Update on Trends in Catholic Schools and Charter Schools

Parentspotlight has been keeping an eye on trends in Catholic Schools and Charter Schools. (also see our related blog postings in Feb 2007 and April 2010).


The Times Magazine and Wall Street Journal articles both cite the Cristo Rey Network, a network of 24 schools in the US, as a model of success. One of which is in Newark, NJ. Christ the King Prep's website is http://www.ctkprep.org/.

What caught our attention about the Cristo Rey Network Model was the innovative Corporate Internship Program. Students go to school for 4 days per week and work for a business one day per week. The money the students earn goes to the school to help underwrite their tuition. This seems to mirror the college work-study approach. The internship program keeps their tuition low (averaging under $2,400 /year), according to the WSJ article.

Times article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1929589,00.html
Wall Street Journal Article: http://www.ctkprep.org/newsandcalendar/inthemediapages/wsj20100521.html

Also see below for excerpts from an interesting July 9, 2010 article posted in the Clifton Journal. In the Clifton article, we noticed another mention of another proposal in Paterson for a Diocese to run a charter school. There are also a lot of statistics about declining enrollment at Catholic schools.


Sacred Heart school joins long list of closures
Friday, July 9, 2010
BY TONY GICAS
Clifton Journal
STAFF WRITER

CLIFTON – Sacred Heart is just one among a long line of parochial school closures caused by a steady decline of Catholic school enrollment around the nation.

The Paterson Diocese oversees Catholic schools in Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties but of the 55 elementary schools open in 1981, just 30 diocese facilities remain.

In addition, the diocese closed three other elementary schools this year. The diocese also closed Paterson Catholic Regional High School but proposed a partnership with the Paterson school system to open a public charter school there.

The below statistics, courtesy of Brian Gray, a spokesman for the National Catholic Education Association, depict the plummeting enrollments at parochial schools:

* America's Catholic schools reached its peak in the 1960s with about 5.2 million students. By 1980 that number had dropped to approximately 3.1 million and in 2008 the nationwide enrollment hit 2.19 million.

* There were 12,893 Catholic schools operating around the country during the 1960s apex but by 2008 the NCEA reported just 7,248 schools.

* In 1970, New Jersey had 609 Catholic schools servicing approximately 275,000 students, but in 2005 that number dwindled to 396 schools accommodating 129,000 students.

* In 2008, 162 Catholic schools nationwide either consolidated or closed. Only 31 new schools opened during the 2008-2009 school year. The closings confirm a national trend characterized by shrinking enrollments, higher teacher salaries and the migration of Catholics from the cities to the suburbs, school officials said.

* In September 2000, the Newark Archdiocese had 137 grade schools in Union, Essex, Hudson and Bergen counties. Now, it has just 97. The school population in neighboring Paterson jumped by 1,000 students last year, a 3.5 percent increase in the district that has about 28,000 students, the district reported.

* Four years ago, the Paterson Diocese recorded 50 elementary schools with a total enrollment of 13,753 students. In 2008, the Diocese saw the enrollment drop to 11,177 elementary students, a decrease of nearly 19 percent.

E-mail of Clifton Journal reporter: gicas@northjersey.com

Catholic-Run Charter Schools Arouse Church-State Concerns

Highlight from Chronicle of Philanthropy:

 

Catholic-Run Charter Schools Arouse Church-State Concerns

Church-state watchdog groups say they will closely monitor an Indianapolis project to create what could become the country's first public charter schools run by a Roman Catholic archdiocese, says the Associated Press.
Under a plan approved by the city April 5, St. Anthony's and St. Andrew & St. Rita Academy would become charters under new names and qualify for nearly $1-million in state money in the first year. The proposal was hailed by Mayor Greg Ballard and archdiocese officials as a way to keep the schools open and serving struggling neighborhoods despite a budget deficit.
The schools agreed to end religious education and remove crucifixes, statues of saints, and Bibles from classrooms and other areas. But in a letter to the mayor's office, the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State questioned whether the archdiocese would fully eliminate religious observances and items.
(Free registration is required to view this article on the New York Times site.)

Trends in US Education: 4-day school week

The four-day school week is a growing trend during this recession. This controversial format is something to keep an eye on.

Hawaii is one of the most recent states to change to a four-day school week due to budget woes.  Children are now off every Friday. Hawaii is already at the bottom when it comes to state test scores, according to an ABC news report.  At least 17 other states have districts that have 4-day school weeks, according to an MSNBC report.

Proponents of this format site the ability to salvage more extra curricular and academic programs, avoiding teacher and staff layoffs, and the ability to save on transportation and energy bills.

However, many parents face challenges with this new format including concerns about maintaining academic excellence, additional child care costs, adjusting work schedules, and paying for Friday meals that might have otherwise been covered under free or reduced lunch programs.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the children long-term and how many other cash-strapped states will follow suit.  It will also be interesting to see how this affects parents with special needs children who will have a harder time finding adequate child care for one-day a week. 

Another related trend to keep an eye out for is the 4-day government work week. Utah, Iowa, Hawaii and many other states have been toying with this concept.  How will the four-day government work week affect the welfare of children? The workers in the state departments of education, health and human services, children and families, etc., will have to get everything done with 20 percent less time to do it in. Source: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=446862

Comprehensive studies needs to be done.  If you aware of any such study, please inform the Parentspotlight blog.

What do you think? Feel free to post a comment to this blog posting.

sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/hawaii-day-school-week-ease-recession-woes/story?id=8894574
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29664981/
http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Education/SchoolCalendarExtendedDayYearFourDaySchoo/tabid/12934/Default.aspx
http://www.radioiowa.com/2009/12/25/a-four-day-work-week-for-state-government/
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=446862

Catholic Schools: Trend Toward Consolidation

Major trends for northeast Catholic schools include a large increase in regionalized school systems and partnerships with outside Catholic agencies.

Many large Dioceses are creating regional or interparochial schools to offset declining enrollment and financial struggles. By consolidating, many of the schools state they able to increase resources, such as computer labs. The Boston Diocese also recently created a partnership with a Catholic University.

Across the nation in 2003, 123 Catholic schools were closed or consolidated in areas of declining enrollment while 34 new schools opened, according to statistics from the National Catholic Educational Association.

Here are several examples:

NEW JERSEY:

• MERCER COUNTY: TRENTON, NEW JERSEY: A few years ago, the Trenton Diocese consolidated all of its preK-8 schools into one school, now known as the Trenton Catholic Academy. Trenton Catholic Academy, a preK-12 Diocesan Regional school, is located in the heart of Hamilton, New Jersey at the McCorristin Campus that spreads across 62 acres, which was formerly the Kuser Estate. The main campus building houses classrooms, a gymnasium, three computer labs, a library, dining facilities and the administrative offices. The campus also includes a football stadium, two baseball diamonds, two softball fields, and two soccer fields. http://trentoncatholic.org/
• UNION COUNTY: HILLSIDE, NJ: Hillside Catholic Academy opened its doors on July 1, 2004. The school was formed by the merging of Christ the King School, Hillside and St. Catherine’s of Sienna School, Elizabeth.
• HUDSON COUNTY: HOBOKEN, NJ: Hoboken Catholic Academy is a Catholic elementary school for children Pre-K through Grade 8. The school is co-sponsored by the parishes of St. Ann's,Our Lady of Grace, St. Francis, St. Joseph andSts. Peter & Paul in Hoboken and St. Lawrence in Weehawken. The school has an enrollment of about 325 students with an average class size of 25 students.
• Archdiocese of Newark: BERGEN COUNTY, NJ: Transfiguration Academy represents a new model for Catholic school education which they believe will lead the way in academic excellence in the 21st Century. Co-sponsored by the parishes of St. Mary’s, Dumont, St. John’s, Bergenfield and Ascension, New Milford, the Academy says it offers an enhanced curriculum, extra-curricular activities and a new organizational structure. Through these enhancements they hope to attract more students at all grade levels, Pre-K 3 through the 8th Grade. In order to achieve this objective, they said they "enhanced the curriculum in the lower school, Pre-K3 to grade 4, at the Bergenfield campus and established a superior Middle School, at our New Milford location, for grades 5 through 8".
  (source http://www.transfigurationacademy.org)
• BERGEN COUNTY, NJ : Catholic Academy of Northern Valley: The parishioners of St. Joseph in Demarest, Sacred Heart in Haworth, and St. Mary in Closter combined their "energies, talents, financial resources and prayers to ensure the continued viability of quality Catholic education in our parishes". The school officially started on July 1, 2004 and serves students from Pre-K through 8th grade. (source:http://www.catholicacademynorthernvalley.org/)
• BERGEN COUNTY: Visitation Academy, formerly Our Lady of the Visitation School, was established as a parish school in 1958. In 1991, it became inter-parochial and are affiliated with three parishes, Our Lady of the Visitation and Annunciation, both in Paramus and Sacred Heart Church in Rochelle Park. Visitation Academy serves Grades PreK3 though grade 8.
• BERGEN COUNTY: St. John Academy began as St. John the Baptist Parish School in 1955. In 1997 the name was changed to St. John’s Academy to better reflect growth from a small parish school to an interparochial academic institution co-sponsored by four area parishes: (Source: http://www.sja-hillsdale.org/pages/about.html)
  St. John the BaptistHillsdale
  St. Andrew’s ChurchWestwood
  Our Lady Mother of the ChurchWoodcliff Lake
  St. Gabriel the ArchangelSaddle River
  

New York City, NY trends: Declining school enrollment and major parish realignment

2005, The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brooklyn and Queens announced that 22 parochial schools in the two boroughs would close. Nine of those are in Queens -- none were high schools.

In Jan 2007: The Archdiocese of New York announced its parish realignment decisions. A committee of lay, religious, and clergy, known as the Archdiocesan Realignment Advisory Panel, reviewed all of the recommendations and made valuable suggestions. All parishes potentially affected by a realignment recommendation were given the opportunity to discuss their observations about the recommendation with Bishop Sullivan and his review committee. In all, ten parishes will be closed, and eleven parishes will merge with other parishes.

NENI will continue to monitor how this affects Catholic Schools in the area.

"These decisions are the culmination of an extensive three-year planning process, which involved long and careful consultation. This process, established by Edward Cardinal Egan, was designed to identify the religious, spiritual, and education needs of the Catholic faithful throughout the entire Archdiocese, and determine how those needs could best be met." according to a Jan 19, 2007 press release http://archny.org/news-events/news-press-releases/index.cfm?i=3501. Complete list of Archdiocesan parish realignment decisions

BOSTON, MASS: (Boston source: see full article in NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/us/24religion.html

• Boston is also consolidating its schools. St. Edith Stein and two other churches in this city of 94,000 about 25 miles south of Boston, are consolidating their schools, which together serve 500 children in kindergarten through eighth grade, and ceding control to a board of directors. The arrangement, which starts in September, will result in two newly renovated schools, one for lower grades and another for upper grades, at two different churches. (source: see full article in NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/us/24religion.html)
• Last year the Boston archdiocese partnered with Boston College to run a Boston elementary school, becoming the first diocese in the country to hand over educational responsibility to a university, said Sister Dale McDonald, director of public policy and education research for the National Catholic Education Association.