Dear Families and Friends,

When it comes to overall achievement, we’re doing well.

Preliminary analysis indicates that students in Adventist schools in North America surpass national norms on standardized achievement tests for the 2006-2007 school year. This is true at all grade levels tested, grades 3-9 and 11.  This is also true of our students at SFAS.  Preliminary analysis also indicates that students have higher achievement scores than predicted by their ability—that is, they are not only fulfilling, but exceeding their predicted academic achievement.  It also appears that the same is true for test scored for 2007-2008. 

How well students do on achievement compared to the national averages is only one part of the CognitiveGenesis study.  The other part, which requires more time and analysis, involves investigating the more complex questions dealing with factors in and out of the classroom that affect academic achievement. 

Several characteristics have been found among students with higher achievement scores:

• Students that never watch television during the week demonstrate the greatest ability in achievement. 

• In homes that do watch television, students show greater ability when parents monitor (and even limit) TV viewing.

• Students have access to a variety of good books, magazines, and newspapers at home. 

• Students get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep every evening. 

SFAS is holding our second Open House for families who are interested in enrolling their children in the upcoming 2008-2009 school year.  Help spread the news to your friends and invite them to join us at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, April 17. 

For the school to continue to grow and to provide quality education to all the students, it is important that we reach out to let the community know what the school can offer.  The school is relying on you as our ambassadors to recommend our programs to other families you may know.

SFAS will credit $100 to your account next fall, if any of your friends enroll their child in the 2008-2009 school year.  All you need to do is to let them know about the school, invite them to the Open House, and have them list you as a reference on the application form.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to another great school year!

Sincerely,

Robert J. Robinson, Principal
Teacher, Kindergarten/1st Grade
San Francisco Adventist School

A John Grisham Secret

Because my teaching career involves so much mandatory reading, I don't get to do a lot of pleasure reading. There is just too little time for short stories or poetry. I typically only get to the things friends have already read and are now recommending. They are my book reviewers. They keep me from wasting time.

The exception for me is John Grisham. A few of his books have probably slipped past, but not many. He has a new one climbing the bestseller lists right now, and it stands to be the one pleasure read I will schedule for spring break. He knows how to tell a good story.

Although his books have sold a phenomenal 235 million copies, people sometimes pan him. "He's no Hemmingway or Faulkner!" says one reviewer. "He is not a particularly good writer," pontificates another, "and it is unlikely that anyone will be reading his 'potboilers' in another generation."

Sour grapes! Some of the people writing that tripe would kill to have just one book that sold half as many as his slowest title. But that's another story.

I like the fact that Grisham doesn't take himself too seriously. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, the 53-year-old writer disclaimed any visions of great literary fiction. "It's pure entertainment," he said. Sounds downright humble, doesn't it? And it is most refreshing these days.

In the course of that interview, he mentioned a fact from his earliest days of attempting to write that grabbed my attention.

"The alarm clock would go off at 5, and I'd jump in the shower," he said. "My office was five minutes away. And I had to be at my desk, at my office, with the first cup of coffee, a legal pad - and write the first word at 5:30, five days a week." His goal was to write one page every day. If it took ten minutes, so be it. Sometimes he would write for two hours before starting his job as a lawyer.

Grisham said that such a rigorous discipline was one of several "little rituals that were silly and brutal, but very important."

Self-discipline toward a goal is critical. And it is hardly a secret. But it is the difference in making it and living with regret. What if I had gotten up? What if I had written a page a day? What if I had gone back to school? What if I had asked for the position? Or proposed? Life has far too many "what ifs" for most of us!

The courage to take risks and to reach for a dream is there for all of us. God doesn't offer life without challenge; he offers grace to those with courage.

--Rubel Shelly

School Calendar and Hot Lunch Menus

Click on the calendar above to access this month's calendar.

Upcoming Events

April 16
Gr. 4-6 to Laser Quest

April 17
Open House
7:00-8:30 pm

April 20
Tuition Due

April 22
K-1 Class to Petco

April 23
Gr. 7-8 to SF Zoo

April 26
SFAS at Rainbow Church
10:30 am

April 28
No School
Teacher’s Day

May 2
Free Dress

See Full Year Schedule

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