2015 alliance for catholic education annual report

The University of Notre Dame’sAlliance for Catholic Education2015 Annual Report

ENHANCING SCHOOL VITALITY

INCREASING ACCESS

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

Enriching Schools with Faith-Filled Teachers Preparing the Next Generation of School Leaders Establishing a Cadre of Outstanding School Leaders Developing Early-Career STEM Educators Ensuring English Language Learners Thrive in Catholic Schools Building a Movement of Disciples

2FORMING TALENT

Expanding Our Network of High-Performing Catholic Schools Forming High-Character Coaches Enhancing Professional Growth: The ACE Summer

Empowering Latino Families Through Catholic Schools Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships

The Center for Research on Educational Opportunity University of Notre Dame Center for STEM Education The Visit of the Holy Father

ACE in Haiti ACE Ireland ACE in Chile

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Dear Friends,

Greetings from the University of Notre Dame!

When Pope Francis visited Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School in East Harlem in September, many people perhaps viewed the moment as a sort of “pilgrimage,” a nod to the relic that is Catholic schooling in the United States. But that would be to misunderstand Pope Francis, his ministry to us, and the signif-icance of the visit. Francis’s visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels was no empty gesture. It was an invitation to each of us—calling us to go out to the world, to the periphery, and bring life and hope to the people who need it most.

Nothing in American Catholicism offers a more vivid testament of this mindset than our Catholic schools, which have served—and will continue to serve—as indispensable instruments of human formation and social transformation.

Catholic schools are not, and must not be, a vestige of a bygone past, but rather are on the cusp of a renaissance, particularly in our nation’s inner cities. Their existence and vitality are more important to the future of our communities, our country, and our Church than ever before.

At the Alliance for Catholic Education, we are busily engaged in an effort to provide solutions to what is certainly America’s greatest civic challenge: ensuring that every child, especially the most vulnerable, has an opportunity for an excellent education. We do not believe that there exists a single “silver bullet” to answer the pressing challenges that our education sector and Catholic schools face. But perhaps there is a collage of 1-, 2-, and 3-percent solutions—even 10-percent solutions—that will ensure a high-quality education for every child. This an-nual report provides an overview of our efforts to make a difference in Catholic schools around the country.

We are deeply grateful for all that you do each day to support our shared mission. Thank you for sharing the good news of Catholic schools; for supporting your local Catholic schools; for insisting on the right of every child to have a great teacher and a great school; for advocating for school choice; and, most importantly, for serving as credible witnesses of the possible by demonstrating that parents and families are the first and best teachers of their children.

Devotedly Yours in Notre Dame,

Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C.Hackett Family DirectorInstitute for Educational InitiativesUniversity of Notre Dame

Table of Contents

1ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

FORMING TALENT

Always striving to form the next generationof teachers and school leaders with the talent, imagination, and zeal to serve some of the most under-resourced schools in the United States, we have deepened and expanded our formation efforts in a number of ways. With enhanced recruitment efforts, an innovative “good-to-great” principal formation program, and a redesigned and newly endowed initiative focused on English language learners, we seek to renew and transform our schools to meet the changing needs of our society and Church for years to come.


FORMING TALENT

ACE Teaching Fellows forms talented, faith-filled college graduates to renew and transform Catholic school classrooms. ACE Teachers form a select cohort of the nation’s top emerging Catholic school teachers and leaders, and through ACE’s innovative instructional model, they develop the skills and knowledge necessary to serve our nation’s children, especially those from low-income and immigrant communities.

Enriching Schools with Faith-Filled Teachers

4 ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

I asked myself, “How do I see myself finding joy in my life, but also having a purpose, and how I can bring my talents and my skills to something much greater than myself?” That’s what really brought me to ACE.

Brendan Bell, ACE Teacher

The 2015 ACE Summer also saw the inaugural ACE Teaching Fellows Conference, which offered second-year ACE Teachers a substantive and robust presentation opportu-nity, providing experience for future education research and an opportunity for collaboration with their peers. Improvements in the summer curriculum—a Professional Learning Series offering electives and workshops for second-year teachers, an expanded Teaching Diverse Learners course, and a strengthened practicum experience for first-year teachers—ensure that ACE Teachers are receiving the type of training needed to best serve their students.

Currently, 188 ACE Teachers serve in 33 cities, now including San Jose, CA; Peoria, IL; and Indianapolis, IN. These teachers continue to play an integral role in the vitality of the schools they serve. Since 1993, nearly 1,500 ACE Teachers have given two years or more of service in Catholic schools across the country.

Mindful that the long-term success of our efforts to form the next generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders is largely depen-dent on our ability to attract aspiring teachers who are willing to do whatever it takes to help unlock the full potential of every child in their care, ACE Teaching Fellows continues to reimagine our recruiting efforts throughout the year. The ACE 22 cohort was chosen from the largest and most talented applicant pool ever, furthering our resolve to continue to expand and diversify upcoming applicant pools, espe-cially in those sub-categories of applicants that are particularly valuable to our work to serve marginalized children.


Transformational school leaders are world builders, architects who bring to life a compelling vision of a better future for the families and communities they serve.

The Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program prepares future principals of Cath-olic schools to lead with skill and zeal. Remick Leaders work to strengthen and transform their schools by cultivating intentional Catholic school culture, applying executive management skills to direct school operations, and increasing academic achievement through data-informed, mis-sion-driven instructional leadership.

Preparing the Next Generation of School Leaders


The Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program has formed more than 250 leaders over the past fourteen years, three-quarters of whom lead school communities today, and more than a dozen of whom currently serve as superintendents, secretaries of Catholic edu-cation, diocesan chancellors, and directors of state Catholic conferences.

In 2015, the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program continued to increase both the quality and quantity of its leaders by creating talent pipelines that identify future school leaders from ACE’s partner (arch)dioceses, forming and then sending these leaders to the schools that need them most.

The most recent leaders, the fourteenth cohort of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, came to Notre Dame in June 2015 as the strongest yet, with more than 60 percent hav-ing already earned advanced degrees (including ten members who are graduates of ACE Teach-ing Fellows or similar alternative licensure programs).

The leaders of Cohort 14 joined Cohort 13 for a revitalized summer experience. They received enhanced mentoring from experts-in-residence, and participated in the inaugural “Deep Practice” during the final week of the summer in which the two cohorts engaged in leadership simulations at three local Catholic schools. The experts-in-residence developed a variety of role plays, scenarios, and exercises to imitate real-life situations leaders of Catholic schools face on the job, reinforcing for our Remick Leaders that they should never stop searching for ways to improve and grow in their vocations.


Establishing a Cadre of Outstanding School LeadersIn an effort to expand our reach from hundreds of future school leaders over the coming decade to thousands of sitting Catholic school principals, we have created a new principal formation initia-tive called the Center for Transformational Educational Leadership.

This innovative, good-to-great formation program will work with current school leaders in their home dioceses who want to transform their schools. We look to establish cohorts of principals com-mitted to excellence who can ultimately catalyze an even greater change throughout their dioceses.

Using our distinctive leadership model that has made the Remick Leadership Program so successful, this rigorous twenty-four-month program will help even more leaders gain the per-sonal leadership and executive management skills they need to lead dramatic gains in student achievement, to deepen their schools’ Catholic identity, and to put their schools on a firm financial foundation.

We believe that the work of the Center will play a crucial role in driving a renaissance in Cath-olic education that can demonstrate to the nation the vitality, relevance, and transformational power of Catholic schools in the 21st century.

Leading the Center is veteran school turnaround expert Kole Knueppel, who has a proven track record of transformational leadership, particularly in the Milwau-kee community. Early in his career, Knueppel led the revitalization of St. Marcus School from a low-perform-ing urban school into a na-tionally recognized model for faith-based urban education. He also founded Schools That Can Milwaukee, which aims to provide every child in Milwaukee the opportunity to receive a high-quality educa-tion.


Ensuring English Language Learners Thrive in Catholic Schools

After a year of close study and evaluation of how we can best achieve our mission of serving children for whom English is not their first language, we have reinvigorated our efforts by inaugurating the Megan and Enrique Hernandez, Jr., Fellows program. This initiative bolsters our commitment to form effective English as a New Language teachers, to provide excellent profes-sional development to (arch)dioceses, and to create valuable resources for the field of English lan-guage learning.

English language learners deserve the same high-quality education other students receive. This often means they need teachers with expertise in language acquisition, research-based instructional strategies, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. Hernandez Fellows will be prepared with those skills, keeping in mind the unique needs of Catholic schools. Working closely with the Catholic School Advantage team will allow us to identify teachers and leaders who can, by be-coming Hernandez Fellows, make a transformational impact on the learning outcomes of English language learners.

Dr. Katy Lichon, who has served on the ACE Teaching Fellows faculty for a number of years, serves as the new director of the English as a New Language program. Lichon recently completed her doctorate in Educational Philosophy with a focus on language acquisition, and brings a wealth of experience serving English language learners from her time as a Catholic school teacher.


IN MEMORIAM

On all our hearts and minds throughout the past year and in the years to come are our dear friends A.J., Anna, and Joe Trustey. Anna and Joe lost their lives in a tragic accident this past summer, and A.J. passed away just nine months prior. A.J., Anna, and Joe personified the energy, enthusiasm, and vision to which we all aspire, and each lived with a profound zeal, humor, and desire to serve others. Their spirits will continue in the witness and service of our Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows.


Developing Early-Career STEM Educators

The Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows program is an innovative and compre-hensive professional formation program aimed at improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer-ing, and Mathematics) teaching quality among early-career STEM educators.

In the inaugural year of the program, we were delighted to see a widespread desire for additional STEM teaching formation, as applications far surpassed initial expectations. Nearly 250 teachers from 71 schools applied for spots in the program’s first cohort. Ultimately, ten teams from eight states were chosen, ranging from a school in the Mission district in San Francisco that serves nearly 100 percent Latino students to a team from LaCrosse, WI, that serves a rural contingent of students with close ties to the farming community.

The program’s first summer institute, the lynchpin of the Trustey Fellows program, focused on STEM integration, improving teaching practice, and creating pilot STEM impact plans. The thirty-five-member cohort left the summer as a strong and supportive community equipped with new knowledge, skills, and opportunities. The Fellows convened again in Palo Alto, CA, in late January 2016 for a mid-year retreat, capitalizing on the area’s industries and STEM school models.

Building a Movement of DisciplesACE Teachers remain committed to Catholic schools long after their time in the program—76 percent of ACE Teaching Fellows graduates are currently engaged in education in their daily service and ministry, and nearly 70 percent currently serve a Catholic school in some capacity.

We continue to invite graduates to engage in further service to Catholic schools while encouraging their entrepreneurial energy, particularly through our efforts to cultivate a deep sense of self-reflection and discernment. As we look to the future, we have developed an ambitious plan to better connect the exceptional talent and energy of our graduates with the needs of Catho-lic schools. In 2015, ACE graduates across the country continued their local commitment to strengthen and transform Catholic schools, gathering for communal and spiritual formation in the ACE Advocates local regions.

A number of ACE graduates were honored for their significant contribu-tions to Catholic education. Steve Tortorello (ACE 15, RLP 10) and Kate Sampson (ACE 10) were awarded the Michael Pressley Award for Excel-lence in Catholic Education; Anna Egalite, Ph.D., (ACE 14) received the Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Educa-tion Field; and Jen Ehren, Ph.D., (ACE 6) and Gregory Gomez (ACE 11) were given the Scott C. Malpass Founders’ Prize, which recognizes ACE graduates whose personal embodiment of the three pillars of ACE—forming professional educators, building community, and growing spiritu-ally—has inspired them to make an innovative, high-impact contribution to their communities.


ENHANCING SCHOOL VITALITY12 ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Catholic schools have long provided a trans-formational education to all who arrive on their doorsteps. With this in mind, we strive to bolster the ever-increasing standard for academic excel-lence in Catholic schools, while maintaining—indeed, reinvigorating—their Catholic culture and identity. From academics and athletics to our unique summer experiences, we work to sustain and strengthen the vibrancy of Catholic schools for the children who need them most.

ENHANCING SCHOOL VITALITY13ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Notre Dame ACE Academies comprise a national network of academically excellent, financially sustainable, and distinctively Catholic K-8 schools, serving low-income families and preparing students for both college and heaven. Now with eight schools in three dioceses across the United States, the Notre Dame ACE Academies network is on its way to becoming a bellwether for innovation in Catholic schools in the 21st century.

Expanding Our Network of High-Performing Catholic Schools


The 2015-16 school year marks a turning point for the Notre Dame ACE Academies network with our largest expansion to date. Our schools in the Diocese of Orlando—two in the Daytona Beach area and two in Orlando itself—have joined our schools in Tucson and Tampa. Our goal is to provide a Catholic education of the highest quality to as many children as possible in under-served communities.

The expansion efforts kicked off on Notre Dame’s campus this summer as the teachers and leaders from the Orlando schools joined the teachers from the schools in Tucson and Tampa for the Summer Institute. The four-day event focused on providing teachers and school leaders with the tools to build strong, intentional school cultures and to foster a growth mindset for themselves, their colleagues, and their students.

As the Notre Dame ACE Academies network grows, enrollment and achievement continue to climb. On average, enrollment at the Tucson and Tampa schools is 60 percent higher than the year before each school joined the network.

Even with the increased enrollment, more than three-quarters of students are meeting academic growth goals, and a much higher percentage of younger students, who have only experienced the Notre Dame ACE Academies model’s advantage, are staying on grade level, negating the achievement gap.


After the 2015 expansion to the Diocese of Orlando, the Notre Dame ACE Academies now serve a thousand more students, doubling the size of the network to reach

2,370 students in 8 schools.

ENROLLMENT GROWTH THUS FAR IN ACE ACADEMIES

Forming High-Character Coaches

world and began with a powerful message from Pope Francis, who urged sports organizations to “invest in the professional preparation, both human and spiritual,” of coaches. Play Like a Champion Today embodies such holistic coach formation, and the seminar gave us an oppor-tunity to present key findings from our own research on how to make a difference in the quality of young people’s sports experience.

Play Like a Champion Today provides a unique, university-based approach to promoting a positive sports culture for all young people.

Play Like a Champion Today is devoted to developing ethically responsible leaders as part of an effort to renew the culture of youth sports. Evaluations for our clinics continue to show strong support of our work, with more than 90 percent of those who participate in coach and parent clinics at both the youth and high school level reporting that they would recommend the clinics to others, while more than half report that the clinics changed their whole approach to coaching.

In May, Play Like a Champion Today partici-pated in the Pontifical Council for the Laity’s International Seminar, “Coaches: Educating People.” The seminar brought together eighty leaders in athletic coaching from around the


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Parental Choice SymposiumIn June 2015, our Program for Educational Access hosted its seventh annual Parental Choice Symposium, its signature summer for-mation event. The Parental Choice Symposium provides talented aspiring policy leaders—both school leaders and those who work more di-rectly in policy—with a series of seminars and workshops on the legal, legislative, and policy concerns implicated by the modern education reform movement. The week-long seminar focuses particularly on publicly funded private school choice and K-12 Catholic schools. This year’s program included the largest and most talented cohort of participants (40 total) and a lineup of facilitators including nationally rec-ognized figures such as Andy Smarick, Neerav Kingsland, Howard Fuller, Caroline Roemer, John Kirtley, and Libby Bain.

Summer STEM CampsThe Center for STEM Education expanded its network of Summer STEM camps to fourteen locations this past summer. Three hundred students, from Florida to California, Minnesota to Texas, participated in two weeks of science and engineering or computer science camp. These camps serve as one of the most significant ways the Center engages its mission to increase students’ access to high-quality STEM learning opportunities and to plant the seeds of a future STEM career for many students who would not otherwise have considered the possibility.

Enhancing Professional Growth: The ACE Summer


Latino Enrollment Institute

The Latino Enrollment Institute, an initiative that has become the hallmark of the Catholic School Advantage Campaign (CSA) because of its singular focus on increasing Latino enroll-ment in Catholic schools, welcomed its fourth cohort to campus this summer, hosting leaders from thirty-four different schools. By identify-ing schools with substantial unmet capacity, motivated principals, and favorable demo-graphic potential, the Latino Enrollment Institute has contributed to a 21 percent increase in Latino enrollment among partici-pating schools, with some schools as much as tripling their enrollment of Latino students.

School Pastors Institute

Over the past five summers, more than 500 pastors from more than 80 (arch)dioceses have attended the School Pastors Institute, devel-oped to respond to the unique and increasingly complex challenges and opportunities related to serving as a pastor of a parish school. This year, 124 pastors and 10 presenters met on campus for the Institute, which featured several tracks tailored to the unique needs of school pastors, including a track for first-time school pastors, a track for pastors with combined or regional school models, and a track for pastors of rural parishes.

Vámonos

A new intiative hosted by the Catholic School Advantage Campaign, Vámonos grew out of the recognition that some of the biggest enroll-ment gains occur when a school leader, totally committed, delegates the task of identifying, recruiting, and welcoming new Latino families to an individual or team. Our inaugural four-day conference convened recruiters, marketing and enrollment coordinators, field consultants, and even principals and school leaders—more than eighty people from thirty-eight (arch)dioceses—to address intercultural competency, understanding differences among the various Latino cultures and generations, the Madrinas marketing model, and school finances.


INCREASING ACCESS20 ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

At the heart of ACE’s mission are our effortsto provide a high-quality education to as many children as possible. By increasing access to high-performing Catholic schools, we can give more children the chance for a great education. Through multifaceted efforts to change the ed-ucational policy landscape and to help schools maximize the opportunities already available to them, we strive to bring to reality our belief that parents have the right to choose the highest quality education for their children.

INCREASING ACCESS21ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Empowering Latino Families Through Catholic Schools

The Catholic School Advantage Campaign seeks to catalyze a vibrant national movement thatfocuses on both promoting the unique value of Catholic schools to Latino communities and helping these schools respond effectively to the unique needs of their Latino families.


The Catholic School Advantage Campaign continues to work with Latino families and with Catholic schools in their efforts to better serve these families and provide children with the high-quality education they deserve.

This year, in addition to its suite of summer conferences, the Catholic School Advantage Campaign forged greater collaboration with ACE’s English as a New Language program in response to a call from schools that had been successful in recruiting Latino students and wanted to serve these students in the best way possible. The Catholic School Advantage

In August 2015, the Catholic School Advantage Campaign released a guidebook—The Madrinas Model: Attract-ing Latino Families to Your Catholic Schools—to assist schools, (arch)dioceses, and recruitment/enrollment coordinators in their Latino outreach efforts.

Campaign now offers financial incentives to qualified teachers and principals from Latino Enrollment Institute participant schools to en-roll in the Megan and Enrique Hernandez, Jr., Fellows program to develop embedded English as a New Language expertise in their schools.


Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships

The Program for Educational Access is a multidisciplinary collaborative enterprise dedicatedto increasing access to quality education opportunities for low-income families, with a particular focus on parochial schools.


As the awareness of the need for educational reform grows around the country, the Program for Educational Access supports and advocates for children and their right to a quality education.

Focusing on its core goals of facilitating dialogue, leadership formation, direct profes-sional services, and research, the Program for Educational Access continues to rally support for the parental choice movement. In addition to the seventh annual Parental Choice Sym-posium, the Program for Educational Access hosted our tenth national gathering of bishops on choice policy and implementation—as well as other themes related to the revitalization of the Catholic school sector. This gather-ing, hosted in partnership with Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, President of the USCCB, and Archbishop George Lucas, Chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education, included thirty of the most visible Church leaders in the United States.

In April 2015, the Program for Educational Access also convened a gathering of policy makers, school leaders, and education entrepre-neurs for a strategy session on heightening the role of the faith-based school sector in the framing of the next phase of the education reform movement.

As part of its mission to expand education-al opportunity, the Program for Educational Access also continues to support the work of One Chance Illinois, a Chicago-based reform organization. In recent months, One Chance Illinois has developed a broad coalition of elected leaders, local and national philanthropists, and families to develop an expansive “3-sector” policy platform to support traditional public school teachers, enable high-performing charter school growth, and establish publicly funded private school choice.


Over the last several years, we have worked closely with the USCCB to ensure that thelegislation reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) included language that would provide children and educators in private schools with equal access to federal funding for supplemen-tal services and professional development. This December, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was passed into law. By requiring equitable allotment of these funds to schools regard-less of their sector—public, char-ter, or private—the law paves the way for Catholic schools to educate more effectively their diverse populations of students.

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS26 ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

While many of ACE’s initiatives provide tremendous talent and human resources to Catholic schools, we are also aware that we must continuously assess the success and lim-itations of our own programs, and address the need for increased scholarship and research on Catholic education and quality education more broadly. At the same time, we must work to engage the national education reform conversa-tion with the unique value of Catholic schools. Our emphasis on rigorous research and public outreach will expand in the coming years.

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS27ALLIANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

The Center for Research on Educational Opportunity

The Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO) conducts basic and applied research on schools and the learning process, with special attention given to less privileged students and Catholic schools. Scholars consider the formal and informal organization of schools, the curriculum, teacher practices, and stu-dent social relationships to determine how these factors interact with student background and learning.

CREO continues to invest in innovative research on a wide variety of education topics, including the effects of school and classroom contexts on student achievement gains in Indiana; the effects of school choice in Indiana; how family background shapes long-term effects of school readiness; Latino students’ pathways to college; the complexities of high school tracking effects on inequality; and charter school authorization in Michigan.

In October, the Spencer Foundation awarded Director Mark Berends a prestigious three-year, $1 million grant for his work on the Indiana Choice Scholarship program. Institute Fellow Julie Turner was also named lead editor of the American Educational Research Association’s American Educational Research Journal, with Berends serving as co-editor.


Through research and the translation of research into practice, the Center for STEM Education strives to help all students, especially under-served students and those in Catholic schools, engage and excel in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines.

For many students, particularly those from under-served communities, fostering a passion for the STEM disciplines can be a challenge. The Center’s faculty continues to investigate ways to best promote learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics so that all children have the opportunity to pursue the field best suited to their God-given gifts and talents. Through funded research grants and a growing number of national diocesan partnerships, the Center’s team continues to promote high-quality STEM teaching.

The Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program for Indiana (AP-TIP IN), also housed within the Center, continues its extraordinary record of success in helping students access and pass Advanced Placement exams in math, science, and English. To date, thirty Indiana schools have partic-ipated in the program. Each cohort has seen a 60 percent increase in the number of students enrolled, and a more than 50 percent increase in the number of passing scores on Advanced Placement tests.

University of Notre Dame Center for STEM Education


AP-TIP IN Enrollment and Passing Score Growth

The Visit of the Holy FatherIt was truly a blessing for our country and the American Church to host Pope Francis in the United States in September. The time he spent at Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem was an inspiration to the entire Catholic school community. His visit, above all, encouraged us to find joy and love in all that we do, and to share that joy and love with everyone we meet, especially those most lacking in what we experi-ence in such abundance.

Throughout Francis’s time in the United States, ACE contributed to the host of media and commentary that signified the importance of the Holy Father’s historic visit.

“Francis’s visit is no empty gesture. It’s an invitation to each of us—calling us to go out to the world, to the periphery, and bring life and hope to the people who need it most. Nothing in American Catholicism offers a more vivid testament to this mindset than our Catholic schools, which have served—and will continue to serve—as indispensable instruments of human formation and social transformation.”

–Fr. Tim Scully, C.S.C., “The Message of the Pope’s Visit to a Harlem School,” New York Post

“His visit to the school is like gold.”

–Fr. Joe Corpora, C.S.C., in his commentary for the USCCB broadcast during the Pope’s visit

“We cannot tire of celebrating the mission of our Catholic schools—especially those on the margins—which will continue to offer sturdy bridges of hope for families across America, long after the glow of this amazing papal visit has evanesced.”

–Fr. Tim Scully, C.S.C., “Pope Francis and Catholic schools: Building bridges,” FoxNews.com


ACE in HaitiSince the earthquake in 2010, ACE has worked to sustain, strengthen, and renew Haitian Catholic schools and foster the dignity of Haitian children and their communities through transformational education inter-ventions, innovation, and research. Catholic education can and will be a transformational instrument of human development that nurtures human dignity and serves as a preemi-nent model of educational reform and develop-ment in Haiti.

Following a strategic review and planning process in the spring, ACE in Haiti has deep-ened its focus on strengthening the Haitian Holy Cross schools and facilitating improved early-grade reading outcomes for students in Haiti’s Catholic schools. One of those schools, Basile Moreau School, now serves 1,000

International InitiativesThe gene for global service is infused in the very DNA of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the founding religious community of the University of Notre Dame. Coupled with the work of the Congregation, we have formed partnerships with leaders in Haiti, Uganda, Ireland, and Chile to better serve God’s children across the world.

students and operates in modern facilities surrounded by a beautiful campus. It has been the pilot site for a new tablet-based e-reader program, a Khan Academy blended learning pilot in math, a new English curriculum, and a school-based health clinic. We have also supported the construction of a new Holy Cross school in Port-au-Prince, College Notre Dame.

ACE in Haiti, along with Catholic Relief Services and the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, has also received a contract to undertake a $30 million, five-year early-grade literacy project in Haiti. We will provide technical assistance and training to local partners in teacher training, curriculum improvements, research design, and program evaluation.


ACE IrelandOn the front lines of Notre Dame’s mission to support the work of evangelization, ACE Ireland continues to respond to the needs of Catholicism in the Irish context.

Informed by the Notre Dame ACE Academies model, we have partnered with four schools to support the critical work of Catholic educa-tion in Ireland. Irish leaders from the schools participated in a Summer Seminar led by the ACE Academies team, and a growing number of teachers from the schools have enrolled in the Diploma in Catholic Education program run jointly by ACE Ireland and St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Notre Dame has recently formed a partnership with the Benedictine Community at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, to create a center to advance their shared spir-itual, cultural, and educational missions. ACE will join a number of other University partners in taking advantage of this newest international center for education.

ACE in ChileFor nearly three-quarters of a century, the Congregation of Holy Cross has been serving the educational needs of the Church in Chile. Since 2001, ACE has sent eighty teachers and leaders to support the congregation’s mission. Currently, ACE in Chile has thirteen leaders teaching nearly 1,500 Chilean students at three schools. These teachers serve in English classrooms, as well as in a variety of other roles, including as campus ministers, coaches, Confir-mation and First Communion leaders, and club moderators.


INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS

Achelis FoundationAlliance for School ChoiceAon FoundationAnnenberg FoundationArthur Vining Davis FoundationsAsante FoundationHelen Brach FoundationLouis Calder FoundationCalifornia Community FoundationCatholic Relief ServicesCoca-Cola FoundationConnelly FoundationCorporation for National and Community Service Daniels FundDeHaan Family FoundationGE FundGoizueta FoundationGosiger FoundationConrad N. Hilton FoundationInnovate FoundationInstitute of International EducationJones Day FoundationKoch FoundationLA 84 FoundationLewis FoundationLinehan Family Foundation

Lumina FoundationM & T TrustMacNeal Health Foundation Macquarie Group Foundation Mathile Family FoundationMazza FoundationMCJ FoundationNMSIO’Neill FoundationOffice Depot FoundationOpus FoundationOur Sunday Visitor FoundationPowers FoundationRaskob FoundationShire PharmaceuticalsSilicon Valley FoundationSeiben FoundationSobrato PhilanthropiesSpencer FoundationTarget FoundationJohn Templeton Foundation VerizonWalton Family Foundation Wells FargoWilliam E. Simon Foundation W.K. Kellogg Foundation UPS Foundation

Since 1994, the Corporation for National and Commu-nity Service and ACE have partnered to recruit, educate, and retain highly qualified college graduates to serve as ACE AmeriCorps members. For two decades, this partnership with AmeriCorps has provid-ed support vital to the growth of ACE and the efficacy of its teachers, the majority of whom remain in education long after completing their service.

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SENIOR LEADERSHIP AND ADVISORY BOARD

37ALLANCE FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Betsy BohlenChief Operating OfficerArchdiocese of Chicago

David BrandsPresident/CEOCoast Brands

Julie BrandsResidential Space Designer/Volunteer

Kathleen BroganAttorneyKirkland & Ellis LLP

Pam BurishCoordinator, Technology OutreachACE

Gwen ByrdSuperintendentArchdiocese of Mobile

Sr. Kathleen Carr, C.S.J.Senior Director, Strategic PartnershipsACE

John CroghanPresident Rail-Splitter Capital Management

Rosemary CroghanFounding ChairCristo Rey Chicago

Christian DallavisSenior Director, Leadership ProgramsACE

Rev. Lou DelFra, C.S.C.Director of Spiritual LifeACE

Karen DeSantisPartnerKirkland & Ellis

Fritz Duda, Jr.Principal Clark Street Development

Mary Lee DudaPhilanthropic Leader

Nicole Stelle GarnettProfessor of LawCoordinator of PolicyACE

Maureen HackettPhilanthropic Leader

Kelly HackettVice PresidentHackett Family Foundation

Megan HernandezEntrepreneur

Daniel LapsleyProfessor of PsychologyCoordinator of Academic ProgramsACE

Sr. Gail Mayotte, SASVSenior Director, M.Ed.ACE

John McGlinn Managing DirectorArchbrook Capital Management

Melissa McGlinnEducator

Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C.Professor of Polical ScienceChairmanACE Advisory Board

Andrew McKenna, Jr.Philanthropic Leader

Brendan M. MulshineExecutive Vice President Ryan Specialty Group

Suzanne Welsh MulshineFormer President and General Counsel, Welsh, Inc.

Patricia O’HaraProfessor of LawUniversity of Notre Dame

Mary Ann RemickPhilanthropic Leader

Margaret RequetEducator

Colleen RyanPhilanthropic Leader

Corbett RyanPhilanthropic Leader

Tobin RyanPartnerSeidler Equity Partners

Caroline RydenAssistant PrincipalDean of College CounselingPritzker College Prep

John SchoenigSenior Director, Teacher Formation and Education PolicyACE

Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C. Professor of Political Science Hackett Family Director Institute for Educational Initiatives

John SejdinajVice President for FinanceUniversity of Notre Dame

Brennan SmithManaging DirectorGlobal Industrials Group Citigroup

John StaudExecutive Director,ACE

Donald J. Storino IIPrincipal and Co-FounderFidelity Consulting Group, LLC

Jennifer SweeneyCivic Leader

Rev. Jack WallPresidentCatholic Extension Society

John WallerFounding PartnerWaller Helms Advisors

Rev. Richard Warner, C.S.C.Superior GeneralCongregation of Holy Cross

2015 alliance for catholic education annual report

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