Diverse Resources Help Catholic Schools Play Distinctive Role

Catholic schools make unique contributions within the U.S. educational system—with the help of expertise and engagement from diverse sources. That theme emerged from recent media coverage of educational issues that incorporated voices from the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).

Clark Power, Ph.D., director of the Play Like a Champion Today ® program, talked recently about his team’s work with coaches and parents to help make school athletics an important resource for moral formation. He was interviewed in August on “Blessed 2 Play,” a show about sports and spirituality heard nationwide on the EWTN radio network. (Click on the link, then click on the Clark Power audio track.)

Rev. Tom Doyle, C.S.C., an Institute for Educational Initiatives leadership specialist who brings his management skills and zeal for education to Catholic dioceses through the ACE Consulting program, offered a checklist of strategic steps to help Catholic schools flourish. (Click on the link and scroll down to the sidebar in this Aug. 25 feature in Our Sunday Visitor.) The steps spell out important roles for leaders at the diocesan and local level.

Christian Dallavis, Ph.D., who directs the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative for in-depth partnerships with under-resourced Catholic schools, was quoted in an Aug. 29 article in National Catholic Register. The newspaper examined challenges to Catholic school enrollment posed in some places by the growth in charter schools. Dallavis noted that policy makers can play a role in increasing low-income families’ access to high-quality Catholic education through states’ parental choice programs. Dallavis now serves ACE as senior director of leadership programs.