In this episode of Just Schools, Dr. Jon Eckert speaks with Dr. Lynn E. Swaner, the President US, for Cardus. Lynn’s professional experience spans several sectors and encompasses roles in academia, sponsored research, associations, and independent schools. As a result, she is passionate about building bridges within and across fields.They share about the 2023 Cardus Education Survey and what it reveals about the long-term impact of different educational sectors, including Protestant Christian, Catholic, public, independent, and homeschool settings. Swaner highlights key findings: Christian schools continue to excel in faith formation, are improving in academic outcomes, and face growth opportunities around belonging and peer relationships. The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership.Be encouraged.Mentioned:Cardus 2023 FindingsWork and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew KaemingkThe Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs by Peter Enns Connect with us:Center for School Leadership at Baylor UniversityJon Eckert LinkedInBaylor MA in School Leadership   Jon: All right, so welcome to the Just Schools podcast. This is Dr. Lynn Swaner. She has a new role as of last year, so we're going to dig in a little bit into that and then some of the work we've been able to do together. So Lynn, thanks for being with us and just tell us a little bit about what you're doing. Dr. Lynn Swaner: Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Jon. I'm excited to be here and join you and your listeners. So some exciting things that I've been working on, a new part of my role as Cardus President U.S., which I joined in January of last year. I can't believe it's almost been a year. And so in that role... It's helpful for me to explain a little bit about what Cardus does. Cardus is a nonpartisan think tank. It is grounded and rooted in 2000 plus years of Christian social thought. And what we look at are how the different spheres of society. So education is one. For example, healthcare could be another, government, family, citizenship, all work independently as well as work together for flourishing societies. And so we have research files in all of those areas. And of course here in the U.S., I'm still very involved in working with education and that's where we get to the Cardus Education survey, which I know we're going to be talking about today. But just a little bit of framing really quickly about Cardus's philosophy and approach to education. In many societies in the U.S. is no different, there's kind of this division of education into, for example, your traditional public or district schools. You've got private schools, you've got charter schools, which obviously are a type of a public school. You've got homeschooling, etc. And Cardus's position is that all education is public in the sense that it contributes to the public good. And certainly when we do the Cardus education survey, that's what we found will impact that a little bit. But we're finding that different types of schools and homeschooling actually contribute positively to a range of outcomes that we would want healthy, thriving, contributing citizens of our country to demonstrate to and to inculcate. Jon: So great introduction. I first became aware of Cardus through the Cardus education survey because Katie Weins was writing a draft of it as a next door neighbor back, I guess this would've been in 2011, 2012 that she was working on that. And I love the idea of what Cardus is about because it's not trying to say, Hey, we want to privilege this over this, over this. It's like, Hey, no, all education is for this common good and it's all public and let's do this work. And so at the Baylor Center for School Leadership, that's what we want to do. We want to support Christians in whatever work and whatever schools they're called to. So Cardus has been a huge blessing in our work, and it's one o