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Momentum
The Official Journal of the National Catholic Educational Association
November/December 2008
Theme: New Models of Education
Below you will find a table of contents, along with additional information and references for selected articles.
Table of Contents
The print version of the November/December issue of Momentum is available now. Here’s what you will find inside:
Editorials
Guest Editorial: Father Joseph O’Keefe, SJ
Responding to the Changing Times of the 21st Century.
Insights from the past can help us face challenges of the future.
Impulse: Nothing Just Happens, Dr. Karen Ristau
Making good wine is an art. Teaching is an art as well.
NCEA Catechetical Resources For the Jubilee Year of St. Paul
Department of Religious Education debuts four St Paul images for catechetical use.
Special Theme: New Models of Education
Teaching and Learning as Wayfaring, Martin Connell, SJ
Follow St. Brendan’s example to become a wayfaring teacher.
(Click here to read the entire article, along with reflection questions for staff in-service programs.)
A Model for Improving Catholic School System Vitality, Ron Costello, Peggy Elson and Kathy Mears
Identify the elements that must remain while creating new models for Catholic Schools.
Diocesan and Local Leader Use New Models to Enable Schools to Survive and Thrive, Carol Cimino, SSJ
Old school models give way to new models of leadership and financing.
Library Connections Provides New Libraries for New Learning, Elizabeth Crownfied, Melinda Greenblatt, James Meier and Kathy Riecks
Multi-year program transforms inner-city libraries in the Archdiocese of New York.
(See below for references and additional resources)
Getting High-Achieving, Low-Income Children Hooked on Learning, John DiIulio, Jr.
Summer program keeps younger students challenges and motivated for fall.
Setting School Trustees Free to Do Their Job, John Gray
Board development program fuels expansion of Lasallian mission.
(See below for additional sidebars not in the printed version)
Branding Helps Capture Your School’s Personality, Dawn Zimmerman
Competitive times require a consistent image.
Massachusetts Parish Embraces Whole Community Catechesis, Nancy Dome
Parish organizes to share the faith from one generation to the other.
St. Michael’s Catholic Academy Serves all College Bound Students, Including Those with Special Learning Needs, Susan Maher and Chuck Yarling
Texas school’s learning center offers equal access and compliance with ADA.
Technology Initiative Promotes Catholic Faith through Cyberfaith, Fred Herron
St. Clare’s parish integrates technology throughout its programs.
General Section
Travels in a Strange Land, Julie A. Collins
A female teacher takes a journey through male adolescence.
2008 Frontiers of Justice Was a Journey of Hope and Solidarity, Gary Mereyl
Participants in the 2008 Frontiers of Justice trip to Burkina Faso and Ghana reflect on their experiences.
A Mutual Witness in Faith, Sister Martha Ann Snapka, IWBA
High school mission to Mexico ignites a spark and spirit within students.
Growing Faith in Illinois, Amy Smith
St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois going strong after 80
Years.
NCEA Recognizes Significant Support to Catholic Education
Review the highlights of October’s St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award presentations.
“Celebrate Service” Theme Reflects Success of Birthday Blessings for Pope Benedict Campaign
Successful Birthday Blessing for Pope Benedict campaign inspires 2009 Catholic Schools Week theme.
NCEA Goes West, Goes Online, Goes Green for Anaheim 2009
What you need to know to get ready for the 2009 NCEA convention and NPCD convocation.
Vocations
A Dozen Ways to Encourage Vocation Education, Carol Schuck Scheiber
Why Catholic educators should support vocation understanding.
Departments
DRE Directions: See Massachusetts Parish Embraces Whole Community Catechesis, Nancy Dome, in the special theme section
Association News
Blue Ribbon Scools, American Stars of Education, Distinguished Principals and more news from NCEA.
Resources Ready to Use
Quick referrals to competitions, opportunities and free educational resources, plus a review of a new NCEA book, In Fulfillment of Their Mission: The Duties and Tasks of a Roman Catholic Priest.
Capitol Info: Little Ado about Education Issues, Dale McDonald, PBVM
Incoming 111th Congress will have to resolve issues left unsettled by the 110th.
Technology Trends: New Times Call for New Methods, Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH
Catholic educators must spend as much time thinking about learning goals, curriculum, pedagogy and professional development as they do about configurations and networks.
Book Reviews
Reviews of Romero’s Legacy: The Call to Peace and Justice, Catholic And College Bound: 5 Challenges and 5 Opportunities and The Great Commission: Models of Evangelization in America.
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Index of Advertisers
Momentum November/December 2008
The journal of the National Catholic Educational Association
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Additional Resources for selected articles:
“Library Connections Provides New Libraries for New Learning” by Elizabeth Crownfield, Melinda Greenblatt, James Meier and Kathy Riecks, p. 24.
Resources
Two models guide the project. See David V. Loertscher. (2000). Taxonomies of the school library media program, 2nd ed. San Jose, CA: Hi Willow Research & Publishing; Eisenberg, M.B. and Berkowitz, R.E. (1990). Information problem solving: The big 6 skills approach to library and information skills instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. See also the Web site www.big6.com.
For information about other studies related to student achievement see: AASL Resources Guides for School Library Media Program Development: Student Achievement. www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=resourcesguides&Templates=/ContentManagement/
ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=14760 (accessed July 18, 2008) and School Libraries Work! 3rd ed. http://librarypublishing.scholastic.com/content/stopres/LibrarySTore/pages/images/SLW3pdf. (accessed July 18, 2008).
For information on one grant possibility for new books, see the Laura Bush Foundation Web site: www.laurabushfundation.org.
For information related to information literacy see the LC Portal (public documents-“Student Benchmark” and “Scope and Sequence”).
For resources from the American Association of School Libraries, see www.aasl.org/ala/aa/aaslprftools/resourcesguides/information literacy.cfm.
Library Connections Goals and Objectives
Intra-School Collaboration
Create lasting partnerships among administrators and classroom, computer and library teachers
in planning, implementing and assessing teaching and learning.
Professional Development
Collaborate with school personnel to provide ongoing professional development activities that support student and teacher learning, curriculum development, selection and use of library
print and online resources, and management of library program and facility.
Student Learning: Information Literacy
Implement teaching of interdisciplinary information literacy competencies that support
achievement of state standards related to critical thinking, oral and written communication,
and research skills.
Student Learning: Language Arts Appreciation
Provide library resources and programs that nurture imagination and creativity, foster
appreciation and enjoyment of language, literature, and the communication arts in all forms.
Library Resources
Replenish library collections with current curriculum-relevant information resources— print, audiovisual, and online—that support collaborative lesson planning and instruction.
Library Automation
Provide equipment and software to automate the library catalog and set up a circulation
system.
Online Communications
Support development and enhancement of e-mail, Internet access and school/library Web
site.
Library Facilities
Implement improvements in organization of space and furniture in support of above
objectives, and to accommodate simultaneous use by individuals and groups of students.
Inter-School Collaboration
Develop and nurture collegial networking among school teams to share responsibility for professional development activities and the exchange of successful teaching practices.
Evaluation of the Program’s Effectiveness
At the project’s inception, the Altman Foundation engaged Arete Consulting, recognizing that rigorous evaluation throughout the planning and implementation stages helps build strong programs and attracts additional funders. Arete’s evaluation plan laid out objectives, data collection and measurement methods in an evolving set of assessment tools.
- The planning and assessment report collects comprehensive information on each of the program’s nine objectives. Early versions were highly detailed as schools entered Library Connections but became simpler over the years. Tip: Keeping essential questions unchanged allows measurement of growth from year to year; however, obsolete questions should be dropped.
- The annual teacher survey on library use, opinions and Library Connections motivated changes in pedagogy. Tip: Specific measurable questions with check-off-box responses facilitate both completion and statistical compilation.
- The annual student survey of third and sixth graders was designed with questions about specific, quantifiable reading and library habits, as well as attitudes about reading. A graphic version helped third graders understand the questions. Tip: Op inion questions with set responses are useful for comparing change over time.
- The high school survey of ninth graders in selected Catholic high schools assesses Library Connections' long-term effect on student habits. Library Connections graduates were compared with their non-Library Connections peers, asking about research strategies, reading behavior and library use. Tip: Questions that identify research resources that students mastered through Library Connections and continue to employ are most useful.
- Annual school visits with individual meetings with the library teacher, school principal, selected teachers and student focus groups, plus observation of the library in use, help gauge performance. Tip: Set questions should shape these interviews but not preclude the sort of free discussion that reveals a school’s distinctive culture and personality.
- Annual analysis of the New York state English language arts scores allowed comparison of schools’ performance changes over time with comparable inner-city parochial schools. One caveat: While improvements were found, we caution that standardized tests are a volatile, imperfect measure of the impact of library programs.
“Setting School Trustees Free to Do Their Job” by John Gray, p. 32.
Building Governance Skills through Rehearsals
Call them scenarios or mock board meetings or rehearsals, there is no substitute for the hard cases that bring new trustees face-to-face with typical situations they will encounter. Small groups take on written scenarios, with prompts and other tools. Role-playing is used and discussion naturally is intense. A key conceptual tool in navigating these complex dramas is the firm distinction between ends, which are the board’s proper concern, and means, which are the concern of the CEO and staff. Here are some typical scenarios.
The Ego Wall. A major donor disagrees with the planned placement of a recognition wall, and the new board president happens to be head of the bank trust department where the donor has much of his wealth invested.
Will I See You in September? The CEO plans to start the school year 10 days before Labor Day and the board knows that some parents will be unhappy.
The “Gifted” Student. A trustee has expressed concern to the CEO about the admission of the child of an influential family.
The Bishop and the Personnel Department. The bishop is considering a new employment policy that would require applicants for diocesan employment to fill out a questionnaire on Catholic teaching and practice; the CEO does not yet know if the proposed policy would apply to independent schools also.
So What’s Your ATM Code? The CEO announces that the school is moving its money market account to another financial institution and some board members are surprised.
Jesus and the Iraq War. A trustee has heard that a teacher has told her class she will be participating in a protest rally on the weekend.
Prepared for College? “A survey of recent alumni shows that 15 percent of recent graduates transferred from or dropped out of the four-year colleges to which they were accepted as high school seniors.”
Counting Your Admissions Eggs Before They’re Hatched? The board notices that next year’s budget assumes a 12 percent increase in student enrollment. When questioned, the CEO explains that a larger than usual pool of applicants for freshmen seats is expected.
Consoling the Consultant. The outside consultant hired by the CEO to run a major capital campaign wants the trustees to be visibly involved and is complaining to the CEO that the operational model of the board gets in the way of the board’s contributing properly.
Who Builds the New Building? A $3 million expansion is needed and the board wants to be involved in planning and design.
Improving Students’ Health and Well-Being. A trustee has an idea for a health-and-nutrition program that should be part of the curriculum.
Formation and Development are Ongoing and Comprehensive
The District of San Francisco, the western province of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, offers board development activities through the year. Here are a few of the offerings.
Board Development Workshops Offered Three Times a Year
These are the primary orientation and training module for prospective trustees. Attendees are guests of the district at the district’s retreat and conference center for each two-and-a-half-day workshop. The agenda includes personal presentations, video and PowerPoint presentations, workbooks, discussions, rehearsals of typical situations a trustee will encounter, prayerful discernment and relaxed time for socializing.
The Association of Board Chairs Meets Twice a Year
There is ongoing formation through the Association of Board Chairs (ABC). Twice a year the chairs of all the boards of trustees in the district gather for two days of leadership development. They discuss common issues, share best practices and improve their skills in the areas of agenda development, board formation, monitoring CEO performance, policy writing, recruitment and board evaluation.
Board Secretary Training
Training is scheduled as needed for secretaries of boards.
Secondary School Administrators
The district’s association of presidents and principals, called the Secondary Schools Administrators’ Association (SSAA), meets three times yearly. One of those meetings overlaps with an ABC meeting, so that frontline administrators and trustees from across the district and from a variety of school communities can surface common concerns and share best practices.
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