FAQ

What does Mount Olive Lutheran Church teach and believe about the Bible?

We are a conservative Bible-teaching church. We believe that the Bible is God's Word and is 100% true. We believe that the Bible teaches us God's way of salvation through Jesus and shows us how we can live for him here on earth as his people. For more in-depth information about our beliefs, follow this link.  

What professional background can I expect from the teachers at Mount Olive Lutheran School?

Teachers trained for professional service in our private Lutheran school system are uniquely prepared to create distinctive classrooms. The majority of these teachers graduated from an accredited and well-respected Lutheran college, which requires the following:

  rigorous academic program with heavier course load than required for 
     many future teachers
  range of coursework in addition to professional education classes
     (philosophy, theology, liberal arts, performance arts)
  experience in the performance arts, especially vocal and instrumental music
  specialized training in theology, as well as family and child counseling 

How will my child's education at Mount Olive Lutheran School compare with the education he or she would receive in the Clark County School District?

For TerraNova testing results, click here. 

The Clark County School District is the eighth-largest school district in the nation, addressing almost unparalleled growth in student population and number of school buildings. Teachers in our local school district work very hard to maintain high educational standards and student achievement. Their success is a tribute to their professionalism and determination.

However, the teachers at Mount Olive Lutheran School will be free of many challenges public school teachers face. Our teachers will enjoy flexibility, smaller class sizes, and a school culture unmatched in the Clark County School District. Some important comparisons:

Mount Olive Lutheran School

  Small class sizes which are within the control of our School Management
     Team and teachers
  More individual attention for a small number of kindergarten students, who 
     will be placed with other primary-grade students
  traditional nine-month school schedule
  Curriculum tailored to a specific school and to a hand-picked faculty and 
     principal

Clark County School District

  Class sizes which often grow markedly during the school year, especially 
     worrisome at grade levels without class-size reduction laws (kindergarten 
     and grades 4 and up)
  Large number of kindergarten students, with a much greater range of 
     instructional needs.
  A growing number of year-round schools
  Curriculum tailored to the needs of a large school district, implemented by 
     faculties which often change year-to-year

The Principal is happy to make appointments with families to discuss the academic program of our school and how it compares with the curriculum of the school district. Because our school is operated by a church, we will be recognized by the state of Nevada as exempt from the need for private school licensure. However, we are required to submit to the state a detailed course of study which must be approved as equivalent to the state's elementary course of study. In every core academic area, our curriculum will align with Nevada state standards. 

How will my child benefit from the spiritual training and environment at Mount Olive Lutheran School?

Our children have souls as needy as our own. Even young children try to comprehend how they should think about the gift of life and what they should do with it. Mount Olive Lutheran School will be a place where children have a heart to heart with God. Through the Bible, God speaks with a father's love. After God convinces us we cannot get right with him by any effort of our own, he introduces his Savior to us. Because Jesus came as our substitute, we are able to have a real relationship with God. God not only speaks to us, but listens as well. His heart listens like a mother, bidding us to speak and waiting long enough to listen to what we have to say to him. A Lutheran school helps your child and family maintain this precious relationship with an all-wise God.

Daily interaction with God's Word also gives children a sense of purpose and direction in their everyday lives. Teachers foster conversations about how we use our time, talents, and treasures. Sexual education and efforts to prevent drug abuse can be taught in light of who we are as God's children. Students are given real-life opportunities to serve a wider world to the glory of God.

The pastor, teachers, and your child's friends at Mount Olive Lutheran School form an influential circle your child can really lean on. 

I'm not familiar with the Wisconsin Synod  Lutheran school system. How have students from the WELS school system typically performed on standardized tests?

For TerraNova testing results, click here.

You will notice at the bottom of the score table a summary which includes "national percentile ranks" and "grade equivalent of the median score" statistics for reading, mathematics, and language. Percentile ranks indicate how well WELS students performed on the tests in comparison to the national norm group. A percentile rank of 69, for example, means that WELS students did as well or better on the tests than 69% of all the students in the national norm group. (A percentile rank of 50 would indicate average performance.) A grade equivalent of 4.5 stands for the fourth grade, fifth month of the school year. If, for example, third grade students had a grade equivalent of 4.5, this means that the third grade students' scores are about the same as the typical scores fourth graders would have gotten if they had taken the same (third-grade level) test halfway through the school year. You will notice that the WELS student summary scores indicate grade equivalents in reading, mathematics, and language which are well above grade level. In one case (seventh grade mathematics), grade equivalents exceed even a post-high school level.

While Mount Olive Lutheran School may elect to use a standardized test other than the ITBS, teachers recognize the need for some accountability for student progress beyond report cards and parent/teacher conferences. Any future summary test scores from our own students will be made available for review.  

Your four classrooms are multiage and multigrade. How is that kind of classroom different from a single-grade classroom?

Surprisingly, multiage classrooms have contributed greatly to our WELS school system's 150 years of academic excellence. Teachers in multiage classrooms are often better prepared to custom-tailor instruction to the needs of individual students than teachers in single-grade classrooms. Multiage classrooms are filled with a great range of books, materials, and stimuli which are naturally available to all students, no matter what their age. The teacher can use these resources to deliver excellent small-group instruction for each child. For example, a first-grader may just be emerging as a confident reader and writer, but has already grasped important math concepts usually understood well into second grade. An experienced multiage teacher responds to this child with second-grade level instruction in math and first-grade level literacy instruction.

Even more exciting, the teacher can almost always identify at least one other child in the class who will be an academic peer for your child, a friend who will nudge your child toward new discoveries and delights. The community of children in a multiage classroom is truly unique! It is typical for a multiage teacher to continue teaching in the same classroom for two or three years. Thus, a third to a half of the children in the class return to the same community each fall, ready to build on the relationships and routines they have relied on in the past. The newest members of the class benefit from joining a community that functions smoothly and which models so much purposeful reading, writing, and exploring. It is no wonder that a recent Canadian study of multiage classes all over North America concluded that "students in multigrade classes tended to be higher or better than those in single-grade classes in the following affective areas: study habits, social interaction, self-motivation, cooperation, and attitudes toward school." Results like these, borne out by standardized test scores as well, have led several states to mandate multiage classrooms within each school.

The principal is happy to further explain how your child's needs will be fully met in our school.