Ken Badley
Clarifying "Faith-Learning Integration": Essentially Contested Concepts and the Concept-Conception Distinction

THE LANGUAGE OF "faith-learning integration" remains popular among evangelical educators in both K–12 and higher education. Some observers suggest for theological and educational reasons that Christian educators replace integration language with other language. Even its advocates do not agree on what would count as integration. This article suggests that both the concept-conception distinction and W. B. Gallie's catgory of an essentially contented concept shed light on the phrase. If faith-learning integration is an essentially contested concept, or is a concept subject to conception-building, then Christian educators may never agree on what counts as a paradigm case.

Theresa F. Latini
Nonviolent Communication: A Humanizing Ecclesial and Educational Practice

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a humanizing ecclesial and educational practice. NVC is a four-step process of communication designed to facilitate empathy and honesty between individuals and groups. Through and interdisciplinary dialogue with Reformed theology, this article argues that NVC is one concrete means of living as those made in the image of God in churches and seminaries too often marked by entrenched power struggles and vitriolic discourse. It identifies numerous ways in which NVC can help prepare seminarians forthe complex challenges of ministry in today's world. It suggests general guidelines for teaching nonviolently in the context of seminary education. While the article focuses on teaching NVC in theological education, it is applicable to a wide variety of educaitonal contexts. Originally presented as a paper at the 2007 Reimagining Educational Excellence conference sponsored by the Kuyers Institute for Teaching and Learning at Calvin College.

Jack Du Mez
Getting It Write: What Christian Institutions of Higher Education Can Learn from "Basic" Writers

THIS ARTICLE examines how institutions of higher education conflate moral and descriptive terms for good, bad, remedial, and basic writing students. It outlines some of the social and historical developments that have led to exclusionary admissions and curricular requirements, and identifies how Christian institutions are complicit in these developments. It demonstrates how Christian institutions are well positioned to implement more effective metaphors for describing student writers and their writing, and suggests action steps for instructors and administrators at Christian institutions that want to attract and retain a diverse student body and put into practice their academic missions.

Charles Justins
Christian Schooling and Educational Excellence: An Australian Perspective

THIS PAPER CONSIDERS from an Australian perspective the tensions for Christian schooling in the notion of educational excellence and whether, ultimately, it is possible for a Christian school to promote itself as a centre for educational excellence and remain authentically Christian. The language of excellence is prevalent in Western society, and the language of educational excellence is certainly prevalent in Australia. Educational excellence appears to be the ambition and purpose of every "worthy" educational program and institution. This paper addresses the responses of Christian schooling in Australia, particularly Christian Parent Controlled (CPCS) schooling, to the concept of educational excellence. The vehicles for this exploration are an examination of the core values of CPCS schools, a consideration of the attitudes of a number of key CPCS educators and a case study of a particular CPCS school. The concept of educational excellence is critiqued in this context.

Andrew B. Morris
A Few Hard Facts and a Great Deal of Conjecture: Catholic Schools in England

THIS PAPER PRESENTS new evidence from national contextualized school performance data showing that, after taking into account those factors known to affect pupil achievement, state-maintained Catholic schools in England appear to be more academically effective than similar non-Catholic institutions. Using an American analysis of the nature of school communities, it then speculates on possible causes of the observed superior levels of performance.