Researchers at La Sierra University have discovered good news for Adventist parents: students attending Adventist schools in the Pacific Union and every other union in North America outperform their peers in public and other private schools.

For more than a century, Seventh-day Adventists have stressed the value of Adventist education. Ellen White points educators to a goal that is "higher than the highest human thought can reach." Now we are learning, through empirical research, that an Adventist education is of high academic quality. It truly does prepare them "for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come" (Education, pp. 18, 13).

In 1990 and 2001, Valuegenesis I and II examined the faith/spiritual development of more than 10,000 Adventist students. The results of these two studies, conducted by researchers at La Sierra University and other Adventist institutions, affirmed strong faith development and loyalty among our youth.

Now, CognitiveGenesis is using rigorous research methodology to assess the academic performance of our students. The study led by the CognitiveGenesis Research Team (Robert J. Cruise, Ph.D., and Elissa Kido, Ed.D., both at La Sierra University, along with Jerome D. Thayer, Ph.D. at Andrews University) is providing answers to these important questions:

How does the academic performance of students in Adventist schools compare to that of their counterparts in public and other private schools?

What factors related to students, parents, teachers, and schools are associated with student achievement and abilities?

CognitiveGenesis is a multi-year study with data collected each school year from 2006 through 2010. For each of these years, the study will include more than 35,000 students in grades 3 through 9 and 11 who attend Adventist schools in North America (USA, Bermuda and Canada). Findings are based on two sources of data: standardized test scores measuring achievement and ability and survey questionnaires completed by students, parents, teachers and school administrators.

Ability level is measured along with achievement to discover whether students at different levels of ability achieve academically at higher than expected levels. Survey questions gather information about school, teacher, parental and student factors that may impact academic performance.

Analysis after the first year of testing, 2006-2007, is encouraging:

Students in Adventist schools, on average, show achievement scores on standardized achievement tests that surpass the national norms at all grade levels tested. This is true for every union in the North American Division.

Achievement was above average for all subject areas (reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and sources of information).

Students across all levels of ability, on average, have higher achievement scores than predicted by their ability.

Achievement was very similar, no matter the size of the school, the number of students per grade, the number of students per teacher, the number of grades per teacher, of the grade range within the classroom. Every group in all of the comparisons scored well above prediction.

While these are preliminary results, they are good news! When statistical methods are used to control for differences in ability, students are achieving at a higher level than expected in every school setting. Do parents accept a lower standard of academic preparation when they send students to small, multi-grade classrooms? These results give a resounding "No!" Adventist schools of all types and sizes are preparing students to outperform their peers academically.

Further studies will analyze the more complex questions of other factors that influence academic achievement. These results will emerge from the completed study in 2010. The surveys of students, parents, teachers and administrators will provide some of the answers. Along with the achievement and ability scores, the data will assist Adventist administrators and teachers in providing even higher quality education for students.

Our desire is that the work of CognitiveGenesis will add impetus to our efforts to provide "an education that secures to the successful student his passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade, the school above" (White, p. 19).

For detailed information regarding CognitiveGenesis preliminary results, please visit the website at www.cognitivegenesis.org at La Sierra University. Be sure to view the video of the first-year results as told by Dick Duerksen, Maranatha storyteller.