Education Commons^™

Grounding Student Affairs In A Catholic Charism: The Journey Of One Faculty Member In Connecting Curriculum With Mission, Rich Whitney Phd, Mark Laboe

Journal of Catholic Education

The institutional mission of a university guides interactions among faculty, staff, students, and others and is instrumental in shaping the campus culture. As such, it is important that all members of a campus community not only understand the mission, but also have a sense of agency in determining how to live the mission through their work. This article presents a case study of one faculty member’s journey to deeper mission understanding, identification, and agency. The article explores commonalities between Vincentian Personalism and the basic tenets of the field of Student Affairs and highlights experiences and formation needed by lay faculty …

Aquinas On Inclusion: Using The Good Doctor And Catholic Social Teaching To Build A Moral Case For Inclusion In Catholic Schools For Children With Special Needs, Mary Carlson

Journal of Catholic Education

This article discusses the present status of students with disabilities in Catholic schools. It then builds the case, based upon the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and Catholic Social Teaching, that Catholic Schools, to remain true to Church teachings, must offer special educational services. The article concludes with recommendations for research and practice related to inclusion in Catholic schools.

Résumé
St Thomas d’Aquin sur l’inclusion scolaire : Montrer le bien-fondé moral de l’inclusion des enfants handicapés dans les écoles catholiques en utilisant l’enseignement du docteur de la foi et de la doctrine sociale catholique

Cet article évoque le statut actuel …

Motivation And Job Satisfaction Of Catholic School Teachers, John J. Convey

Journal of Catholic Education

This article examines the relationship between Catholic school teachers’ motivation and job satisfaction. The data are derived from a survey of 716 teachers in Catholic elementary and secondary schools in three dioceses in the US (Atlanta, GA; Biloxi, MS; and Cheyenne, WY). The school’s academic philosophy and its environment were important predictors of the teachers’ satisfaction with their work with students and with their relationships with administrators and other teachers. The motivation to teach in the school because it was a Catholic school was an important predictor of the teachers’ satisfaction with the school. The results of the study confirm …

Editors' Introduction, Mary K. Mccullough, Ph.D., Martin Scanlan, Karen Huchting

Journal of Catholic Education

Introduction to the new issue.

Transforming Ourselves, Transforming The World: Justice In Jesuit Higher Education, Stephen Hess S.J.

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Transforming Ourselves, Transforming the World: Justice in Jesuit Higher Education.

Masculinities And Other Hopeless Causes At An All-Boys Catholic School, Fernando Estrada

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Masculinities and Other Hopeless Causes at an All-Boys Catholic School.

Building Assets: The Strategic Use Of Closed Catholic Schools, Kristopher Knowles

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Building Assets: The Strategic Use of Closed Catholic Schools.

Faith, Resistance, And The Future: Daniel Berrigan’S Challenge To Catholic Social Thought, Kurt Nelson

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Faith, Resistance, and the Future: Daniel Berrigan’s Challenge to Catholic Social Thought.

Education In A Catholic Perspective, Jill Bickett

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Education in a Catholic Perspective.

Moving Beyond The College-Preparatory High School Model To A College-Going Culture In Urban Catholic High Schools, Ursula S. Aldana

Journal of Catholic Education

A college-going culture has been found to improve academic outcomes for underrepresented high school students (Allen, Kimura-Walsh, & Griffin, 2009; Stanton-Salazar, 2010). The research on Catholic high schools shows their college-preparatory environment ability to produce successful outcomes for African-American and Latino students (Bryk, Lee, & Holland, 1993). This study examines two urban Catholic high schools and how they construct opportunities for low-income Latino and African-American male students. The year-long study draws from 1) ethnographic field notes; 2) interviews with students and staff; 3) survey and 4) student data. Data suggests that although both schools focused on preparing students for college, …

Culturally Responsive Caring And Expectations For Academic Achievement In A Catholic School, Christian Dallavis

Journal of Catholic Education

This article draws from a larger dissertation study that applied ethnographic and historical research methods to explore the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and Catholic schooling in immigrant communities. In particular, this article presents qualitative data analysis to describe student achievement expectations at a contemporary urban Catholic elementary school. By examining teacher, student, and parent perspectives on academic achievement, the article explores the degree to which the caring demonstrated at the school is/is not consistent with a notion of “culturally responsive caring” in the scholarly literature surrounding theories of culturally responsive pedagogy.

Transforming Catholic Education Through Research: The American Educational Research Association Catholic Education Special Interest Group, Shane Martin

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic schools in the United States and abroad face numerous financial, cultural, and structural challenges due to contemporary education policies and economic trends. Within this climate, research about Catholic education is often conducted and leveraged in efforts to serve schools’ most immediate needs. To be certain, research aimed at finding solutions to pressing problems is important—indeed, essential—to Catholic schools’ survival. However, it is also important that research on Catholic education connect to larger questions, issues, and discourses in education—both private and public—in order to contribute important insights and bring otherwise marginalized voices to bear in contemporary educational debates.

Tensions Between Catholic Identity And Academic Achievement At An Urban Catholic High School, Carrie Fuller, Lauri Johnson

Journal of Catholic Education

Through a secondary analysis of a case study on successful school leadership, this study inquired into the lived experiences and understandings of Catholic identity from the perspectives of administrators, faculty, staff, and students at one urban Catholic school in the northeastern United States. Participants generally spoke about Catholic identity in terms of its explicit or implicit nature. Specifically, explicit Catholic identity relating to campus ministry, faith formation of students, and community service were noted to be areas for improvement. The analysis showed that tensions concerning the school’s Catholic identity were sidelined in the pursuit of academic excellence as measured by …

Forming The Whole Disciple: A Guide To Crafting A Truly Holistic Catholic Religious Education, Patrick R. Manning

Journal of Catholic Education

It is a commonplace for Catholic schools to claim that they educate the “whole” person in the faith, yet exactly what this means and how to accomplish it is harder to say. Though these matters of holistic formation and Catholic identity are always important, they are especially so at present given ongoing efforts to implement the U.S. bishops’ Framework for a high school religion curriculum. With these concerns in mind, this article aims to offer a traditionally-grounded, actionable answer to the questions, ‘Whom do we hope our students will become, and how do we help them towards that goal?’ The …

The Catholic School As A Courtyard Of The Gentiles, Leonardo Franchi

Journal of Catholic Education

The setting up of the Courtyard of the Gentiles by Pope Benedict XVI has provided the Catholic Church with an official forum for dialogue with atheists. The intellectual energy surrounding this initiative can be harnessed to focus on how the contemporary Catholic school addressed its responsibilities to the Catholic community while offering a good education to people of other religious traditions. The Courtyard initiative is an opportunity for the Catholic educational community to re-consider its purpose as an ecclesial agent in a plural society. This article argues that the distinctive content and pedagogy it employs in this endeavor is a …

Recovering The Social Dimension Of Reflection, Martin Thomas Connell

Journal of Catholic Education

Upon its publication in 1983, Schön’s The reflective practitioner became almost instantly influential in the design of teacher education programs in North America. Within eight years of its publication, it was nearly impossible to find a teacher educator not emphasizing the importance of reflection (Erlandson, 2007; Zeichner & Tabachinick, 1981). Despite a paucity of research establishing its benefits, the practice continues to play an important role in teacher education programs, including programs for preservice teacher education located at Catholic colleges and universities. After describing how reflection in teacher education is popularly conceived and after reviewing critiques of the practice as …

Editors' Comments, Mary Mccullough, Karen Huchting, Martin Scanlan

Journal of Catholic Education

We are pleased to announce the new name for the Journal: The Journal of Catholic Education.