Catholic School Advantage

Mentor principals have played a critical role in the success of the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) since the program’s inception in 2012. The experience, accountability, and personal attention that these leaders provide has been a defining characteristic of the LEI, helping Catholic school principals—and their teams— institute lasting changes. 

After schools attend the LEI summer conference, mentor principals maintain regular contact with the 4-6 school leaders in their group through monthly video conference calls. These conversations, which focus on various themes related to Latino outreach, recruitment, and enrollment, are an opportunity for school leaders to learn from one another and receive real-time consultation and feedback from their mentor on some of the things that they’re doing in their school. 

The commitment of our LEI mentors, most of whom are still active Catholic school principals themselves, is truly the engine that drives the LEI. These Mentor Spotlight pieces are intended to be a fun way to help you get to know these incredible school leaders—both professionally and personally—who dedicate so much of their lives to this mission.

This month, we highlight Patty Lansink. Patty originally attended the LEI in 2014 as the principal of St. Rose of Lima School in Denison, Iowa. Her school's enrollment growth and her capacity for leadership quickly caught the attention of the LEI team, as well as that of the Diocese of Sioux City. In 2015, Patty became an assistant superintendent in the Diocese of Sioux City, while continuing to serve as the principal at St. Rose of Lima, and also joined the LEI leadership team as a mentor principal. Since then, Patty has worked with 17 different schools as an LEI mentor, and in 2018, became the Superintendent of Schools in the Diocese of Sioux City. As a diocesan leader, Patty is part of a growing number of former LEI school principals who are now spreading the message of the LEI to a greater number of Catholic schools and prioritizing Latino outreach at the (arch)diocesan level. 

Read the full interview with Patty Lansink below.

Originally published by Sophia Lauber at al.nd.edu on May 19, 2021.

After growing up in a neighborhood where many of his friends didn’t make it to college, senior Diego Reynoso knows firsthand the challenges facing students in low-income communities.

To set a solid foundation of language and culture while increasing preschool enrollment, the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame and the Archdiocese of Chicago will launch Early Childhood Language Intensive Preschool (ECLIP), a pilot program that offers intensive daily instruction in core studies in Spanish, Polish or Chinese Mandarin to Pre-K students.

Mentor principals have played a critical role in the success of the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) since the program’s inception in 2012. The experience, accountability, and personal attention that these leaders provide has been a defining characteristic of the LEI, helping Catholic school principals—and their teams— institute lasting changes. 

After schools attend the LEI summer conference, mentor principals maintain regular contact with the 4-6 school leaders in their group through monthly video conference calls. These conversations, which focus on various themes related to Latino outreach, recruitment, and enrollment, are an opportunity for school leaders to learn from one another and receive real-time consultation and feedback from their mentor on some of the things that they’re doing in their school. 

The commitment of our LEI mentors, most of whom are still active Catholic school principals themselves, is truly the engine that drives the LEI. These Mentor Spotlight pieces are intended to be a fun way to help you get to know these incredible school leaders—both professionally and personally—who dedicate so much of their lives to this mission.

This month, we highlight Patrick Jefferies. Patrick originally attended the LEI in 2015 as a member of Cohort 4. At that time, he had just completed his first year as principal of St. Andrew School in Riverton, Utah. He arrived at St. Andrew a year earlier with a mandate and a plan to turn the school around, which had been experiencing a rather substantial and alarming decline in enrollment. By implementing a number of proven LEI strategies, committing to doing the little things right, and working to restore the trust of the Latino community, Patrick was able to significantly grow his school's enrollment, quickly drawing the attention of the LEI leadership team. Not long after, Patrick joined the LEI team of mentors and has helped guide other school leaders along this same path.

Read the full interview with Patrick Jefferies below.

Madrinas at Holy Cross School in North Portland, OR. (Photo Credit: Holy Cross School) 

“Oh no, esta escuela católica no es para nosotros. Es para los ricos!” This is a line that many school leaders attending ACE’s Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) have heard all too often from Latino parents - that their local Catholic school is not for them. It’s only for the rich.

LEI’s decade of work in increasing Latino enrollment has highlighted the unfortunate reality that many Latino families have too little information when it comes to Catholic schools in the United States. Since Catholic schools in Latin America typically serve only the elite members of society, many low and middle-income Latino families in the United States consider a Catholic education to be inaccessible, and they do not even consider it to be an educational option for their children. We regard this to be a missed opportunity for schools and a missed opportunity for families.

The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) recently released sobering statistics of record-breaking drops in enrollment in Catholic schools across the country. Given that many of these drops came in urban areas in heavily populated Latino neighborhoods, schools with Latino children have been among the hardest hit. This has left many school and diocesan leaders wondering what they can do to ensure the fastest-growing group of Catholics in the United States continues to benefit from a Catholic education.