Making God Known, Loved, and Served

We know the story well, perhaps too well. Today, Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the United States remain the largest private school system in the world and still provide remarkable, often transformative, education, often on shoestring budgets.

By Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education  published on 12/01/2006  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

Preserving a Critical National Asset

On April 24, 2008, President George W. Bush convened in Washington, D.C., a broad array of education and community stakeholders to address a deeply troubling but vastly under-reported phenomenon limiting the education options available to low-income urban families: the rapid disappearance of faith-based schools in America’s cities.

By White House Domestic Policy Council  published on 09/01/2008  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

Who Will Save America’s Urban Catholic Schools?

America’s urban Catholic schools are in crisis. This report finds that over 1,300 schools have shut down since 1990, mostly in our cities. As a result, some 300,000 students have been displaced – forced to attend other public, private, or parochial schools. The school closures have cost taxpayers more than $20 billion to accommodate the […]

By Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Edited by Scott W. Hamilton  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

Saving America’s Urban Catholic Schools: A Guide for Donors

The Catholic community here [in the United States] has in fact made education one of its highest priorities.This undertaking has not come without great sacrifice. Towering figures, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and other founders and foundresses, with great tenacity and foresight, laid the foundations of what is today a remarkable network of parochial schools […]

By Stephanie Saroki and Christopher Levenick  published on 12/01/2009  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

An Analysis of the Impact of Blended Learning on School Culture, Relationships and Achievement

Seton commissioned a two-year study by the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education on the impact of blended learning on social culture and relationships in our Catholic school partners. Our study asked these two questions: (1) How does BL impact student-teacher, teacher-teacher, and school-parent relationships? and (2) How does BL impact schools’ culture, […]

By Betheny Gross, Tricia Maas, Jose Hernandez, Patrick Denice  published on 11/02/2015  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

Catholic Schools Become Charter Schools: Lessons from the Washington Experience

TWICE IN THE SPAN OF 10 YEARS, the Archdiocese of Washington summoned help from an array of leaders in the nation’s capital to preserve its struggling inner-city Catholic schools. The similarities between these two efforts were striking. Both were instigated by serious financial challenges and both were led by archbishops committed to serving disadvantaged children. […]

By Andy Smarick  published on 06/20/2020  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF

Turning Loss into Renewal: Catholic Schools, Charter Schools, and the Miami Experience

IN 2009, SEVEN PASTORS AND THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI undertook a process to close their Catholic schools and allow public charter schools to operate in their newly empty school buildings. Sparked by the unique vision of one parish priest, the dedication of the Archdiocesan facilities manager, and the strength of a charter school support services […]

By Dana Brinson  published on 06/25/2020  Read Full Excerpt  Download complete PDF