Catholic High Schools

"Includes 6 full-length practice tests"--Cover.

Catholic high schools in the United States have been undergoing three major changes: the shift to primarily lay leadership and teachers; the transition to a more consumerist and pluralist culture; and the increasing diversity of students attending Catholic high schools. James Heft argues that to navigate these changes successfully, leaders of Catholic education need to inform lay teachers more thoroughly, conduct a more profound social analysis of the culture, and address the real needs of students. After presenting the history of Catholic schools in the United States and describing the major legal decisions that have influenced their evolution, Heft describes the distinctive and compelling mission of a Catholic high school. Two chapters are devoted to leadership, and other chapters to teachers, students, alternative models of high schools, financing, and the key role of parents, who today may be described as ''post-deferential'' to traditional authorities, including bishops and priests. Written by an award-winning teacher, scholar, and recognized educational leader in Catholic education, Catholic High Schools should be read by everyone interested in religiously- affiliated educational institutions, particularly Catholic education.

The authors examine a broad range of Catholic high schools to determine whether or not students are better educated in these schools than they are in public schools. They find that the Catholic schools do have an independent effect on achievement, especially in reducing disparities between disadvantaged and privileged students. The Catholic school of today, they show, is informed by a vision, similar to that of John Dewey, of the school as a community committed to democratic education and the common good of all students.

In Homophobia in the Hallways, Tonya D. Callaghan interrogates institutionalized homophobia and transphobia in the publicly-funded Catholic school systems of Ontario and Alberta.

The Human Race Is In Danger Sixteen-year-old Alyssa Brooks is a high-school outcast who doesn't realize that she's living in a world where magic is very real and a dire threat to anyone not possessing the power to harness it. But everything changes when Alyssa moves into Magnorium, a school for strange supernaturals called Elementals. As Alyssa adjusts to this new life, she learns of the Society, a powerful group of Elementals dedicated to cleansing the earth of its mortal population. Alyssa soon discovers her own truth and power and becomes something greater than she could have imagined – or the Society could have feared. As the only ones brave enough to stop the Society, Alyssa and her three friends set off on a journey, with the future of humanity hanging in the balance. Will Alyssa be strong enough to carry the burden of the world, or will she break under the strain?

"The effect of Catholic secondary schools on minority students does not occur among students from well educated families who have been successful in their previous education experiences, but rather among students disadvantaged by race, the fact that their parents did not attend college and by their own previous educational experiences. As these schools were originally established at the beginning of the twentieth century to socialize the children of the urban poor, their present success with today's urban poor may be due to the fact that these schools are simply doing what they have always done."--BOOK JACKET.

The number of minority students, many of them not Catholic, who have enrolled in Catholic secondary schools is substantial. Since it is reasonable to assume that the cost of tuition in such schools is considerable for a minority family, the phenomenon suggests that parents in these families believe that their children will obtain a better education in Catholic secondary schools. The problem of measuring the effect of Catholic secondary schools on minority students is difficult because it is a complex and intricate task to separate family background and student motivation as influences on academic performance from the school's contribution. Here, Andrew M. Greeley makes the case that the burden of proof rests on those who contend that family and student motivation are more important than the character of the school. Using a complex analytic technique that includes sophisticated mathematical models, Greeley demonstrates that the preponderance of evidence tilts in favor of the school. There appears to be an authentic Catholic school effect, attributable to religious order ownership of some schools, more regular discipline in the schools, and especially to a higher quality of teaching in such schools. The effect of Catholic secondary schools on minority students does not occur among students from well-educated families who have been successful in their previous education experiences, but rather among students disadvantaged by race, the fact that their parents did not attend college, and by their own previous educational experiences. As these schools were originally established at the beginning of the twentieth century to socialize the children of the urban poor, their present success with today's urban poor may be due to the fact that these schools are simply doing what they have always done. In a preface written for this new, paperback edition of Catholic High Schools and Minority Students, Greeley confirms the continued success of Catholic schools based on

This book analyzes the issues facing Catholic high schools in the U.S., including a shift from religious to lay leadership and teachers, a move to a more consumerist and pluralistic culture, increasing diversity among students, and shrinking budgets.