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Skillfull teachers are a crucial component of every child’s K-12 educational experience, said Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, in a talk she presented at the Institute for Educational Initiatives on Nov. 15.

Loewenberg, who is the William F. Payne Collegiate Professor in Education at the University of Michigan and director of a new organization called TeachingWorks, presented her talk, “It’s a Moral Imperative: Skillful Teaching Can’t Be Left to Chance,” to a large audience in Remick Commons, including faculty, staff, and students affailiated with Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) and the Institute for Educational Initiatives.

Her talk, part of the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO) Seminar series, was introduced by the Center’s director, distinguished education sociologist Mark Berends.

The moral imperative to improve K-12 education for Hispanic children requires action by schools, governments, families, and corporations, a leader from the Notre Dame ACE Academies said during a “summit” hosted recently by the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (Hispanic CREO).

Cristina Espino, advancement coordinator for Notre Dame ACE Academies, urged the 200 conference attendees to recognize the synergies achieved in such schools as crucial for empowering Latino students. The Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative is an innovative university-school partnership program that joins the University of Notre Dame with inner-city Catholic schools in Tucson, Arizona, and the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

“We see in Florida and Arizona that school choice is a necessary component of efforts to reform educational opportunities for the Latino community,” said Espino, who was a member of the panel addressing “The Power of One Voice: Empowering Students, Teachers, Parents, and Faith Leaders.” Notre Dame ACE Academies has seen school choice work in an atmosphere where families and corporations alike pitch in to strengthen the schools—and where school communities themselves embrace the dual goals of “college and heaven” for every child.

Espino reported that a public school county board member, convening with education reform advocates during the Miami conference Nov. 14-16, proposed raising the quality of K-12 education by placing more Hispanic teachers in the public school system. But she said a broader answer to the Latino achievement gap requires a collaborative commitment to do whatever it takes for students - these unyielding efforts are not tied to race, as proven by many at the five Notre Dame ACE Academies.

"We have a relentless focus on the children,” she said of the Tucson and Tampa Bay schools, where students and teachers alike are experiencing new initiatives and academic gains. In contrast to collaborations exclusively aimed at public schools, she said, “What I’m hearing [at the Summit] is that communities need more schools and partnerships that put children first.”

Sponsors of the three-day Hispanic CREO conference, now assembling annually to advance quality schooling for all children through school choice and other approaches, included Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), Step Up for Students, the Ford Motor Company, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

(Photo L to R) Jose A. Fernandez, Immediate Past President of Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida; Daniel A. Leon, Chief of Staff to civil rights leader Michael Skolnik; Cristina Espino, Advancement Coordinator Notre Dame ACE Academies; Maria Garza Brown, Advocate for Hispanic Scholarship Consortium and E3 Alliance; and Julio Fuentes, President & CEO Hispanic CREO

The Year of Faith is a celebration of our calling to follow Christ and how we can come to know Jesus in our commitment to the ACE community and Catholic schools. Our prayer is that we can learn to find Jesus in the ordinary and routine things of our lives. ACE Teaching Fellows calls men and women to live a simple life as teachers in Catholic schools.

The feast of Christ the King on November 24^th is the official end of the Year of Faith that was proclaimed in 2012 by Pope Benedict. In reality, this can be just the beginning of our extended explorations of faith—asking where and how our lives are connected to Jesus and where Catholic school educators can discover Christ present in their schools.

We have been called this year to reflect and come to a deeper relationship with Christ. I have been privileged to see this being worked out in classrooms by teachers and leaders who are dedicated to following the Gospel in this special ministry of Catholic education.

There are many ways in which we can look at what goes on in the classroom. I want to look at it through the lens of the Incarnation. Paul writes in Philippians 2: 5-7:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

These words are striking and remind us what Catholic teachers are called to be. They are called to look to Christ the Teacher as the model for what they do and how they approach their lives. This call and invitation reminds teachers to realize what they do is not about them. It is always about the students.

An experience reported by a first year teacher shows us this point lived out. The teacher and a student shared the same birthday. The student’s father had died a couple weeks before their birthdays. A mother of another student sent cupcakes to school for the teacher. The teacher appreciated this generosity. But he told the class the cupcakes and the celebration was for both the other student and himself. He thought about the student, which was a way of living the mission of Catholic education and recognizing Christ present in a birthday celebration. Being selfless and considerate is how teachers focus on the needs of students.

Jesus gave himself to us by becoming like us in all things but sin. It is the Incarnation that tells us we can discover God in our life events. Every moment of every day in every classroom, Jesus is present. If we understand this, we teach in a different way. We see that the students show us Christ and we are called to show them Christ.

The Incarnation, the presence of Jesus in our lives, invites us and brings to become Christ the Teacher. Let us pray that by this focus during the Year of Faith we will continue to live this mission.

Notre Dame’s Fighting for Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour, now under way, is helping to give a cross-country platform to two inseparable messages: It’s time to ensure educational excellence for all of America’s kids, and it’s time for talented, faith-filled men and women to step up as teachers and leaders so that Catholic schools can build upon their own legacy of excellence.

Here are several examples of media reports from the tour and from Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) experiences around the country, with special relevance to college seniors who feel drawn to that joy-filled fight for children's futures:

Emily Lazor, a former ACE teacher who now serves as an assistant director in the ACE Teaching Fellows program, was profiled last week by the Archdiocese of Baltimore newspaper because of her journey of faith through Catholic schooling. She recalled the enthusiasm she experienced attending Baltimore schools, plus the ongoing zeal she has shared in Jackson, Miss., schools and now in the ACE program nationwide. “Emily is a perfect example of the kind of person we’re blessed to be able to partner with,” ACE co-founder Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., commented in the article.

Alec Torigian, another former ACE teacher and current ACE Teaching Fellows assistant director, shared an on-air conversation about hope with Mary McDonald, former superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Memphis. The National Bus Tour recently visited a school in Memphis. Dr. McDonald, hosting “Seize the Day” on Memphis radio on Oct. 9, expressed gratitude for the affirmation ACE gives to teachers. She told Alec and ACE co-founder Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., “You’re training people to move up into leadership” at a time when Catholic schools need young educators to extend the teaching apostolate into the future.

Scott Morgan, an ACE graduate who founded Education Pioneers ten years ago to cultivate new leadership for tomorrow’s schools, recently recalled in an online story how ACE Teaching Fellows had inspired him. In the Fordham Institute’s “Flypaper” blog, Scott recalled his ACE days teaching at St. Jude High School in Montgomery, Alabama. “My Notre Dame, ACE, and St. Jude experiences truly changed my life and career trajectory,” he told blogger Andy Smarick. “Above all else, I learned how challenging—and rewarding—it is to take your passion and skills and direct them toward the most difficult challenges we face in our nation and to do this important work side-by-side with incredibly talented and committed people and in partnership with underserved students, families, and communities.”

Maggie Smith and Stacy Wall, ACE graduates who now teach in the South Bend, Ind., area, talked to widely known Catholic blogger Lisa Hendey about their experiences. What attracted them to ACE when they were college students? “I loved the idea of not only getting to teach my students subjects like reading and math, but also getting to share with them about our faith,” recalled Maggie. “In addition to working in Catholic schools, I was attracted to living in community. I had come to realize that our faith journey is never one that we travel alone….”

ACE’s transformative work in inner-city Catholic schools in Tucson, Ariz., particularly through the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative, recently attracted the attention of Notre Dame Magazine in a piece called “The Resurrection Days.” But even before that initiative had reported its latest evidence of student success, distinguished New York Times columnist Samuel Freedman found inspiration in the community of ACE teachers living in Tucson.

Faith-filled young people could help point the way toward a hope-filled future, he wrote, quoting Rev. Nate Wills, C.S.C., a former ACE teacher. “It’s a reflection of the disciples,” Father Nate said of the Tucson teachers. “This is what the apostles did when Jesus sent them to teach. They set up communities in the midst of difficult circumstances.”

What would you fight for? Check out ACE's answer as presented in a recent NBC TV spot. Then find out more about ACE Teaching Fellows from ACE's Matt Gelchion at .