Dear Catholic Secondary School Educator:

Welcome to the October 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:

Department Updates:

• REGIONAL MEETINGS: Sr. Mary Frances Taymans, the Department’s Executive Director, is coming to a regional meeting near you.
• Blue Ribbon Schools honored at a reception at NCEA in Washington, DC
• Closing the Knowing/Doing Gap for Effective Teaching, Chicago, IL, November 20 to 22, 2008: Last call to register!
• Special Needs Learners conference, Charleston, SC, January 18 to 20, 2009
• Agents of Positive Change: A Leadership Conference for Deans and Administrators Responsible for Student Affairs and School Culture, San Francisco, CA, February 11 to 13, 2009

Curriculum Opportunities:

• Expand your content knowledge and instructional teaching techniques with PBS TeacherLine
• First-rate resources analyzing the causes and scope of the Wall Street crisis available at no cost from Education for Justice

Professional Development Opportunities:

• Literacy instruction support for secondary school teachers by Scholastic Red
• Applications available for the Student Youth Foundation (SYF) scholarship program to students unable to afford the cost of their group's travel
• Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Excellence in International Education

In Other News:

• Education expert and reformer Chester E. Finn Jr. appeals to national leadership to act now and preserve urban faith-based schools
• The White House releases report on the troubling and underreported rapid disappearance of faith-based schools in urban America
• The Loyola Marymount University School of Education receives grant to aid underserved schools
  Report that shows low-income minority students at Catholic schools in Los Angeles have markedly higher retention and graduation rates receives national attention
• American culture still telling girls they can’t do math?
• Standardized admission tests such as the SAT and ACT are not the most important factor in college admission decisions according to a recent study.

Department Updates

Take full advantage of NCEA’s leadership development opportunities and register today for a conference. Click here for a full listing of events and conferences.

Regional Meetings
Every year, the Department’s executive director travels across the country to meet with Catholic high school schools with two goals in mind: First, to share NCEA’s services, initiatives and progress with the national Catholic educational community, and second, to learn about NCEA’s constituents’ vision and concerns for Catholic secondary education. This is an excellent opportunity to be an active educator and citizen. A complete list of regional meeting dates, locations, and contact persons are available here.

CLOSING THE KNOWING-DOING GAP FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING, the 4th Annual Instructional Leadership Conference in Chicago, November 20-22, 2008
Can each Catholic school educator say with confidence that EVERY student in the school experiences effective teaching to maximize their learning? This conference invites instructional leaders from K-12 Catholic schools throughout the United States to consider together what they can do in their schools to move every teacher toward greater effectiveness. Participants will bring back to their school communities diverse and specific applications to assist in school-wide improvement. Click here for conference brochure and registration information.

Agents of Positive Change: A Leadership Conference for Deans & Administrators Responsible for Student Affairs & School Culture, San Francisco, February 11 to 13, 2009
Exchange ideas and develop innovative ways to address school culture, discipline, policies, technology, faculty coaching and much more at this interactive and resource-rich conference. Meet the facilitators! Check out the draft agenda! Register and learn more about this conference.

Blue Ribbon Schools honored at a reception at NCEA in Washington, DC
The US Department of Education honored two Catholic high schools with the Blue Ribbon award. Eileen Manno and Fr. Mick Egan of St. Viator High School and Kurt Nelson and Ted Knutson of Aquinas were honored with a reception at NCEA before heading to the capitol to receive their award.

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Curriculum Opportunities

Expand your content knowledge and instructional teaching techniques with PBS TeacherLine: PBS TeacherLine has more than 130 online courses that offer practical teaching strategies in all content areas and leadership topics that will propel careers in education forward. Check out PBS TeacherLine’s fall line up of courses in: Reading / Language Arts; Instructional Technology ; Science, with special courses from WGBH / Teachers' Domain; Mathematics; and Instructional Strategies. PBS TeacherLine's high-quality online courses also provide you with the opportunity to earn continuing education units, professional development points, and graduate credits.
***N.B. Many districts reimburse their teachers' PBS TeacherLine course expenses. Ask your district for more information and download this purchase order form to enroll.

First-rate resources analyzing the causes and scope of the Wall Street crisis available from Education for Justice: The Center of Concern's Education for Justice project has prepared two special resources analyzing the causes and the shape of this week's Wall Street crisis:

• The Wall Street Crisis: A Visual Overview
• The Wall Street Crisis: Background and Causes

For an approach to a possible solution to the crisis that is important to explore once the bailout halts the financial panic, a solution that begins with Main Street and trickles up to Wall Street, check out our policy paper on Livelihoods in a Globalizing World, part of our Election 2008 Project. **Schools who do not already belong to Education for Justice might consider joining to gain access to other similar high-quality curriculum pieces that will benefit their school communities.

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Professional Development Opportunities

Literacy instruction support for secondary school teachers by Scholastic
Scholastic Red is offering professional development for raising student achievement in the area of literacy and reading comprehension. Courses instruct on practical, research-based strategies that secondary teachers can implement to help striving readers and students improve their reading and master critical content across subject areas. Teachers will gain necessary knowledge and skills needed to support, monitor and evaluate literacy instruction. A full listing of course are available here.

The Student Youth Travel Association (SYTA) Student Youth Foundation (SYF) is accepting applications for their SYF Road Scholarships
The SYF Road Scholarship program awards funds to students and youth who, for various reasons, are unable to afford the cost of their group's travel. Travel is essential to a complete education and it is SYF's goal to make a positive difference, through travel, in the lives of your students. All applications must be submitted by an adult group leader, i.e. teacher, music director, coach, etc. Scholarship will not exceed $1,000 per student. All applications must be submitted on-line at http://www.syta.org/ by November 15, 2008. Contact Debbie Gibb at dgibb@syta.org for more information about SYF’s scholarships to students that occur six times per year.

Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Excellence in International Education
This prize will recognize a secondary school that engages all or most of its students in learning about Asia, Africa, Latin America or the Middle East, or about international affairs through its curriculum and through partnerships with other countries or local organizations. Any public or private high school with a clear focus on raising American awareness of the world and bridging the international knowledge gap. Applications for high school, district/state, and media/technology prizes are due Monday, December 1, 2008. Prizewinners receive $25,000. More information about the prize and application are available online here.

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In Other News

“In Need of Salvation: On Preserving Faith-Based Urban Schools”
Education expert and reformer Chester E. Finn Jr. appeals to national leadership to act now and preserve urban faith-based schools in this dead-on article featured in the National Review. Read the full article.

The White House releases report on the troubling and underreported rapid disappearance of faith-based schools in urban America.
This conversation is about a challenge that affects the core of Catholic education and cannot be ignored. The report offers an accurate account of the current struggles facing urban faith-based schools and recommendations to addressing the problem. Preserving a Critical National Asset: America's Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-based Urban Schools.

The Loyola Marymount University School of Education receives grant to aid underserved schools
The Loyola Marymount University School of Education was awarded a $100,000 grant by the California Community Foundation to improve the quality of education for underserved students in Los Angeles public, charter and Catholic schools. The grant will help the school provide high-quality training to preschool through high school teachers and administrators. The School of Education was one of the 11 nonprofit organizations chosen this year by the California Community Foundation. Press release available here.

Report shows low-income minority students at Catholic schools in Los Angeles have markedly higher retention and graduation rates
A Loyola-Marymount University School of Education study on students receiving tuition awards from the Catholic Education Foundation had a 97.5% graduation rate compared to nearby schools with graduation rates as low as 54%. Read the full report here to learn what it says about the opportunities Catholic education can provide low-income minority students.

American culture still telling girls they can’t do math?
“The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.” Read the full New York Times article “Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds.”

Report confirms that standardized admission tests such as the SAT and ACT are not the most important factor in college admission decisions
A report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) suggests that Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams may be more predictive of first-year and overall grades in college because they are closely linked to high school curriculum. In a NACAC survey, schools ranked standardized tests third in importance behind high school grades in college preparatory classes and the strength of a school’s curriculum, and ahead of essays, class rank, and counselor recommendations. The full report is available here.

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