Dale McDonald, PBVM, PhD
Director of Public Policy and Educational Research
Dale McDonald, PBVM, PhD, is the director of public policy and educational research for the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). In that capacity, she serves NCEA and its members in policy analysis and advocacy roles regarding the national education policy issues impacting Catholic schools.
Prior to joining NCEA, Sister McDonald was director of the Catholic School Leadership Program in the Boston College Graduate School of Education. Previously, she served as the president of the Sisters of Presentation (New York), a congregation of religious women engaged in education, pastoral care, and social services. Other positions held by Sister McDonald include principal and teacher in several schools in the Archdiocese of New York and coordinator of the Executive Internship Program for the Human Resources Administration of the City of New York.
Sister McDonald has been a presenter at conferences and workshops on educational policy issues at Boston College, University of San Francisco, University of Dayton, and Spalding University, as well as the annual conventions of the NCEA and other professional organizations. She has served on several committees convened by the White House, U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and other national education associations, and testified at Congressional hearings on private school issues.
She edited Partners for Justice: Catholic Schools and School Choice, publishes the NCEA Annual Statistical Report on Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools, is a regular political columnist for Momentum, and has been published in several journals and contributed to the Handbook of Research on Catholic Education and the Encyclopedia of American Catholic Education.
Sister McDonald has a doctorate degree in educational administration from Boston College. She also received a master of science degree in educational administration from Pace University, an master of arts degree in American history from Fordham University, and a bachelor of science degree in elementary education, also from Fordham University.
Established in 1904, the NCEA is the largest private professional education organization in the world, representing 200,000 Catholic educators serving 7.6 million students in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, in religious education programs, in seminaries, and in colleges and universities.