Sharing Insights at NCEA Convention

You're invited to visit with Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at the annual convention of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) coming up in Boston on April 11-13. ACE is offering a number of speakers and will host a reception.

Stop by Booth 1027 to get information about ACE's many service and research initiatives, plus the distinguished sociological research housed within the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO). The Center, directed by noted scholar Mark Berends, is one of the units, along with ACE, in the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) at Notre Dame.

Visit the booth to find out more about a cocktail reception scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, April 11.

You'll find several members of the ACE community listed among the speakers at the convention, and one of the event's keynote speakers is the author of an inspiring book published last year by ACE Press.

That author is Dr. Mary C. McDonald (pictured left), superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Memphis, whose latest book is A History with God. ACE is pleased to offer her collection of essays that resonate with universal experiences of education, family, and fun. McDonald's NCEA keynote speech, scheduled Thursday morning, is titled "A Call to Be God's Arms."

Other ACE speakers presenting their research will include:

• Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, senior director of ACE's Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, will join RLP faculty members Jim Frabutt and Anthony Holter in a talk, "Leadership Challenges for Catholic Schools."

• The same team will present a preview of other important research from the RLP and ACE in "A National Study of Closed Catholic Schools."

• Father Nuzzi will join with co-editor Thomas Hunt in a presentation, "Selected Documents of Catholic Education." which draws upon their recently published collection called At the Heart of the Church.

• Rev. Joseph Corpora, C.S.C., director of university-school partnerships, will offer suggestions based on his leadership of ACE's Catholic School Advantage campaign in a presentation called "25 Things an Administrator Can Do to Increase Latino Enrollments."

Representatives from CREO will be present at NCEA to meet with dioceses and archdioceses as part of an ongoing effort to provide Catholic schools with meaningful information about their students' achievement on standardized tests. With funding from the Walton Family Foundation, CREO has been establishing partnerships and working with dioceses across the country to collect and analyze student achievement data.