Scott Bowes
Superintendent of Education
The Gulf States Conference is a small part of the second-largest private school system in the world. The educational ministry of the Gulf States Conference currently encompasses 13 schools and childhood centers in three states, including Bass Memorial Academy. These 13 institutions provide the youth in our conference an opportunity to obtain an education that connects them to both excellence in academics and the message of salvation in Jesus Christ!
Our schools are part of the Adventist Edge initiative of the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists which is aligned with the North American Division’s Journey to Excellence. The Adventist Edge is an initiative for the comprehensive improvement of Adventist Education, from Early Childhood through grade 12, and sets the course for excellence in all areas. It focuses on the implementation of the Journey to Excellence goals and essential core elements that identify the high expectations of what students should know and be able to do, and the preferred practices that support an effective ongoing school improvement process.
Key to Adventist Edge classrooms is the pervasive element of genuine Christianity. The curriculum is infused with Christian values and students receive daily encouragement in their personal walk with Jesus. Adventist Edge students exemplify concern for others by participating in community outreach projects and other faith-building activities. The Adventist Edge teacher seeks to instill in each student a sense of their value as a child of God and inspire them to treat others with respect. Spirituality is not limited to the teaching of the Bible but is integrated into the entire curriculum.
Gulf States Conference Enrollment Report
Vision for the Future
Our vision for the future is to ensure that all of our schools are on the Journey to Excellence while becoming a High Reliability School.
The Journey to Excellence 2.0 framework is integral to Adventist Education because it includes the “why”, “how”, and “what” of excellence in Adventist education. It outlines the shared understanding of the redemptive purpose of Adventist education while highlighting a deeply held understanding of holistic student learning goals.
Why: Simply put, the WHY of Adventist education is redemption, which reaches beyond the academic program in its ministry to God’s youth.
How: With a clear focus on the mission of Adventist education, an enduring commitment to honor God with excellence in all things, Adventist educators at all levels will develop and implement plans for continuous improvement.
What: Inherent in excellent educators is a deep desire to improve their service to students – God’s children. Each educator will shape and reshape plans and practices to elevate the ministry of education. With trust and transparency, they will measure results through relevant assessments and regular accountability.
Journey to Excellence 2.0 is a call to “something better” in service to God and to His youth in Adventist schools.
The High Reliability Schools framework was developed by the Marzano Research Group and has been endorsed by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. It is a framework that identifies best practices to implement in schools to improve student achievement. The framework organizes existing findings (research) on a wide variety of issues such as teacher and school leader development, instructional strategies, assessment and reporting, and more within one model. It identifies and explains five levels of performance that define a high reliability school.
The five levels of performance are:
Safe and Collaborative Culture
Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
Standards-Referenced Reporting
Competency-Based Education.
The ministry of education is a critical part of the larger mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Gulf States Conference. There is a lot of work yet to be done, but it is critical that we take on this challenge for the redemption of our youth!
“He who co-operates with the divine purpose in imparting to the youth a knowledge of God, and molding the character into harmony with His, does a high and noble work. As he awakens a desire to reach God’s ideal, he presents an education that is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe; an education that cannot be completed in this life, but that will be continued in the life to come; an education that secures to the successful student his passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade, the school above.”