture-level insight to Christian schools on how their students, educators, and school communities flourish in the domains of Purpose, Relationships, Learning Orientation, Expertise & Resources, and Well-Being. The companion school culture assessment tool, the Flourishing School Culture Instrument (FSCI), offers predictive insights to individual schools regarding their unique strengths and opportunities for growth in these domains. | Flourishing Schools Research - Fact Sheet - ACSI |
ACSI has continued to conduct analysis of the FSCI (Flourishing Schools Culture Instrument) data, as well as collect additional qualitative data on leaders’ use of FSCI insights at their schools.
This report unpacks leadership constructs that are linked to school flourishing, as well as shares additional findings from ongoing research on how school leaders can develop their own practices that lead to flourishing-related outcomes for their schools.
This report provides two sets of self-reflection guides—one for school leaders and one for school boards—with questions that can be used individually and collaboratively to strengthen leaders’ foundational, relational, and strategic practices.
The Flourishing School Culture Model (FSCM) provides a research-validated path to flourishing for Christian schools in the domains of Purpose, Relationships, Teaching & Learning, Expertise & Resources, and Well-Being. The Flourishing School Culture Instrument (FSCI) continues to benefit Christian schools by measuring the core components of flourishing for their unique school cultures.  | FSCI Leadership Report, 2021. Leadership for Flourishing Schools: From Research to Practice - ACSI |
How do Christian schools flourish? What elements of school culture contribute to flourishing, and do some elements matter more than others? Is there a roadmap to school flourishing that can be validated by empirical research in Christian schools?
In 2018, ACSI Research sought to answer these questions through rigorous research on Christian school cultures, by using a new research tool—the Flourishing School Culture Instrument (FSCI).
This report provides detailed information about instrument design and fielding, as well as unpacks FSCI findings and the FSCM model for Christian educators which, when taken together, provide measurable signposts on a roadmap toward flourishing Christian schools.
The Flourishing School Culture Model (FSCM) provides a research-validated path to flourishing for Christian schools in the domains of Purpose, Relationships, Teaching & Learning, Expertise & Resources, and Well-Being. The Flourishing School Culture Instrument (FSCI) continues to benefit Christian schools by measuring the core components of flourishing for their unique school cultures. | FSCI Research Report, 2019. Flourishing Schools: Research on Christian School Culture and Community - ACSI |
This video is the official launch of the Cardus Research project. | Launch of the Cardus Research |
Meditations on Meditation in a Toolshed by Albert Cheng was originally published in Research in Brief, Fall 2020 addition. | Meditations on Meditation in a Toolshed | Albert Cheng |
Over the past few decades, several trends have increasingly come to shape the landscape for private Christian education in the United States. The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) commissioned Barna Group to explore these trends more deeply, providing concrete data to inform schools about the faith and education dynamics of American parents. ACSI have compiled a report (Multiple Choice: How parents sort education options in a changing market). on trends that have shaped the landscape for private Christian education in the United States. | Multiple Choice: How parents sort education options in a changing market |
Navigating Tensions between Christian Ethos and Assessment Practices by Dr Maria Varlet was originally published in Research in Brief, Fall 2020 addition. | Navigating Tensions between Christian Ethos and Assessment Practices | Dr Maria Varlet |
 In 2017 and 2018, CSA completed one of the largest research projects undertaken on Christian schools in Australia. The Relational Schools Project was overseen by the Relational Schools Foundation in the United Kingdom under the direction of Dr Rob Loe and sought to measure relational quality and student wellbeing between students, teachers and students and with the community (between home and school). “Relational Proximity” is defined as a measure of the distance in the relationship between two people or organisations. The project involved 17 schools and over 13,000 student responses with nearly 1 million lines of data.
The research findings of the Relational Schools project in Australia were significant in both scope and quality. The findings were clear: the level of Relational Proximity within Australian Christian schools was very high and the correlations with the UK data revealed that, on average, Christian Schools in Australia were exceeding the levels of schools from the initial research in the UK. A second phase of the project was also undertaken in 2019.  | Relational Schools Research Project |