ACE Consulting in the News: A Partnership in Stockton

The Diocese of Stockton, CA, has launched a partnership with the University of Notre Dame to help ensure a long and strong future for Catholic schools.

The Most Rev. Stephen E. Blaire, bishop of the diocese, announced that Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) will engage its ACE Consulting team in an in-depth assessment of 12 schools, starting this month.

See coverage of the announcement in The Modesto Bee and The Lodi News-Sentinel.)

The strategic assessments to be conducted by ACE for each school are designed to provide an objective, external, diagnostic analysis of the school in specific domains while providing appropriate recommendations to bolster the overall effectiveness of each school.

The specific domains to be included in the assessment are:
• Catholic identity
• Academic Excellence
• Ownership/Governance/Administration
• Institutional Advancement
• Enrollment, Demographics and Educational landscape
• Financial/Business Operations
• Access to Federal Grants

"The Catholic schools in our diocese are an important resource, as their continued success can help our community break the cycles of poverty, violence and social injustice. ACE Consulting will help us discern how to enroll more students in better schools... schools that can offer both a values based and a rigorous academic education," Bishop Blaire said.

Bishop Blaire said the Alliance for Catholic Education is well positioned to do this work because "it taps into resources and expertise built up during nearly two decades of service to Catholic schools in dioceses around the country, as well as the research capacity of the University of Notre Dame."

ACE Consulting was established in response to the University of Notre Dame's National Task Force on Catholic Education's call to develop a high-quality, affordable consulting organization to serve Catholic schools. Today, ACE Consulting is the preeminent provider of consultative guidance and innovative thinking with regard to the unique and distinct needs of Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools.

Some of the ACE Team Members assigned to the Stockton partnership include Sister Kathleen Carr, C.S.J., Father Tom Doyle, C.S.C. and Steven J. Virgadamo. Like each of their ACE colleagues they are committed to providing the highest level of professional and personalized service and seek to empower all servant leaders who are committed to Catholic education in a professional, lay, volunteer, or religious capacity.

Steve Perla, Senior Director of ACE Consulting said, "We are blessed to be working with Bishop Blaire and all the educational leaders of the Stockton Diocese as they take this proactive, comprehensive approach for the sake of children and families.The professional staff members assigned to the Stockton project are among our most experienced. Sister Kathleen Carr is an experienced educator and administrator. Father Tom Doyle, C.S.C. has served as the Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and Executive Vice President of the University of Portland and it would be difficult to identify an individual who has consulted directly with more Catholic Schools than Mr. Virgadamo."

ACE Consulting expects to present its assessments and action plans for the 12 schools to the diocese by autumn 2013, opening the door to possible further collaboration on particular objectives. Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., co-founder of ACE and director of Notre Dame's Institute for Educational Initiatives, said other resources and units of the Alliance for Catholic Education are available to respond to future requests for assistance.

"Our mission to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools brings us to the diocese of Stockton, and we're grateful to share that mission in this beautiful place with so many caring