Date of Award

Fall 10-14-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.

College

College of Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Jillian Skelton, Ed.D.

Second Advisor

Quincey L. Daniels, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Floralba Arbelo, Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative-phenomenological study was to understand how Christian school graduates view their lived experiences in their high school education in relation to their Christian spiritual formation (CSF) and to understand the Christian high school experiences associated with highly developed CSF. This study was conducted amongst a nondenominational church in Hawaii. The phenomenological research approach was used to deduce from a variety of accounts of the Christian school experience, the common essences associated with exemplary Christianity as defined by experts within the community. A purposive snowball sample was used to identify the study participants who were nominated to the study based on the exemplarity of their Christian faith, their generational cohort, and their high school type. All participants graduated from Christian high schools. For the purposes of this study, semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of four women and four men whose responses indicated that the process of CSF for the Christian spiritual exemplar was ongoing and supported by events and opportunities for CSF within the Christian high school. This study also suggests that CSF in the Christian high school is a process not independent of a greater faith community and not independent of direct mentorship from adults within the school and the faith community. A network of supports and scaffolds for the CSE exists at the intersection of the CSF and the Christian high school.

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