The Promise of Catholic Schools for Educating the Future of Los Angeles (original) (raw)
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Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, fi rst developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of high-poverty Catholic schools for 322 African American middle school students. Results show that Nativity schools are more successful than traditional Catholic schools in effecting student gains in standardized test score performance. Results also suggest that features such as small school and class size, small student-teacher ratios, and an extended academic day contribute to these gains. The quality of the school and classroom environment, as perceived by students, that contributed to the amount of engaged learning time also may have contributed to their stronger academic performance. Implications for urban schooling for African American middle school children placed at risk are discussed.
Catholic Schools and Immigrant Students: A New Generation
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2009
Background/ContextThis article considers the role of Catholic schools, an institution born of the adaptation of previous immigrant waves, in the education of new immigrants and their native-born counterparts. The new immigrants enter a landscape in which education plays a much bigger role than it did for their predecessors and yet faces many challenges. Public schools, particularly in urban centers, struggle with financial difficulties and new standards of accountability. Although scholars and the media have praised Catholic schools for performing better than public schools in promoting academic achievement among urban low-income minority students, the Catholic system also faces fiscal difficulties, declining enrollments, and school closings.Purpose/Objective/Research Questions/Focus of StudyWe examine the use of Catholic school by families of different ethnic backgrounds and how attendance relates both to religious affiliation and to socioeconomic class. We also analyze whether att...
Lost classroom, lost community: Catholic schools' importance in urban America
Choice Reviews Online, 2014
continues a line of scholarly work that calls attention to the invaluable effects of Catholic schools in the United States, in light of Catholic school closures and the rise of charter schools. It is unique in that it underlines the role of Catholic schools as institutions that contribute to the stability and health of the broader community in which they are located. Catholic schools make this contribution, the authors argue, through the generation of social capital, or "networks that make urban neighborhoods function smoothly" (p. 113). The authors build on research about the educational benefits of social capital within a school (Bryk, Lee, & Holland, 1992), and the benefit for schools of social capital in the surrounding neighbourhood (Coleman, 1988), to propose that the social capital generated by Catholic schools extends well beyond the walls of the classroom. The authors highlight a statistically significant relationship between Catholic school closures and crime rates, drawing from survey data collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago, Illinois, and neighbourhood police beat data. Between 1999 and 2005, Chicago experienced a significant decrease in crime, but the decrease was more pronounced in those neighbourhoods with open Catholic schools. Brinig and Garnett were able to successfully replicate their study in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, they could not establish a similar pattern in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, where very few Catholic schools have been closed. An open Catholic school there does not appear to affect crime rates. Los Angeles is unique because its Catholic schools were systematically established between 1948 and 1970 in a centralized manner to provide space for the tens of thousands of children who were annually denied entrance. As a result, the authors suggest that the impact of Catholic schools on crime is more evident in dense urban neighbourhoods and in neighbourhoods where schools emerged amid unplanned urban development, like Chicago and Philadelphia. Brinig and Garnett understand and do not equivocate on the limitations of their statistical analysis. They acknowledge the lack of uniformity in results, possible discrepancies related to limited and/or skewed statistical data, and the strong correlation of demographic and economic variables (such as a rise in poverty, escalation of the minority population, or overall decline in population) with social stability in a cityscape. Despite these limitations, the authors strive to isolate the effects of more pertinent factors to ascertain the value created by open Catholic schools in a community. While this weakens the strength of their findings, making it impossible
Catholic Schools, Urban Neighborhoods, and Education Reform
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
This Article explores the implications of a dramatic shift in the American educational landscape-the rapid disappearance of Catholic schools from urban neighborhoods. Primarily because of their strong track record of educating disadvantaged children, these school closures are a source of significant concern in education policy circles. While we are inclined to agree that Catholic school closures contribute to a broader educational crisis, this Article does not address well-rehearsed debates about educational outcomes. Rather than focusing on the work done inside the schools, we focus on what goes on outside them. Specifically, using three decades of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we seek to understand what a Catholic school means to an urban neighborhood. Our study suggests Catholic elementary schools are important generators of neighborhood social capital: We find that neighborhood social cohesion decreases and disorder increases following an ele-@ 2010 Margaret F. Brinig & Nicole Stelle Garnett. Individuals and nonprofit institutions may reproduce and distribute copies of this Article in any format, at or below cost, for educational purposes, so long as each copy identifies the author, provides a citation to the Notre Dame Law Review, and includes this provision and copyright notice. * Fritz Duda Family Chair in Law, Notre Dame Law School.
Catholic Schools, Charter Schools, and Urban Neighborhoods
The University of Chicago Law Review
of Chicago for her invaluable and generous assistance with this project. Alison Curran, Peter Reed and Michael Wilde provided excellent research assistance. We received many helpful comments on this paper at a symposium on-Understanding Education in the United States‖ at the University of Chicago Law School.
2012
Program (MPCP) is a program that "allows low-income Milwaukee Students to attend participating private or religious schools located in Milwaukee with no charge for tuition if certain eligibility criteria are met" (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction). The program allows for qualifying families to use a portion of the public educational funding selected (voucher) for their student to attend a public school or the private school of their choice. For low income families, school choice is an opportunity to flee from schools that struggle with dropouts, absenteeism and low achievement in hopes of a school that will provide their student with more academic opportunities. Understanding the goal of school choice, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to observe and analyze how a voucher, parochial high school in a Midwestern city (CCHS) is serving or disserving Latina/o students who receive vouchers. The sample population consisted of 30 students who identify themselves as Latina/o, speak fluent Spanish and are recipients of the Voucher program, 13 families, 15 teachers and 2 administrators. Interviews, observations, photovoice and the collection of artifacts and records were used to collect the data. Voucher schools like CCHS were another resource for families, especially low income families. The information provided in this dissertation shows a different, and iii quite dismal, picture. Unlike the studies done in the 80's and 90's that address the effectiveness of Catholic schools for poor children of color, CCHS may not be more effective for disadvantaged students. Students at CCHS do not have a quality academic curriculum, and teacher expectations are blurred by deficit ideologies that blame students for their academic failure. Furthermore, policies and practices are set into place to ensure that students do not become academically successful. The Notre Dame Task Force on the Participation of Latina/o Children and Families in Catholic Schools (2009) calls for the recruitment of more Latina/o students in Catholic schools, but until the issues mentioned in this research are addressed, schools like CCHS will continue to prepare students of color for failure. iv
The Effects of Catholic Schools on Religiosity, Education, and Competition
Four criteria that have been suggested to evaluate the effects of private schooling and education vouchers are: (1) freedom of choice, (2) productive efficiency, (3) equity, and (4) social cohesion. This study uses these criteria to evaluate some of the effects of Catholic schooling in the United States. Catholic schools are shown to increase the ability of Catholic families to promote Catholic values and beliefs. That is, Catholic schools increase the ability of Catholic families to provide a faith-based education for their children. The effect of Catholic schools on productive efficiency is mixed. Data from Illinois suggest that private school competition does not improve the quality of public schooling. Further, national data indicate that Catholic schools at best only have modest positive effects on educational outcomes for white students. However, Catholic schools seem to have significant and substantial positive effects on educational outcomes for black and Hispanic students. ...
The Effects of Catholic Schools on Religiosity, Education, and Competition. Occasional Paper
2001
Four criteria that have been suggested to evaluate the effects of private schooling and education vouchers are: (1) freedom of choice, (2) productive efficiency, (3) equity, and (4) social cohesion. This study uses these criteria to evaluate some of the effects of Catholic schooling in the United States. Catholic schools are shown to increase the ability of Catholic families to promote Catholic values and beliefs. That is, Catholic schools increase the ability of Catholic families to provide a faith-based education for their children. The effect of Catholic schools on productive efficiency is mixed. Data from Illinois suggest that private school competition does not improve the quality of public schooling. Further, national data indicate that Catholic schools at best only have modest positive effects on educational outcomes for white students. However, Catholic schools seem to have significant and substantial positive effects on educational outcomes for black and Hispanic students. For this reason, Catholic schools have favorable effects on equity.