Education Commons^™

The Pilgrims’ Return: The Influence Of The Assisi Pilgrimage On High School Participants, Christopher Michael Iwancio

Doctoral Dissertations

Catholic schools were founded to assist parents in the passing of the faith to their children (Second Vatican Council, 1965; SCCE, 1994). Despite this mission, research has indicated that in the United States there has been a disassociation Catholics from their faith (Pew, 2008, 2014; Smith and Denton, 2005; St. Mary’s Press and CARA, 2018). Programming was developed to encourage youths’ faith development and their active membership in the Catholic Church (Denton and Smith, 2005; USCCB, 1997). One program, pilgrimages, has seen an increase in participants across the world (Cleary, 2017; Harris, 2010, Rymarz, 2008). This mixed-method study sought to …

Exploring The Leadership Practices Of National Catholic Educational Association Distinguished Catholic Elementary School Principals And Defining The Leadership Needed To Survive The 21st Century Challenges, Natalie Ann Cirigliano

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences (personal and educational) of eight distinguished elementary Catholic school principals formally recognized by NCEA through its Distinguished Principal Award. The study sought to identify their leadership practices and how they were demonstrated in their roles as educational leaders, spiritual leaders, and managerial leaders. Additionally, this study sought to identify the major 21st century challenges that the eight NCEA- Identified Distinguished Catholic Elementary School Principals faced and how they addressed them.

This case study included eight participants from eight different (arch)dioceses over seven states. Each principal participant completed an initial …

Implicit Theories And Perceptions Of Academic Changes Among Teachers In Lasallian Secondary Schools In The San Francisco New Orleans District, Heidi M. Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

A central issue in education is whether teachers are preparing students to succeed and serve a rapidly changing world. In Catholic Lasallian schools, teachers are called to accomplish the Church’s ministry of education and therefore to continually renew and adapt their practices to prepare students for their contemporary society and to live out Christian values in service to others.

This study focused on the fundamental beliefs and perceptions of teachers who implement academic changes in Lasallian schools. It utilized the psychological framework of implicit theories (Dweck, 2000) as its theoretical rationale. The purpose of the study was to investigate the …

An Exploration Of Catholic High School Religious Studies Teachers' Perceptions And Experiences Of Their Role And Practice, Laura Witter Ramey

Doctoral Dissertations

Research literature has demonstrated that Catholic high school religion teachers face a number of possible challenges or tensions as they go about the preparation and practice of teaching religion. One challenge that emanates from the literature is that religious studies teachers are expected to be as professional as their counterparts in other disciplines, yet they lack the structural resources for developing that teaching professionalism (Cook, 2001; Cook & Hudson, 2006; Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, SCCE, 1988; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, 2005). A second challenge is the expectation that religious studies teachers must meet the needs of …