The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how Catholic homeschooled students navigate the college choice process. With the growth of homeschooling in the United States nearly doubling in the past eight years (Cogan, 2010), this study explored a segment of this growing population to give researchers and practitioners a deeper…

Catholic educators in recent years have worked to increase their schools' capacity to provide special education services to more students. The expansion of federal programs to support students with special needs has aided in dealing with this issue, but it has also exacerbated problems. The exacerbation comes from the increased focus on both the…

America's urban Catholic schools are in crisis. This report finds that over 1,300 schools have shut down since 1990, mostly in our cities. As a result, some 300,000 students have been displaced--forced to attend other public, private, or parochial schools. The school closures have cost taxpayers more than $20 billion to accommodate the additional…

Denominational rights in education have a long and controversial history within Canada. Ontario has struggled with denomination rights and continues to face the challenges posed by accommodating denominational rights. This paper examines those challenges and considers the future of denominational rights in Ontario, in light of John Tory's 2007…

This study seeks to determine if a Midwestern group of diocesan Catholic schools considers it their mission to educate students of all abilities, the extent to which students with special needs are included in the population of Catholic schools, the types of special needs served, how students with special needs are served when included, whether…

It is often stated that Catholic schools in the US were built on the foundation of the poverty of vowed women religious. Dozens of communities fit this description, none more so than the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs. Sister Stephanie Mohun's service as mother general spanned a period of tremendous growth in Catholic education at…

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century control over their schools was central to the sense of a Catholic identity for English Catholics, and its defence was a priority of their bishops. The 1944 education act threatened the financial viability of these schools. Between 1942 and 1944 the divided and uncertain response of the Catholic…

The quest for state and federal aid for Catholic schools is not new. Concerns regarding excessive entanglement, mission dilution, and external control have been voiced for decades. A particularly instructive historical period on this issue is the era of the Great Depression. Because of widespread economic hardship across sectors, Catholic leaders…

This article presents a historical overview of Catholic schooling in the United States from colonial times to the present. Presented in order of eras in American history, the growth of Catholic schools and the challenges they faced are documented. The author concludes with a discussion of contemporary trends, realities challenges, and…

When the main building of Our Lady of the Lake University was damaged in a fire this spring, its president, Tessa Martinez Pollack, worried the blaze would exacerbate its money woes. She told "The New York Times" that it's a known fact and that they are like a lot of other Catholic universities that are struggling to stay afloat financially. Not…

Describes the opening of Holy Angels Catholic School in Indianapolis, which is the nation's first new inner-city Catholic School to be built in more than 40 years. It offers Catholic education to inner-city youth through a unique partnership formed by the Archdiocese of Indiana, the city of Indianapolis, and local corporate leaders in a campaign…

On the surface, Michael Moher's major challenges as a superintendent do not seem so foreign from any other leader who is responsible for the education of 28,000 students. He has been grappling in recent years with budget shortfalls, school closings, a couple of dissident board members and even a week-long teacher's strike. Moher runs a Catholic…

This article examines a wide range of parish school indicators that can be used to predict long-term viability. The study reported in this article explored the relationship between demographic variables, financial variables, and parish grade school closures in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Specifically, this study investigated whether…