Private Christian K-12 enrollment is on the rise in recent years. With the many changes that have occurred in public health, politics, and cultural agendas recently, I believe many parents of younger students are choosing to invest in private education that aligns with their values and priorities.  

I have spent my entire professional career in the realm of higher education, far beyond the early formative years of elementary school. In contrast to the recent positive trends in K-12 Christian education, enrollment at many Christian colleges throughout the nation has been on the decline for years. In my current role as Executive Director of the North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals, our researchers concluded that approximately 70% of our member institutions did not meet their enrollment goals for the fall of 2022.

I wish I could say I was a particularly spiritual child, but I wasn’t. In fact, I basically hated Sundays. It wasn’t the morning and evening church services I didn’t like—it was the in-between. My parents were quite strict about that time of the week: no play dates, no school work, no sporting events, no television, no eating out, mandatory naps, etc. These Sabbath day practices felt unbearable to me. So as soon as I was old enough to make my own decisions, I dropped most of them.

With the sudden, unplanned, and in many ways dramatic shift to online learning in the 2019-2020 school year, many have asked the question: What impact has COVID had on student learning? This question has been hotly debated over the last two years. I have spoken with countless educators who all echo a common observation, regardless of subject matter or grade level: there has been a significant decline in student learning since the 2020 shutdowns began. Parents of school-aged children have likely seen and felt the impact of that school year on their children. Data and statistics to quantify what’s been dubbed the “COVID learning loss” are beginning to emerge.