It is a commonplace for Catholic schools to claim that they educate the "whole" person in the faith, yet exactly what this means and how to accomplish it is harder to say. Though these matters of holistic formation and Catholic identity are always important, they are especially so at present given ongoing efforts to implement the U.S.…

Through a secondary analysis of a case study on successful school leadership, this study inquired into the lived experiences and understandings of Catholic identity from the perspectives of administrators, faculty, staff, and students at one urban Catholic school in the northeastern United States. Participants generally spoke about Catholic…

A college-going culture has been found to improve academic outcomes for underrepresented high school students (Allen, Kimura-Walsh, & Griffin, 2009; Stanton-Salazar, 2010). The research on Catholic high schools shows their college-preparatory environment ability to produce successful outcomes for African-American and Latino students (Bryk,…

This study investigates the relationship between Catholic teachers' faith and their school commitment in Catholic high schools. A national sample of 751 teachers from 39 Catholic high schools in 15 archdioceses in the United States participated in a self-administered website survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Pearson…

While the U.S. Bishops' Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework provides robust content guidelines for a national high school Religion curriculum, its successful implementation will depend largely on concurrent development of, and training in, pedagogy suited to Christian education. This paper directs educators to existing catechetical…

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme provides an academically challenging curriculum that when combined with moral and religious formation prepares graduates of Catholic secondary schools to succeed in college and to live as Christian citizens in an interconnected global society. Although the financial cost of the program is high,…

The Catholic Church has addressed the power of media, as well as the critical importance of understanding and educating Catholic youth on the media's role and place in modern culture. In this article, the narratives of female Catholic teachers are prioritized to illustrate how gender-specific media education influences the schooling experiences of…

The mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Law, including the threat of closing a school for underperformance, have led to multiple public school turnaround attempts. Because turnaround is a relatively new area of focus in education, there is limited research on what does and does not work, and even the definition of turnaround is a work in…

Many Catholic high schools have transitioned to a president-principal administrative structure. This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the model, revealing pertinent issues that must be addressed while operationalizing the model. Recent research supports some aspects of the model, but it is no panacea. Clear job descriptions, role…

This research investigated some determinants of classroom environment in Australian Catholic high schools. The Catholic School Classroom Environment Questionnaire (CSCEQ) was used to assess 7 dimensions of the classroom psychosocial environment: student affiliation, interactions, cooperation, task orientation, order and organization,…

Most dioceses do not have well-articulated, systematic approaches to the professional development of Catholic school teachers and administrators. This article summarizes current research on effective strategies for professional development and reports on a study of one Midwestern diocese regarding the needs, perceptions, and plans of teachers and…

The purpose of this study was to discover the life experiences of disadvantaged female graduates of urban Catholic high schools and what they say about the capacity of Catholic education to meet their academic, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Based on narrative inquiry, this study was conducted using a series of in-depth, semistructured…

The purpose of this study was to discern which socioeconomic classes are represented in Catholic high school populations across the United States. In addition, the study sought to discover the motivations of those families whose children were currently enrolled in American Catholic high schools. Also explored were the reasons why Catholic families…

This article addresses the inclusion of non-Catholic students in Catholic schools. It provides a brief review of the literature on inclusion and the results of a study of inclusion from the perspectives of Catholic students and Catholic teachers in four Western Canadian urban Catholic high schools. The study employed grounded theory as its…

As Catholic high schools continue to experience success in interscholastic athletic leagues, state associations have repeatedly contemplated ways to thwart the perceived Catholic school advantage. In a number of states, the athletic associations have responded to the success of private schools in interscholastic competition by applying a…