Stable, Comfortably-Sized, Experienced, Successful
- The WELS School system of over 430 schools reaches over 26,000 students nationwide.
- WELS operates 27 high school across the nation with a new high school (Cornerstone Lutheran High School) opening in the Chippewa Valley next fall.
Academically Excellent
- Lutheran school students test 23% higher than the national average on standard achievement tests.
- Average SAT/ACT test scores of students attending Lutheran high schools are well above the national average. Students in Lutheran schools at every grade level, and especially in middle school and high school, have more developmental assets than students in public schools, according to Search Institute.
Christ-centered and Mission Minded
- Since our schools are Evangelical in name like our church body, sharing the love of Christ is central to everything we do and say. Our faith is integrated across the curriculum. As a result, many children are baptized and many families join congregations and become active in the life of the church. However, membership is not required and non-member families comprise roughly two-thirds of our enrollment, with half of those students have no church home at all.
Lutheran Schools Make a Difference that Matters*
- Reliable statistical research* from a study of people who attended Lutheran schools reveals that they…
- report the importance of faith and a personal relationship with their Lord and Savior in their personal lives
- exhibit a more consistent and caring faith in Jesus
- profess a greater clarity on the way of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone
- retain and apply Biblical knowledge in daily life for wisdom from the Lord of Lords, creator of Heaven and earth
- engage in a robust devotional and prayer life
- do more witnessing to others about Jesus
- have a greater awareness of the presence of the Lord in one’s whole life
- give a higher value to relationships with Christ and other persons
- show more reasonable respect for authority
- live out stronger tendencies to be forgiving and personally forthright with other people
- evidence greater avoidance of over-simplistic views (such as viewing complex social issues as more than mere power struggles)
- reveal less tendency to be anxious about life and their faith
- are less swayed by their peers outside of the faith
- The research also proved that the more years a person attended a Lutheran school, the more significant these differences became.
*Milo Brekke, How Different Are People Who Attended Lutheran Schools; based on data compiled by Youth Research Center