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Alta Vista is an educational service organization, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, that serves Christian education, locally, regionally,
and globally. Our primary concern is to partner with schools, educational leaders, and teachers to help young people become
faithful, visionary, competent, and compassionate disciples of Jesus.
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International
Alta Vista is interested in teaming with organizations doing work in the two-thirds world. Our immediate focus is with neighbors to the
south: Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica to name a few. In September 2008, Elaine Brouwer conducted an assessment workshop
for ILMES teacher education program (Instituto Libre de Mexico de Estudios Superiores) at Pan de Vida in Queretaro, Mexico.
Tim Krell visited Africa between February 12 and March 9, 2009 to assist a friend who just started a secondary school. You can
read about his experience on his
blog,
timkrellafrica.blogspot.com and in his article in the Journal.
John Van Dyk continues to work as a consultant to Edinburg Theological Seminary in Edinburg, Texas and to CRECH, a consortium
for the reinforcement of Christian education in Haiti. He also is a member of the Leadership of REEDUCA, a consortium
of ‘dialog parnters’ serving Central America and AMECES, an association of schools of secondary and higher education
in Mexico. John also collaborates with IAPCHE, International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education.
Elaine, Tim, and John will attend a consultation sponsored by World Wide Christian Schools Canada in December to discuss
potential partnerships in serving Christian schools in the two-thirds world.
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Collaboration
Elaine Brouwer and Tim Krell continue to collaborate with Bill de Jager and Joanne den Boer, Curriculum Directors
from the Society of Christian Schools in BC, and Jeff Kiers, administrator and Drama teacher from Abbotsford Christian on a project
called “Spaces Where Learners Flourish.” Our work so far has resulted a one-hour presentation given twice at the
October NWCSI/CTABC Teachers’ Convention and again at the SCSBC’s Leadership Conference in November. As a follow-up to the
conferences a wiki site was constructed. Visit the wiki at: http://spacetolearn.wetpaint.com to see parts of the presentation
and to join the conversation about innovative practices in K-12 education.
Alta Vista is collaborating with George Fox University to pilot a mentoring program with ten mentor/mentee teams from NorthWest
Christian Schools International schools. These teams are working in three areas: administration, teaching, and accreditation. A
more experienced mentor is paired with someone who is interested in working on their practices within the Christian school
setting. Two days of training for the teams took place in June at Bellevue Christian School with a facilitator from George
Fox. Teams are currently meeting and report results to George Fox on a monthly basis. Alta Vista is helping to provide
administrative leadership to the project. AV co-directors Elaine Brouwer and Tim Krell serve on the steering committee
that is guiding the process.
Another collaborative initiative involves the development of Professional Learning Communities. Seattle Pacific University
received a Murdock Grant to help implement Professional Learning Communities in area Christian Schools. Alta Vista is partnering
with SPU to develop materials and to begin facilitate this process in schools belonging to NorthWest Christian Schools
International. To date three schools are involved in this process.
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12 Affirmations
Alta Vista is participating in the 12 Affirmations Revision Project: re-thinking, re-writing, re-forming for the next generation. Alta
Vista gathered a group of 10 educators to re-spond to a series of questions proposed by Steve Vryhof regarding 12 Affirmations:
Re-formed Christian Schooling for the 21st Century by Vryhof, Brouwer, Ulstein, and Van-derArk, 1989. The input gathered will
contribute to decisions about republishing or revising this resource.
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