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  • BCSL Conceptual Framework
  • BCSL Team
  • Executive Director, Dr. Matt Thomas
  • The Copple Family
  • BCSL Advisory Board
  • BCSL Fellows
  • BCSL Scholars
  • What Educators Are Saying

BCSL Team

Jon Eckert, EdD

Professor of Educational Leadership Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair in Christian School Leadership

Jon Eckert, EdD

Professor of Educational Leadership Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair in Christian School Leadership

Dr. Eckert came to Baylor in 2019 with more than two decades of experience in education. He provides academic leadership for the Center and is program director for Baylor’s MA in School Leadership. He began his career as a teacher and coach of intermediate and middle school students outside of Chicago and Nashville for 12 years. After completing his doctorate at Vanderbilt University in 2008, he was selected as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked in both the Bush and Obama administrations on teaching quality issues. For ten years, he prepared teachers at Wheaton College.

His research interests include collective leadership, teaching effectiveness, evaluation and strategic compensation to enhance that effectiveness, and science education. Over the past decade, he has written and worked on grants of more than $300 million with schools and districts across the U.S. Dr. Eckert has conducted research for the U.S. Department of Education, the Carnegie Foundation, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, and the Center for Teaching Quality.

He is the author of The Novice Advantage: Fearless Practice for Every Teacher (Corwin, 2016) and Leading Together: Teachers and Principals Improving Student Outcomes (Corwin, 2018), book chapters, numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, Professional Development in Education, and Education Policy Analysis Archives, and practitioner publications such as Education Week and Phi Delta Kappan. He has written and presented white papers on Capitol Hill and the National Press Club and has been invited to present all over the U.S. and as far away as Muscat, Oman, at a G8-Broader Middle East Summit for education ministers.

Jon_Eckert@baylor.edu
Matt Thomas, EdD

Executive Director

Matt Thomas, EdD

Executive Director

Dr. Thomas joined the Baylor School of Education in 2018. As Executive Director, he oversees the operations of the Center, leading development, strategy, planning, and coordination of programs. Dr. Thomas has served in Christian schools, Christian higher education institutions, seminaries, the Christian non-profit sector, and pastoral ministry for more than 25 years.

Dr. Thomas aims to equip Christian leaders to lead from a posture of humility that catalyzes leadership effectiveness helping institutions best fulfill its mission. His interests include mentoring as a means of developing leadership within organizations, organizational culture and health, board competency, and spiritual formation. Ultimately, his work seeks to assist Christian leaders in understanding identity in Christ and how identity-focused leadership empowers one to effectively engage the seismic shifts facing institutions. Currently, Dr. Thomas teaches in the undergraduate leadership minor and the Masters in School Leadership program.

Matt_M_Thomas@baylor.edu

MMSCI 134.02

(254) 710-4424
Erik Ellefsen

Director of Networks and Improvement

Erik Ellefsen

Director of Networks and Improvement

Mr. Ellefsen manages the BCSL’s Christian Leadership Transformation Project, a program designed to equip Christian educators across the country by gathering networks of school teams around problems of practice to catalyze school improvement and student flourishing.

Ellefsen has served in education for more than two decades as a teacher, coach, consultant, Dean of Academics at Boston Trinity Academy, Principal at Chicago Christian High School, and Grievance Chairman for the American Federation of Teachers. Most recently, he served at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, CA. He currently serves as Senior Fellow for both the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education and Cardus. He also hosts the Digical Education, a podcast providing engaging conversations with some of the most innovative education leaders, and a leading collaborator and author of the Mindshift project.

Ellefsen is a graduate of Wheaton College, with a BA in Social Science and Illinois teacher accreditation, an MEd in Administration and Leadership from Benedictine University with Illinois administrative credential, and attended Boston University to further his studies in Educational Policy and Organizational Leadership.

Erik_Ellefsen@baylor.edu
Alison Treadaway

Program Coordinator

Alison Treadaway

Program Coordinator

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Baylor Center for School Leadership

Marrs McLean Science Building 1214 S. Fourth Waco, TX 76706 Office: 134.02
One Bear Place #97215 Waco, TX 76798-72
Matt_M_Thomas@baylor.edu
(254) 710-3111
Department of Educational Leadership
MA in School Leadership
School of Education
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