From Cardus.ca, Aug 17 2011: Yesterday Cardus released the results of our Christian Education Survey (available for download here), the largest known representative study of the outcomes of Christian education in North America undertaken to date. The data provide fascinating results that portray the graduates of Christian schools as living lives that:

–promote community building;
–support civic responsibility and civic engagement;
–contribute to strong family life;
–are less involved in politics;
–embrace hope and optimism about the future;
–indicate strong life-direction; and
–place a lower priority on graduate-level university educational attainment.

This project began about four years ago with a reflective conversation with a few people who had invested significant time and resources into Christian education over the years. Were the millions of dollars being invested in Christian schools having any lasting impact, our conversants wondered? Cardus organized a symposium with 37 participants to reflect on the question and while they unanimously agreed it was, they also recognized that there was little objective benchmark data available by which to demonstrate some of their claims.

Three years and $1.1 million later, with the help of generous funders and five university teams, we have managed to put into the public sphere a discussion document that we believe advances the discussion. The primary data gathered by a team at Notre Dame University has been supplemented by four qualitative studies which provide nuance and context to the numbers. The results will please some and frustrate others. Find the full report here.