Dear Catholic Secondary School Educator:

Welcome to the March edition of E-News! This newsletter is brought to you by the Secondary Schools Department with generous support from FACTS.

The information supplied in this newsletter aims to inform Catholic high school administrators, faculty, staff, and students on professional development opportunities, curriculum resources, and relevant news stories. Please contact Christiane Connors at cconnors@ncea.org with any newsworthy information about your school community’s development that may benefit your colleagues across the country.

This edition of E-News features:

NCEA Updates

• Election Ballots for Regions 2, 4, 8, 10, 11 and 12 are in the Mail
• Secondary Schools Convention Program: Available Online
• The NCEA Convention: an Amazing Professional Development Experience
• NCEA/CACE Smart Moves Café and Online Forum
• Wisdom and Witness for Religious Educators, Campus Ministers and Service Learning Coordinators, University of Notre Dame, June 29 to July 1, 2009 
• The Seventh Annual Education Law Symposium 2009
• The Catholic School Leadership Institute Summer 2009
• Secondary School’s 2009 Publications

Curriculum Opportunities

• Resources to Develop a Virtual Field Trip and Multimedia Lessons
• Honor Women’s History Month (March) with the Smithsonian
• Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl
• Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest
• Add Chinese and Arabic Foreign Language to your School’s Curriculum
• Educational film about the Nazis destruction of European Art—Special Discount!

Professional Development Opportunities

• Discerning Direction Youth Leadership Conference, May 26 & 27, 2009, Assumption College, Worcester, MA
• National 21st Century Skills Bullying Prevention Film Competition
• Host a Fullbright educator from Thailand in April 2009
• Education Week’s Weekly Online Chat

Public Policy Updates

In Other News

• High School students are more likely to volunteer time then work part time
• The Big Test Before College? The Financial Aid Form
• President Obama puts spotlight on education deficit—He wants U.S. to have highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020
• A model high school for hands-on instruction

NCEA Updates

Looking for something from a previous issue of E-News?  Find it here in the E-News catalogue.  

Election Ballots for regions 2, 4, 8, 10, 11 and 12 are in the mail:  Elections for secondary school regional associates and executive committee spots are in progress.  This is an important election year for secondary schools as many regions have elections this year.  Who will represent your school at a national level?  Make sure your opinion counts—complete and send back your ballot ASAP.

Secondary Schools Convention Program Available Online:  Effective advancement strategies, new leadership approaches, financial literacy for students, instructional technology, curriculum models for 21st-century learners, bioethics, and education justice are just some of the Secondary Schools Department’s offerings at the 2009 NCEA Convention. Click here for the Secondary Schools Convention Program!

The NCEA Convention: An Amazing Professional Development Experience:  The 2009 NCEA Convention program is better than ever with sessions on all aspects of Catholic school leadership and effectiveness.  Register now!

NCEA/CACE Smart Moves Café & Online Forum:  With so much happening with the U.S. economy, Catholic education and financing schools’ mission, the NCEA’s CACE Department has set up an electronic forum for superintendents to share information and advice about issues and challenges facing Catholic schools. Superintendents in particular are encouraged to visit this site and participate regularly.  Log on at http://ncea.catholic.org/phpbb/ 

Wisdom and Witness for Religious Educators, Campus Ministers and Service Learning Coordinators, University of Notre Dame, June 29 to July 1, 2009:  Don’t miss the only national conference for religion teachers, campus ministers and service directors in the Catholic high school.  This annual conference, co-hosted by the NCEA and the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life, attracts participants from across the United States and Canada for three days of learning, renewal and prayer. Nationally known presenters complement a series of innovative workshops presented by experts in all areas of religious education, campus ministry and service learning.  Check out the brochure and register today!  

The Seventh Annual Education Law Symposium, July 9-12 2009:  Mark your calendars for the Seventh Annual Education Law Symposium, held at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.  The symposium is co-sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and the Education Law Institute (ELI) at St. Catharine College, St. Catharine, Kentucky.  The program features presentations and seminars on the law as it applies to Catholic education and ministry.  The registration form and a tentative scheudle is included in the Law Symposium brochure.  Click here to view the brochure and sign up today!

The Catholic School Leadership Institute Summer 2009!: The Institute provides ongoing formation and support for new principals and at the same time reinvigorates those experienced principals who have faced the daily challenges of administration. Teachers considering the ministry of administration have found the program a valuable opportunity to share their ideas and learn from those who are already in administration. The Institute will be held at Vallombrosa Retreat and Conference Center in Menlo Park, CA (between San Francisco and San Jose) beginning at 4:00 p.m. June 29 and ending at noon on July 1, 2009.  Institute site, brochure and application available at: /departments/elementary/CatholicSchoolLeadershipInstitute.asp.

The Secondary School Department’s 2009 Publications:

• Selected Legal Issues in Catholic Secondary Schools, 2nd ed. By Sr. Mary Angela Shaughnessy
• Justice, Care and Diversity: Addressing the Needs of All Students at Catholic High Schools.  Edited by Dr. Shane Martin and Dr. Edmundo Litton
• A Complete Guide to Establishing a One-to-One Laptop Program.  By Dr. Joy Lopez
• Effective Athletic Administration for Catholic Schools and Parishes.  By Fr. Richard McGrath

To learn more about these titles and/or to purchase a copy for your school today, please call NCEA’s Member Services Department at 202.337.6232, or email at services@ncea.org 

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Curriculum Opportunities

Virtual Field Trips Open Doors for Multimedia Lessons: Has your school turned to virtual field trips as one method of maintaining high quality instruction during economic hardtimes?  Check out these Resources for Online Field Trips from Education Week:

• The Virtual Smithsonian: Includes online tours of exhibits in the museums of natural history, American history, and art in Washington.
• Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA: Allows participants to choose a virtual character and take a trip through an animated museum, mission control, and a robotics lab.
• National Geographic Expeditions Online: Features a database of lesson plans, online activities, and maps tied to the national geography standards.
• Ball State University Electronic Field Trips: Offers live and archived video tours of a variety of topics and destinations, including the Florida Everglades, gray whale migrations from Southern California to Mexico, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Includes low-cost Web resources for each lesson.

Honor Women’s History Month with the Smithsonian:  Check out these great resources from the Smithsonian and instruct your students on the importance of celebrating American women:

• Women Breaking Musical Barriers
• In Our Own Voice: Songs of American Indian Women
• The Folkways Collection Podcast: Music and the Winds of Change: The Women's Movement
• Sound Sessions Radio Series: Jean Ritchie

Click here for a list of all events across the Institution.

Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl: This year, Catholic Relief Services invites you to observe Lent by living your faith through actions that embrace our most vulnerable brothers and sisters overseas in a special way. For decades now, Catholic Relief Services' Operation Rice Bowl has been a way for millions of Catholics to help carry the burdens of the poor around the world. You can lighten their burden by continuing to practice the four tenets of Operation Rice Bowl: pray, fast, learn, and give. We also encourage you to use this Lent as a time to show your solidarity with those overseas who struggle to access life's basic necessities.

Please join us in our spiritual journey this Lent by sharing an Operation Rice Bowl simple meal with your friends, family, or faith community. By sharing simple meatless recipes from countries around the world, we experience the dining room tables of our global neighbors while we observe the tradition of eating more simply and abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent.

Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest: The Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest engages young people in creative justice education and the domestic efforts of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) to address the root causes of poverty in the U.S. The contest is for grades 7-9 & 10-12 and either individuals or groups can enter. Categories include: Literature, Visual Arts, and Audio Visual (or a combination of multiple categories).  Contestants first submit artwork to their participating school or parish for local judging, with the diocesan office submitting the winning regional entry.  The grand prize is $500 and the deadline is March 31, 2009.  Information is available at http://www.usccb.org/cchd/youth.shtml#contest, or by contacting Jill Rauh at jrauh@usccb.org, or by downloading the brochure.

Add Chinese and Arabic Foreign Language to your School’s Curriculum:  The Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) provides a range of benefits to enable schools to implement their visions for their foreign language programs.  It provides exchange teachers' monthly stipends (over $2500 net/month), health insurance, J-1 visa support, round-trip airfare, and a $300 professional development fund so they can purchase materials for their US classroom.  Additionally, participating schools receive access to $5000 grant opportunities to initiate foreign language projects, and American Councils provides substantive, integrated, and extended training to its exchange teachers before, during, and after their academic year of service.  Download applications at www.tclprogram.org, or contact Benjamin Dunbar at Dunbar@americancouncils.org.

Educational film about the Nazis destruction of European Art—Special Discount!: For $7.50, reduced from $29.95, purchase The Rape of Europa, a remarkable film that tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II.  Joan Allen narrates this breathtaking chronicle about the battle over the very survival of centuries of western culture.  Major funding for the film came from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Contact Heidi Oshin from Menemsha Films at heidio@menemshafilms.com for the special NCEA/educators discount. 

Professional Development Opportunities

Discerning Direction Youth Leadership Conference, May 26 & 27, 2009, Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts:  How do your students experience God? How does your school help students discern their vocation (religious and lay)? Come to a unique 2-day conference that brings high school students and educators together to enrich the ways Catholic high schools help their students identify and nurture their calling.

• Be inspired by keynote addresses, panel discussions and successful models from other Catholic high schools from around the country.
• Engage in our insightful workshops and goal-setting sessions.
• Partner with your students to explore ways to implement the ideas and techniques you receive to positively affect students’ experiences at your school.

For two days, 2 high school students (rising sophomores/juniors) & 2 Educators from Catholic schools across the country will come together and explore ways to support student vocation—a vital component of student success in our Catholic schools. Learn more about this unique event below and find out how your school can be a part of it.

National 21st Century Skills Bullying Prevention Film Competition: The competition’s active learning curriculum is uniquely designed to promote social cohesion and help reduce bullying in schools without sacrificing valuable class time – because the curriculum combines a range of 21st Century literacy skills and meets English Language Arts and Health Education standards. An excellent interdisciplinary project, students research the subject, collect data and build realistic timelines to explore how bullying develops, then translate their findings into short film scripts – and film selected scenes. Check it out at http://www.storiesofus.com/competition

Nominate an Outstanding Young Educator Today!:  ASCD is seeking young professional educators who educate the whole child; demonstrate educational leadership in their school, district, and community; show a positive impact on student achievement; and illustrate significant contributions to the education community. Winners of the Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) will receive $10,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2010 ASCD Annual Conference on March 6-8 in San Antonio , TX.  In addition, OYEA winners and honorees are invited to share best practices and participate in leadership-building activities throughout the year.  See here for details.

Education Week’s weekly online chat:  Every week, Education Week hosts online chats on a range of education issues with leading experts in education research, instruction, reform and more! Check out past discussions and sign up today a http://www.edweek-chat.org. 

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Public Policy Update

In the Outlook this month:

• Private Schools and the Stimulus Package
• School Choice Yearbook
• House Action on D.C. Scholarship Program

The monthly newsletter from the Council for American Private Education is available for download as a free PDF document by clicking here or by entering the following URL in your browser: http://www.capenet.org/pdf/Outlook343.pdf. 

For more information about NCEA and public policy matters, please contact Sr. Dale McDonald, Director of Public Policy and Research, at dmcdonald@ncea.org, 202.337.6232.

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In Other News

More high school age Americans volunteer than work part time:  American teens are setting an example for their parents through their volunteer work, according to a new poll by Harris Interactive. Read the full article.

The Big Test Before College? The Financial Aid Form:  New York Times reports on the shared woes parents and students feel about the six-page federal form for families seeking help with college costs, and how to alleviate the confusion. Read the full article.

President Obama puts spotlight on education deficit—He wants U.S. to have highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020:  Obama’s remarked that, “Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma…And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. And half of the students who begin college never finish….This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education -- from the day they are born to the day they begin a career."  Read The Los Angeles Times’ full article.

A model high school for hands-on instruction:  Students take greater ownership for their education at a high school in Pennsylvania and student performance increases. “Students spend more time working in groups and using laptop computers and digital projectors in class. They create their own study sheets and even teach some of the material to each other through presentations.  The change in teaching strategy — launched last year and used in all subjects this year — has given many students a boost in their studies, according to teachers.” Read the full article.  

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