CASE STUDY | Bellevue Christian School

Client profile

Founded in 1950 and non-denominational in scope, Bellevue Christian School (BCS) serves 1,100 students, pre-school through high school, whose families are involved in 100 churches throughout King and Snohomish counties. The school’s comprehensive curricular and co-curricular program includes fine, graphic, and performance arts, athletics, student senate, AP courses and an integrated service program.

  • Mission: To prepare young people to live fully for God in a rapidly changing world with the ability to understand, evaluate, and transform their world from the foundation of God’s unchanging values

  • Vision: Preparing young people to live faithfully for God

  • Vision: Redemptive Faith, Rigorous Academics, Relational Community, Relevant Transformation

The Challenge:

In July 2016, the BCS board presented a new superintendent with six strategic priorities:

  • Academic Performance
  • Education Delivery and Content
  • Facilities
  • Branding
  • Spiritual Development
  • Faculty Recruitment

Needing a proven approach that could successfully prioritize and flesh out these six essential commitments to advance the school’s mission and vision both now and for future generations, Bellevue Christian School engaged Tandon Institute.

The Strategy:

A clear, three-phase approach required a careful, productive balance of singular focus, careful listening, mutual respect and clear consensus, “all of which Atul Tandon modeled and facilitated with our Board,” says incoming Superintendent Kevin Dunning.

Vision Statement Exercise

  • Vision: Why do we exist? What does the future look like when we accomplish our Vision?
  • Mission: What do we do to accomplish our Vision?
  • Strategy: What do we do to accomplish our Mission? How do we do it?
  • Goals: Strategic, Achievable/Realistic, Time-sensitive
  • Tactics: Activities, Projects, Initiatives, used to achieve our Goals
  • Key Performance Indicators: Specific measures of success for the tactics/action plan items

Strategy Framework Development

  • A strategic survey, with 100% participation of leadership, faculty and staff laid the groundwork for a set of Five-Year Expected Outcomes. Upshot:
  • Articulating the school’s target goals, would require talented staff; the right systems, structures, processes, and platforms; and excellent facilities

Initiatives Identification, Selection, & Measurement

  • Defining five-year outcomes, needed methods, emerging new solutions and drivers of performance

The Results:

Within the first four weeks of engaging Tandon Institute, several significant “first steps” were taken, including:

  • new investment in faculty recruitment and retention, plus deserving increases of current faculty salaries,
  • focused recommitment to improving the present physical plant to help ensure academic excellence, and a
  • new infusion of funds for needed learning technologies

With its clear vision and six clearly-articulated priorities in place, Bellevue Christian School is poised to keep delivering on its pledge of, as Superintendent Kevin Dunning says, “the awesome work of preparing young people to live fully for God.”

Involving Tandon Institute has been a game-changer for our leadership, as we move forward with renewed focus to bring about God’s best for the students, families and alumni of Bellevue Christian School.”

Kevin Dunning, Superintendent
Bellevue Christian School