Catholic Education as a Field of Research
ACE is Active in This Distinct Field
A nationwide cadre of scholars and practitioners has entered its second year of efforts to build up Catholic K-12 education as a distinct field of research and inquiry. This Catholic Education Special Interest Group (SIG) within the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is moving ahead with a leadership team that includes two ACE directors—Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, senior director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, and Christian Dallavis, director of the Notre Dame ACE Academy initiative.
The approximately 100 participants in AERA's Catholic Education SIG, who represent more than 50 different institutions from around the world, are served by Father Nuzzi as program chair and Dallavis as secretary/treasurer. These scholars are collecting a body of knowledge about, and promoting further study of, Catholic schools.
The approximately 100 participants in AERA's Catholic Education SIG, who represent more than 50 different institutions from around the world, are served by Father Nuzzi as program chair and Dallavis as secretary/treasurer. These scholars are collecting a body of knowledge about, and promoting further study of, Catholic schools.
Dallavis notes, "The Catholic Education SIG of AERA establishes, for the first time, an institutional home for scholars conducting research in and on Catholic schools, and it provides us with a platform to collaborate and share research that has implications for all educators and educational researchers."
At a 2007 conference convened by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Notre Dame and other Catholic universities were challenged by former AERA president Lee Shulman to "build a robust field of Catholic education." Those institutions, led by Father Nuzzi, responded by petitioning AERA to create the Catholic Education SIG in 2009. Prior to the SIG's establishment, AERA—which, at 25,000 members is the largest and most prominent educational research institution in the world—offered no formal collaboration opportunities for scholars dedicated to understanding the nation's largest system of private schools.
Here are a few highlights from the SIG's second year of activity:
• The SIG is chaired by Shane Martin, dean of the Loyola Marymount University School of Education in Los Angeles and a member of Notre Dame's 2009 Task Force on the Participation of Latinos in Catholic Schools.
• When the SIG assembled as part of the AERA's annual meeting in New Orleans in April 2011, members approved establishment of a "Catholic Education Dissertation of the Year" award to honor outstanding research on Catholic schools. "This will provide great incentive and opportunity for young scholars in this important research area," said Martin in the SIG's October 2011 newsletter.
• ACE faculty member Jim Frabutt and student assistants have published a list of dissertations on Catholic education that were completed between 2005 and 2010. That list, which includes more than 150 recent dissertations exploring a broad array of aspects of Catholic seducation, was published in the October SIG newsletter.
• The SIG encourages publication of research on Catholic education, particularly through three academic journals that specialize in Catholic education research: International Studies in Catholic Education from the UK, Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice from the United States, and Journal of Catholic School Studies from Australia.
At a 2007 conference convened by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Notre Dame and other Catholic universities were challenged by former AERA president Lee Shulman to "build a robust field of Catholic education." Those institutions, led by Father Nuzzi, responded by petitioning AERA to create the Catholic Education SIG in 2009. Prior to the SIG's establishment, AERA—which, at 25,000 members is the largest and most prominent educational research institution in the world—offered no formal collaboration opportunities for scholars dedicated to understanding the nation's largest system of private schools.
Here are a few highlights from the SIG's second year of activity:
• The SIG is chaired by Shane Martin, dean of the Loyola Marymount University School of Education in Los Angeles and a member of Notre Dame's 2009 Task Force on the Participation of Latinos in Catholic Schools.
• When the SIG assembled as part of the AERA's annual meeting in New Orleans in April 2011, members approved establishment of a "Catholic Education Dissertation of the Year" award to honor outstanding research on Catholic schools. "This will provide great incentive and opportunity for young scholars in this important research area," said Martin in the SIG's October 2011 newsletter.
• ACE faculty member Jim Frabutt and student assistants have published a list of dissertations on Catholic education that were completed between 2005 and 2010. That list, which includes more than 150 recent dissertations exploring a broad array of aspects of Catholic seducation, was published in the October SIG newsletter.
• The SIG encourages publication of research on Catholic education, particularly through three academic journals that specialize in Catholic education research: International Studies in Catholic Education from the UK, Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice from the United States, and Journal of Catholic School Studies from Australia.