Craig S. Engelhardt, Ph.D.
Director

Craig is married with two children.  He and his wife Carol, a teacher and dyslexia therapist with multiple certifications, are strong supporters of the family, Christian education, the Church, and America.  His prior involvements have provided him with insight into the needs of diverse communities and an understanding of the strengths associated with homeschooling, public schooling, and varied conceptions of Christian schooling.  Their children have attended public schools, Christian schools, coops, and have been homeschooled. One just graduated and the other attends a Christian school.

Craig approaches K-12 education equipped with his own deep Christian commitments, broad personal experience, and interdisciplinary church-state scholarship.  Professionally, he spent ten years with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where he gained perspective through international travel and urban ministry in New Orleans.  During the following ten years, he was involved in Christian schooling as a teacher and an administrator. Over the past ten years, he has worked to strengthen the philosophic depth of Christian school teachers and curriculum while supporting the inclusion of very lightly regulated “private” religious schools under the umbrella of “public education” (redefined as "any education that supports the public's educational needs").  He argues that religious school choice not only serves to nurture Christian children, but it serves the public’s educational interests based on growing evidence regarding the importance of religion to society as a ground for reason, morality, and value - as well as an unequaled source of social capital.

Craig holds a Ph.D. in Religion, Politics, and Society from Baylor University’s Dawson Institute of Church State Studies, a M.A. in Christian School Administration from Oral Roberts University, and a B.S. in world history and political science from Regents College (now Excelsior College) of the University of the State of New York.    Having completed his Ph.D. in 2009, Craig directs SACE (the Society for the Advancement of Christian Education). His dissertation, Moral and Civic Education and the Public Value of Religious Schools, became the intellectual seedbed of SACE.


View Dr. Engelhardt's professional involvements - “CV”