ACSI Research Fellow Program

Association of Christian Schools International / Thought Leadership / ACSI Research Fellow Program
Program Overview

The Research Fellowship program at ACSI offers a unique opportunity for talented researchers to contribute to advancing the field of Christian education while addressing critical global challenges. By fostering collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovative research, the program aims to make a significant impact on the world stage.

Program Aims:
  • Create a vibrant and inclusive international research community.
  • Foster collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovative solutions to address both US and global challenges through research projects in Christian education.
 
Program Oversight:
  • The fellows will collaboratively work with ACSI’s research department and Thought Leadership and the Research Director will oversee the program.

 

ACSI Fellows Collaborate on Research to Advance Faith-Based Education

ACSI Fellows collaborate with the Thought Leadership team (Research Department) to develop research and Working Papers on important topics in education, spirituality, and culture, focusing on their impact within the realm of Christian education. Their work addresses current trends and challenges, offering valuable insights for advancing faith-based learning.

Research in Brief

RiB is a biannual publication by ACSI, aimed at sharing the latest research findings and insights on the Christian school sector. It is available exclusively to ACSI member school and is managed by ACSI Director of Research.

 

Current Fellows
Lynn Swaner

 

Lynn Swaner Ed.D.

President of Cardus USA – ACSI Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Lynn Swaner is the President, US at Cardus, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good. She also serves as a Senior Fellow for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). Dr. Swaner is the editor or lead author of numerous books, including Future Ready: Innovative Missions and Models in Christian Education (Cardus & ACSI, 2022); Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators, and Schools (Eerdmans, 2021); and MindShift: Catalyzing Change in Christian Education (ACSI, 2019). Dr. Swaner holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University and a diploma in strategy and innovation from University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She previously served as a professor of education and a Christian school leader in New York.
Matthew Lee

 

Matthew Lee, Ph.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University - ACSI Senior Research Fellow
Matthew Lee is Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University. He previously served as the Director of Research at the Association of Christian Schools International, where he helped develop the Flourishing Faith Index. His peer-reviewed research on Christian education has appeared in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Religious and Health, International Journal of Educational Development, and the Journal of Religious Education. He is co-author of Future Ready (ACSI/Cardus 2022) and co-editor of Religious Liberty and Education (Rowman & Littlefield 2020). He earned his Ph.D. in education policy at the University of Arkansas.
Francis Ben

 

Francis Ben, Ph.D.

Associate Professor & Head of Postgraduate Coursework and Research at Tabor College Adelaide Australia – ACSI Global Research Fellow
Francis has more than 30 combined years of experience in secondary and tertiary education. He has an undergraduate qualification in Civil Engineering, and postgraduate qualifications in Physics and Education. At secondary schools in North Carolina, he taught mathematics and physics subjects. He also taught Physics, Research Methods, and Education-related subjects at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. His research and publications include Physics Education, Educational Measurement, large-scale studies (e.g., PISA). He is currently Head of Postgraduate Programs and Research in the Education Faculty at Tabor College of Higher Education in South Australia.
Alison Heap Johnson

 

Alison Heape Johnson

PhD candidate at the University of Arkansas – ACSI Junior Research Fellow
Alison is a PhD candidate and Distinguished Doctoral Fellow at the University of Arkansas where she studies education policy, with research interests in school finance, school choice, and teacher/administrator pipelines. She previously taught in both public and Christian schools and has a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language. She and her husband Blake reside in Arkansas with their newborn daughter and enjoy exploring the beauty of the Natural State and gathering with their church where Blake is a pastoral resident.
Become A Fellow
    Eligibility:
    • Understanding of Christian education.
    • Strong academic credentials (e.g., relevant degrees, publications, minimum a Ph.D. candidate in education programs for Junior Fellow and a Ph.D. or Ed.D. for Senior Fellow).
    • Demonstrated research excellence.
    • Experience in international research collaboration.
    • Excellent English communication skills.
    • Minimum five years experience of doing research.
     
    Nomination and selection process:
    • The selection of the fellows is done through ACSI’s internal nomination.
    Blog

    ACSI Tuition and Salary Survey (TSS) 2024-2025 Report: Navigating The Complex Landscape Of Salary and Tuition in U.S. Christian Schools

    Feb 10, 2025, 12:32 by Rian R. Djita Ph.D .
    For those who have worked in the dynamic world of Christian education, especially for those who have been entrusted in leadership positions, I believe it is a fair assessment to say that striking the delicate balance between retaining high-qualified teachers while ensuring the school's healthy financial stability has always been one of the most challenging aspects of running a Christian school.

    Introduction

    For those who have worked in the dynamic world of Christian education, especially for those who have been entrusted in leadership positions, I believe it is a fair assessment to say that striking the delicate balance between retaining high-qualified teachers while ensuring the school's healthy financial stability has always been one of the most challenging aspects of running a Christian school. 

     

    Deciding anything can be daunting and isolating. This is a hard truth that many school leaders have to experience as they lead their schools. School leaders should often wear different hats as they make these decisions. Policy about salary and tuition is critical in Christian schools and must be addressed by school leaders. In making this complex decision, school leaders must ask these important questions: How do schools   ensure that they offer competitive salaries and benefits for their teachers and staff while remaining faithful and responsible stewards of school resources? How can schools set up affordable tuition rates for Christian families and cover the quality of Christian education?  Since school leaders are not only educators or administrators but also stewards of school resources, providing school leaders with information backed up by research about how to appropriately allocate funding for salary and tuition in Christian schools would help administrators significantly. 

     

    ACSI understands this unique, complex challenge faced by many school leaders. Therefore, ACSI has committed to providing valuable benchmarking information about salary, benefits, and tuition data from Christian schools across the US. ACSI has committed to providing this information for its valued school members, and this blog serves as a valuable resource for school leaders that summarizes the key results of the ACSI Tuition and Salary Survey 2024. This blog will highlight key findings and practical advice about the results. May God, the source of wisdom, help us all make informed decisions about compensation and tuition .

     

    Some Important Things to Note

    Before we go into some of the highlights of this study, it is essential to note some things as we read and interpret these findings. First, at the close of the 2024/2025 school year, ACSI conducted a Tuition and Salary study among members, with 1650 member schools responding. All data was collected in Fall 2024. All data in this report reflects responses from this sample rather than any data ACSI has otherwise stored regarding its members. Second, in a continuation of the scope undertaken in the 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 surveys, this study incorporates context and insight beyond direct tuition and salary figures, including expenditures on categories including staff development, admissions and retention benchmarks, individualized education information, and more. However, I cannot describe all the results in detail. The details of all of the findings can be found in the report here which is available for ACSI school members only. Third, the breakdown in salary numbers is now and henceforward to be represented using medians (points where 50% of responses are above and 50% of responses below) and quartiles to increase the reliability of the numbers being utilized across a broad membership and to avoid any potentially misleading salary sets at risk of being skewed by even a single extraordinary economic or geographic outlier. The reader should note that values at the 50th Percentile for any question may not sum to 100% because quartiles are calculated independently for each item in any chart. Fourth, I include size of respondents for each of the results (n) to provide context and confidence for school leaders in making budgetary decisions. Lastly, aside from the report, we also have the landing page for this data. The Tuition & Salary Study page provides access to raw survey data, enabling you to search the information about tuition and salary by location or demographics. These search options allow schools to view median salary and tuition data for other schools similar to theirs.  

    A Few Highlights from the TSS 2024-2025

    1. When looking at the tuition information by school level, we found that tuition rates change depending on the school level and size. For instance, for small schools (up to 100 students), about 35% of early education (n = 425) maintains the same tuition rates as last year. Still, there are more elementary (41%, n =533), middle school (38%, n = 505), and high school (47%, n = 393) with the exact sizes that maintained the same rates for their tuition in 2024-25 academic year.  As the number of schools grows, fewer schools maintain the same tuition rates as last year. 
    2.  We also noticed there are about 2% - 7% of medium-sized schools   (200 students or more) and 5% - 8% of large-sized schools (400 students or more) that decreased their tuition rates this year by up to 9 percentage points decrease. We do not observe any small-sized schools decreasing their tuition rates this year. 
    3. When looking at the median tuition rate by grade level (50th percentile), we observe that tuition rates also vary across grade levels, ranging from $6,750 to $12,220 for Pre-K and $9,950 to $10,054 for high school grade levels.
    4. Similarly, there are various tuition discounts available across US Christian schools, and their availability varies across school sizes. Those types of tuition discounts can include need-based tuition assistance, multiple-child discounts, a child of pastor or missionary, a child of faculty or staff discount, and others. In addition, it is also important to note that a tiny fraction of Christian schools surveyed (3% -6%, n = 700) mentioned that they do not provide any discounts for their enrolled students. 
    5. Regarding salary, 74% of surveyed schools (n = 458) mentioned that they have some salary schedule. This trend differs by school size: 57% of small schools (up to 100 students) have a salary schedule for their teachers compared to about 84% of large schools (400 students or more). The details of the median salary of teachers and staff can be seen in the full report.
    6. Similar to the trends observed in this study, the median value of the operating school budget also differs by school size, ranging from about $3 million to $11 million. 
    7. The remaining report also discusses various types of revenue streams, both internal and external, students’ admission and retention, individualized education information, staff information, and standalone early education information, which can be accessed through our full report.
     

    Implications for School Leaders

    As 1 Peter 4:10 says "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms”, my prayer is that this blog and report can be a useful tool that many school leaders can use in making informed budgetary and financial decisions as faithful stewards of God. If anything, I believe these are some of the lessons that we all can take away as we read this blog and report:

     

    1. The results of this study provides benchmarking data for school leaders. This benchmarking data can help school assess their financial health and make informed decision about their pricing and compensation. It is ACSI’s commitment to provide school members with this important and informative tool. 
    2. One common trend that I observe from this study is the fact that school size, location and other important variables may become detrimental factors on salary and tuition in Christian schools. Utilizing the landing page that ACSI provides here  , can significantly help school leaders make  informed decisions about their financial ability to adjust tuition and salaries. The report enables leaders to compare their data to other schools with similar characteristics.  
    3. It is ACSI’s hope that school leaders can use this information to be financially healthy and competitive, especially in retaining highly qualified teachers. Since delivering high-quality education for our students is a priority for our Christian schools,  we hope that this information can help schools  navigate the complexity of retaining high-qualified teachers. 
    4. Since this report also provides  some benchmarking information about types of revenue  streams, I hope that this information can also ignite some ideas about the importance of diversification for financial stability in Christian schools.
    5. It is also my hope that the results from this study can provide valuable insights for Christian school’s long-term financial planning including making informed decisions about program expansions and other strategic initiatives in Christian schools. 
    6. Lastly, it is ACSI’s hope that this information can be used as a tool that can start communication and transparency among stakeholders in Christian schools about salary and tuition rates. With this information that is backed by research, I am hopeful that school leaders can build understanding and trust among their school community and stake  holders as they navigate the complex landscape of  salary and tuition in Christian schools in the US .