Notre Dame ACE Academies Model in Tucson Illustrates Path to Catholic School Successes
Management and Identity Seen Helping to Transform Learning, Enrollment
Stories of hope among Catholic schools are multiplying, and the latest edition of National Catholic Register focuses on St. John the Evangelist School in Tucson, Ariz., to tell one of those stories. This inner-city school serving disadvantaged children in a predominantly Hispanic community has seen its enrollment nearly double in a few years. The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) has been blessed to generate good news for students and parents through the school’s distinctive Notre Dame ACE Academies model.
Reporter Brian Fraga talked with Dr. Christian Dallavis, who has served as director of the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative since its inception in 2010. St. John the Evangelist is one of five schools—three in the Diocese of Tucson and two in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla.—where ACE’s unique model of whole-school transformation has been implemented, engaging local school communities, dioceses, and resources from Notre Dame in a multi-faceted partnership.
Besides enrollment gains, student academic progress has jumped sharply, recent statistics show. The Register report on St. John credits “changes in the school’s management structures and philosophy, a greater sense of professionalism, a new understanding of its Catholic identity, a collaboration with the University of Notre Dame, and a tax scholarship-credit program that helps families afford private education.”