Catholic School Administration

The leading comprehensive guide for Catholic school principals Fully revised and expanded 2nd editionNew material on curriculum, instruction, testing, development, fundraising, federal regulationsDiscusses school management fundamentals: from budgeting to recruitment This new edition of the highly influential text, Catholic School Administration, has been greatly enlarged and improved with new chapters on curriculum improvement, supervision of instruction, ways to assess testing—as well as new information on marketing, human resources, and student recruitment. Based on principles drawn from Ignatius to Vatican II, as well as concepts from current educational and social theorists, the book combines the best ideas for leading and decision-making with detailed practical presentations of the managerial tasks that must be mastered to run a parochial school. Case studies and surveys provide extra guidance. For readers seeking to make organizational and instructional improvements, this text offers proven techniques for systematic change. It is an outstanding resource for introducing administrators to the challenges of running a Catholic school.

The administration of Pre K – 12 Catholic schools becomes more challenging each year. Catholic school leaders not only have the daunting task of leading a successful learning organization, but also to serve as the school community’s spiritual leader and the vigilant steward who keeps the budget balanced, the building clean, and maintaining a healthy enrollment in the school. Each of these tasks can be a full time job, yet the Catholic school principal takes on these tasks day after day, year after year, so that teachers may teach as Jesus did. The goal of this book is to provide both beginning and seasoned Catholic school leaders with some insights that might help them to meet these challenges with a sense of confidence. The words in this text provide research?based approaches for dealing with issues of practice, especially those tasks that are not ordinarily taught in educational leadership programs. This text helps to make sense of the pastoral side of Catholic education, in terms of structures, mission, identity, curriculum, and relationships with the principal’s varied constituencies. It also provides some insights into enrollment management issues, finances and development, and the day in day out care of the organization and its home, the school building. As a Catholic school leader, each must remember that the Catholic school is not just another educational option. The Catholic school has a rich history and an important mission. Historically, education of the young goes back to the monastic and cathedral schools of the Middle Ages. In the United States, Catholic schools developed as a response to anti?Catholic bias that was rampant during the nineteenth century. Catholic schools developed to move their immigrant and first generation American youth from the Catholic ghetto to successful careers and lives in the American mainstream. However, most importantly, Catholic schools have brought Christ to generations of youngsters. It remains the continuing call of the Catholic school to be a center of Evangelization—a place where Gospel values live in the lives of faculty, students and parents. This text attempts to integrate the unique challenges of the instructional leader of the institution with the historical and theological underpinnings of contemporary Catholic education.

Teachers in Catholic schools are called to do more than instruct in a particular subject area. You are called to witness to the Catholic faith and to ready your students to be socially active and responsible, moral, literate, and to reflect Christian values in daily life in and out of the classroom. How do you do this while teaching high school physics or primary language arts or middle-grades social studies? How do you pass on the faith in a Catholic school if you’re not a Catholic yourself? Veteran religious educator Judith Dunlap answers these questions and more in When You Teach in a Catholic School. Dunlap provides inspiration and practical tips for teachers who want to share their faith in the classroom and school environment. This valuable resource offers fresh insight into the ministry of teaching—for teachers, school staff and administration, and parent-teacher organizations.

Catholic School Leadership addresses many of the challenges facing those who prepare faith leaders and education leaders for the Catholic schools of the future. The well-known editors and contributors to this volume have written about their personal experiences with Catholic schools; the educational foundations of Catholic schools; teacher preparation and development; Catholic school leadership; dealing with parents and families; and the challenges of technology for Catholic schools. The contributions emphasize the perspectives of both scholars and practitioners within Catholic education and will interest anyone who has experienced time in a Catholic school either as a student, teacher or administrator, as well as those interested in what is happening within Catholic schools today.

A Call to Vocation: Narratives of Catholic Educators offers a collection of stories written by Catholic teachers, principals, supervisory officers, trustees, and students. Each reading is designed to promote the current mission and vision of Catholic education as well as support and inspire Catholic educators as they pursue their vocational call. These representations of practice can be read, reflected upon, discussed, and critiqued to extend professional knowledge and understanding of the unique dimensions inherent within educational practices that are inspired by one’s spiritually oriented vocation. Together, these narratives provide educators with a vital tool for meeting pre-service requirements and a rich resource for taking into their classroom as full-time educators.