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Over the years, Fr. Joe Carey has worn many hats in his service to Catholic education. The 1962 graduate of Notre Dame earned his M.A. in Theology from Holy Cross College in Washington, D.C., was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 1969, and went on to teach at Notre Dame High School for six years.

Fr. Joe then served as Director of Vocations for the CSC order for four years. At the University of Notre Dame, he was both an Assistant Rector and Rector, a Financial Counselor, Assistant Director--and then Interim Director--of Campus Ministry for Religious Education and Retreats. During that time, Fr. Joe also served in Campus Ministry at St. Mary's College for five years.

Recently, this long-time friend of the Alliance for Catholic Education officially joined the ACE family as its chaplain.

Fr. Joe notes, "I believe that God loves all people and ministry is about bringing all people the good news that they are made in the image and likeness of God."

Catholic elementary school principals, speaking out in a major nationwide survey, report experiencing acute challenges and frustrations in the operation of their schools, and they identify financial management, marketing, Catholic identity, enrollment management, and long-range planning as their schools’ top five areas of need.

The study, just completed by the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) and its Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, is a rare, comprehensive glimpse of these principals’ views on what they need to do their jobs better and how they describe the state of Catholic education today.

"It is difficult to read the responses of Catholic school principals in this study and not sense both their commitment to this ministry and the overwhelming responsibilities that are associated with it,” say the authors of “Leadership Speaks: A National Survey of Catholic Primary School Principals.” They paint a picture of principals as faith-filled individuals confronting unusually challenging expectations, worthy of new forms of support, such as their own national association.

The study has not yet been published, but the authors—Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, senior director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, along with two members of the Remick Leadership Program faculty, Anthony Holter and James Frabutt—presented an overview of their work during the National Catholic Educational Association annual convention held April 11-13 in Boston.

A total of 1,685 Catholic school principals representing all areas of the country and all types of school locations and organizational structures, participated in the survey during 2010, answering nearly three dozen questions.

When invited to give open-ended answers, the participants narrowed down the five top areas of need to the two they called most important—enrollment management and financial management—which together often capture the most basic goal of survival, keeping a school open.

Based on the data obtained, “the Church seems to have hired well, attracting mission-driven and loyal individuals to the overarching goals of Catholic education,” according to the study. But these principals live daily with what has been called “the tyranny of the urgent,” hungering for more support—“emotional as well as financial.”

“A Catholic school principal has job expectations that go beyond what can be found in secular educational literature,” the authors note, pointing out that the work of a chief executive officer and a chief operating officer is combined with the school’s overarching religious purpose: “the sanctification of all its stakeholders.”

The study provides enormous amounts of data describing today’s Catholic school principals and outlining their views, and the authors conclude with four recommendations:

· Develop “new models of governance for Catholic elementary schools” that shift the panoply of principal responsibilities “into a more manageable and realistic position description.”

· “Develop a program of ongoing professional development and renewal for principals” that address their needs, both professional and personal.

· Organize a national association of Catholic school principals as a means “to give voice to their leadership concerns at every level and to promote advocacy for Catholic schools at the national level.”

· “Convene multiple groups of national and international stakeholders to advance the understanding of Catholic schools as instruments of the new evangelization.”

Students entering grades 2 through 8 in the South Bend and Elkhart areas will have expanded opportunities this year to extend their learning into the summer months through a partnership of local Catholic schools and the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).

The "Catholic Schools Summer Camp Educational Program," co-sponsored by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and ACE, will offer day camp-like learning experiences at five schools—two more than last summer. Students are being invited to register at St. Jude Elementary School in South Bend and at St. Vincent de Paul School in Elkhart, in addition to last year's lineup of South Bend schools: St. Adalbert, St. Anthony de Padua, and Our Lady of Hungary.

Each school will offer two sessions, one spanning three weeks in June and the other spanning three weeks in July. Different grades will have different focus areas, generally covering math or language arts. The sessions are mornings only.

Registration for the sessions is open to students from all schools and backgrounds, with one entire session costing $80 and both sessions costing $150. There are discounts for registration by May 7, and financial aid is available. Information about financial assistance comes from the individual school where a student is enrolling.

In addition to these sessions, the partnership is again offering its "Catholic Schools Summer Science Educational Program," which is specifically for students entering 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. This program also offers June and July sessions but is based at Christ the King School in South Bend.

The morning sessions in June will emphasize ecology and life sciences. The sessions in July will feature forensics and early engineering concepts. Lab periods are built in, with lots of hands-on learning. Student experiences will include building a roller coaster, launching your own rocket, and growing your own plants.

Registration costs for the science program are the same as for the broader educational program.
More information and a downloadable registration card for the general camp program are available at http://ace.nd.edu/summercamp. You can also contact Caitlin Cameron of ACE at 574-631-9332.

The Alliance for Catholic Education forms college graduates to be teachers serving in Catholic schools around the country. These teachers in formation, studying at Notre Dame during the summer as part of the highly selective ACE Teaching Fellows program, serve alongside current Catholic school teachers to lead the summer camp experiences, yielding an optimal teacher-student ratio and frequent individual instruction.

Over the past three summers, ACE Summer Camp Programs have served more than 1,100 students in the greater South Bend area.

You've heard of a "Double Domer." Well, Michigan native Dane Whipple is becoming what might be considered a "Double ACEr." Last year he completed his first certification with ACE in English as a New Language (ENL); now he is well on his way toward earning his second certification with ACE in Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC).

This long-time Notre Dame fan graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint, and taught in Flint-area Catholic schools until, as he says, "the General Motors strike approached and the economy took a downturn." He relocated to San Diego, where he continued teaching and found his way to ACE.

"My motivation to join the ACE TEC program," he says, "was based on my experience in the ENL program. I learned so much [there] and met so many wonderful people that, when this second program was offered, I decided to pursue it." Dane found that teaching English as a new language truly helped struggling students—his ultimate goal. So he knew that the TEC program would equally support students with mild to moderate disabilities.

What he may not have expected is the change these programs have wrought in him. Even as he has established his school's Student Study Team, a resource for parents and students to help students achieve success; and even as he has introduced Quizlet, a website that helps students make study flashcards for their classes, Dane attests to his own growth in body, mind and spirit. He speaks of his increasing empathy for students who struggle, his openness to differentiated instruction, and the value of daily mass and other resources offered during summertime training.

Just as this teacher calls his ACE experience "a blessing," so ACE calls him, ever grateful for the thought and commitment he and others like him bring to our Catholic schools.

America's K-12 schools, both public and Catholic, are in crisis, said NYU historian and education scholar Diane Ravitch in an April 10 address at the University of Notre Dame. But she pointed out that both have their enduring strengths, and she warned against some of the most popular solutions being proposed to their current problems.

Ravitch, whose talk entitled "Is There a Crisis in Public Education?" was part of the year-long "Notre Dame Forum" series exploring issues in K-12 education, expanded on the arguments in her best-selling book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

Pointing out that public education has come under sharp attack by a movement pushing privatization and free-market disciplines for schools and "de-professionalization" for teachers, Ravitch acknowledged that schools need to solve a range of problems today. But "they are not declining and they are not failing."