Alliance for Catholic Education 2011-2012 Annual Report

SUSTAIN,STRENGTHEN,TRANSFORMCATHOLIC SCHOOLS

The Alliance for Catholic EducationUniversity of Notre DameAnnual Report 2011-2012

ND ACE Annual Report.indd 1 11/8/12 1:30 PM

Greetings from Our Lady’s University!

What a wonderful and blessed year the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) has had in our mission to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools! More than ever before, the ACE Movement is animated by the inspiring words in St. Mark’s Gospel: With God, all things are possible!

The 2011 – 2012 academic year began with the dedication of a new home for the Alliance for Catholic Education, Carole Sandner Hall and the historic Institute for Educational Initiatives Building, which are at the heart of the Notre Dame campus. These beautiful spaces are bringing vibrant energy to our mission in service to children and the Gospel in new and exciting ways. This year, ACE served Catholic schools in seventy-four Archdiocese and Dioceses in the United States, and we have strategically targeted numer-ous international opportunities. As we head into our twentieth year, full of gratitude and awe at the ways God is calling us, we know that our service to the Church and the cause of educational excellence for all children is just beginning.

I hope these pages give you a glimpse of the life, goals, and activities of the Alliance for Catholic Educa-tion. Animated by a desire “to make God known, loved, and served,” we are committed to forming and galvanizing a new generation of exceptionally talented, faith-filled leaders for Catholic schools, the Church, and the nation. We promise to respond to Catholic schools’ practical challenges by providing excellent professional services that address educators’ strategic and immediate needs. We undertake research and generate knowledge that can help to transform Catholic schools. And we establish and nurture partnerships of all sorts, around the country and around the world, trusting that such collabora-tions can multiply the power of faith.

Our daily work and prayer in ACE is that more children and fami-lies will be able to enjoy the unsurpassed gift of an excellent Catho-lic school education. Thank you for joining us in this blessed and urgent endeavor.

Devotedly yours in Notre Dame,

Rev. Timothy R. Scully, CSCHackett Family Director of the Institute for Educational InitiativesUniversity of Notre Dame


1


As the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) marks its first year in its new home at the heart of the Notre Dame campus, particular gratitude goes to three families for their generosity and for their long-time support of Notre Dame: Bobbie and Terry McGlinn and their children, from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania; Mary Ann and Jack Remick and their children, from Rochester, Minnesota; and Carole and Jack Sandner and their children, from Chicago, Illinois. All three families have champi-oned Catholic schools and the ACE Movement during its growth as a premier provider of Catholic school teachers and leaders in the United States.

Dedication of Carole Sandner Hall and theHistoric Institute for Educational Intiatives Building


3ACE’S NEW HOME

Jack and Carole Sandner, along with their family and Fr. John Jenkins, CSC, dedicating the new home of the Alliance for Catholic Education.

Jack and Mary Ann Remick join their family and Notre Dame leaders in the new Remick Commons.

At the heart of campus, Carole Sandner Hall and the historic Institute for Educational Initiatives Building are the home of the

Alliance for Catholic Education.

Bobbie and Terry McGlinn with University President Fr. John Jenkins, CSC.


Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, helps dedicate the new home of the Alliance for Catholic Education.

“I don’t know of any place that

gives more hope and promise

than here, and this beautiful

building is an icon of that!”

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York

Inspiration from Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

ND ACE Annual Report.indd 4 11/14/12 9:49 AM

5ACE’S NEW HOMEACE’S NEW HOME

The beautiful Remick Commons serves as a gathering placefor students, faculty, and guests of the

Alliance for Catholic Education.

In the space that was once the chapel of the Holy Cross Sisters - many of whom were teachers and school leaders - the Alliance for Catholic Education is proud to continue the legacy of service to

children and the Gospel by sustaining, strengthening, and transforming Catholic schools.

Fr. Jenkins blesses ACE’s new home.



Looking back over their two years in the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Service through Teaching Program, immersed in what they call the family atmosphere of the Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Brownsville, Texas, Laura Cassel and Matt Wilsey can see how ACE and Catholic educa-tion change lives—of teachers as well as students. They are the latest in a tradition of passionate ACE teachers who have helped this distinctive school community survive and thrive on a shoestring budget. ACE’s presence has helped to awaken new perspectives—including ambitions for collegefor some 80 low-income Latino youths. Laura and Matt say their own experiences in the ACE and Guadalupe communities have been equally trans-formative. Graduating in 2012 with Notre Dame M.Ed. degrees, they both have decided to continue to teach in Catholic schools—a choice made by the majority of ACE alumni. Matt, a product of public schools in upstate New York, had previously thought of studying medicine, but his ACE forma-tion “certainly has changed what I plan to do” as a lifetime vocation—starting this fall at a Catholic high school in Chicago. Laura, the daughter of educators in Lincoln, Nebraska, says her two-year experience of hospitality and energy “has really given me a profound respect and awe for school culture, especially in the Catholic context.” She is teaching in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, Catholic school that follows the same tuition-free model adopted in Brownsville.

Forming Leaders for Catholic Schools, the Church, and the World

“ACE teachers who have come through

the school in Brownsville have offered a

tremendous amount of enthusiasm—not

only for the class material, but also for

leading the extracurricular activities,”

says Matt, who coached soccer, volley-

ball, basketball, and softball.

At the Guadalupe Regional Middle School, Laura supervised the yearbook and served as director and costume designer for the school musical. She says she discovered her own capabilities while receiving abundant support—first from the whole Guadalupe family, but also from the intentional faith community in which Laura and Matt lived with a few other ACE teachers. Their housemates taught at different schools, but all of them pitched in for extra hours in the spirit of ACE’s three pillars—professional service, community life, and spiritual growth.

7FORMING LEADERS


“Going back to our ACE home was life-giving” after a long day, says Matt. Laura adds, “We were given the tremendous support of other people to believe that we ourselves could do what was needed.” That included rigorous, year-round stud-ies in the highly selective master’s in education degree program, backed up by in-school mentor-ing and engagement with ACE’s academic and pastoral resources. ACE’s teacher and principal formation programs have become the nation’s premier providers of faith-filled Catholic school educators, sending forth nearly 300 teachers and school leaders each year. Indeed, Notre Dame alumnus Mike Motyl, a gradu-ate of both Service through Teaching in 2003 and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program in 2009, joined the Guadalupe family as the school’s princi-pal a few years ago and became its president in 2011. He says ACE, its people, and its mission—to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools—continue to energize him as a leader. “ACE formation lights a fire,” says Motyl. “You can bring that to your ministry and shine as part of your school community, which means brightening the lives of the students you serve.” He is grateful to welcome two new Alliance for Catholic Educa-tion teachers to the ten-member faculty this fall.

Once again, the classroom and extracurricular presence of ACE teachers will shine a light of hope and imagination for the students from the impov-erished neighborhoods of Brownsville. “It’s amaz-ing how their dreams are nurtured by our simply being from Indiana or New York or Nebraska,” recalls Laura. “They say, ‘I can go to Notre Dame some day!’” Now, Laura and Matt will share the ACE spirit with children in Tulsa and Chicago. Laura plans to proclaim “the hope that is on the horizon for Catholic schools in this country as they stay true to their mission.”

Service through Teaching and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program are two among several ACE formation initiatives to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools. Two licensure programs—English as a New Language (ENL) and Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC)—prepare current Catholic school teachers to help make their schools more inclusive. ENL teacher formation is a key part of ACE’s Chile program (called ChACE), a service initiative through which ACE gradu-ates teach English to students in a Congregation of Holy Cross school in Santiago, Chile. Through-out the United States, ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools brings together ACE graduates to continue their own formation as leaders in service to Catholic schools, the nation, and the Church.


38,000 students impacted by

ACE teachersand principals.

In 2011-2012

75%of all ACE graduates

stay in education.

stay in Catholic education.

60%

9FORMING LEADERS

Nearly

2,000 Catholic school teachersand leaders formedsince ACE’s founding.



Collaboration with the University of Notre Dame’s ACE Consulting led to an important milestone for children and families of southwestern Ohio in 2012. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati launched a bold plan for the future of its elementary and secondary schools—a hope-filled statement of commitment to excellence and access for all children. "ACE really understands Catholic education and is sensitive to the dynamics of what it takes to run successful Catholic schools," says Dr. Jim Rigg, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Superintendent of Catholic Schools. "ACE guided the planning process, provided advice, and connected us to national trends and data." Rigg has seen and shared ACE's strengths first-hand. He was an ACE teacher himself, graduating from Service through Teaching with a master's degree in education in 2001.

A team of consultants from the Alliance for Catho-lic Education, selected for the initiative by the Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, worked with the local steering commit-tee every step of the way. They agreed the first step was to gather crucial data on school perfor-mance and leadership quality, establishing the starting point for the plan. The input from the multidisciplinary ACE Consult-ing team addressed every aspect of the project’s ambitious scope, from the schools’ Catholic iden-tity and academic quality to the future of leader-

Providing Urgently Needed Professional Services for Schools and Dioceses

Dr. Jim Rigg, the archdiocesan Director

of Educational Services and Superinten-

dent of Schools, says the “Lighting the

Way” vision planning process that

spanned more than a year produced

“truly what we need” thanks to ACE’s

unique combination of services.

ship and enrollment to the outlook for finance and governance. “We were able to look at each one of those focus areas in great depth and give each one the attention it deserved,” Rigg says. This reflected the broad mandate with which ACE established its non-profit consulting unit in 2008—providing professional services to support the financial welfare and management of Catholic education. Since then, ACE Consulting has worked in more than 75 dioceses, meeting needs with customized solutions making a systemic impact on hundreds of schools. "ACE showed a remarkable ability to be flexible in the midst of the process, to be responsive to unex-pected issues as they showed up," Rigg points out. "They improvised when necessary," and they produced documents marked by creativity and insight into Cincinnati's particular circumstances.

11PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES


ACE Consulting is one among several Notre Dame programs providing professional services to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools. Play Like a Champion Today®, an innovative coach and parent education program, presents workshops for schools, parishes, and dioceses around the country that frame student athletics as a character-building enterprise and an instrument for ministry. The ACE Collaborative for Academic Excellence offers professional development resources to help teachers and principals across a diocese work together to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment. ACE’s Strategic Intervention Teams (SIT) initiative delivers training to educators for long-term cooperation creating new possibilities for children with academic and behavioral challenges.

“I trust ACE. Its work is supported by smart, experi-enced people who love Catholic schools,” says the superintendent, who went on from Notre Dame to serve as a principal and to earn a Ph.D. “I credit ACE for making a profound difference in my life and for awakening a passion and a vocation to Catholic education.” With an eye to the public arena, Rigg also credits the broader reputations of ACE and Notre Dame as resources that helped to bring “recognition and prestige to our process here in Cincinnati.” The outcome has been a vision statement provid-ing “a clear road map for our schools to be sustained and to thrive, and—when and where possible—to expand, and to make sure our Catho-lic schools are available and affordable for every-body who wishes to attend.” Such a vision is a natural convergence of the goals of the archdio-cese and the foundational values upon which ACE Consulting is built.

Those same values take ACE consultants around the country, assisting archdiocesan and diocesan partners in the Catholic School Advantage campaign or assessing and advising schools in the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative—or in numerous customized assignments large and small. The passion to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools even transcends national boundaries. It prompted ACE Consulting to collaborate with Catholic Relief Services and Haitian bishops to develop a Haiti Catholic Educa-tion Initiative that envisions the impoverished nation’s Catholic schools as powerful forces to renew education and society more broadly in Haiti.

Dr. Jim Rigg, Superintendent of Catholic Schools with Archdiocese of Cincinnati students


75

Provided excellent non-profit, research-based

consulting service in

Play Like a Champion Today fostered youth development

through sports by forming 3,000 coaches and

2,000 parents, impacting

ACE Collaborative guided

children.

30,000

Archdioceses or Dioceses.

1,450 Catholic school teachers inimproving their curriculum,instruction, and student assessment.

13PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES



When Jude Villanueva began fourth grade in 2010 at St. John the Evangelist School in Tucson, he was reading at the second grade level. At the same time, Roseanne Villanueva, Jude’s mother and the principal of St. John, was fighting to bring the school back from the brink of closure. That same year, the school became one of three pilot schools in Tucson to partner with the University of Notre Dame in an innovative model of urban schooling called the Notre Dame ACE Academies. The alliance has totally altered Jude’s academic trajec-tory and his mindset about learning. The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Acad-emies partnership addresses the needs and capitalizes on the strengths of its schools, provid-ing resources and support that enable continuous improvement. Among these supports is a revamped literacy program tailored to the needs of the school and its students. An increased focus on data and its potential to inform instruction empowered teachers at St. John to be more responsive to the learning needs of each of their students. At the same time, professional develop-ment that Villanueva calls “targeted and purpose-ful,” supplemented by access to a full-time instruc-tional coach, and an influx of thousands of books began to infuse the classrooms with a culture of literacy.

Reinventing Parish Schools with Notre Dame ACE Academies

Always strong in her Catholic faith and

committed to every child’s growth,

Lourdes León embraced the ACE Acad-

emies’ research-driven approach. “They

helped me become more conscious

about what does work with children.”

All of this was part of a new beginning for Jude, who recently ended fifth grade having soared to the 85th percentile in reading. “It was a beautiful thing to see,” says his mother Roseanne. Lourdes León, Jude’s teacher in 4th and 5th grade, oversaw his progress. Her own sense of possibilities expanded as a result of the ACE Academies environment. Also, León says, a culture of high expectations prompted her and her colleagues to do “whatever it takes” to advance Jude and his classmates. Students responded with their own re-ignited enthusiasm and determination. Regular assessment and feedback, León says, allows students to “know how they’re doing, and we let them be a part of that achievement.”

15GENERATING RESEARCH AND IDEAS


The implementation of cutting-edge research and ideas energizes Notre Dame ACE Academies and many other Alliance for Catholic Education initiatives to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catho-lic schools. “Action research” that addresses day-to-day challenges for teachers and principals is a core contribution from Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program degree candidates, and the program’s faculty have produced valuable surveys of principals and pastors, as well as a nationwide analysis of school facilities. Faculty members in ACE and the Institute for Educational Initiatives are earning honors for research and publications that enrich the academic field of Catholic education. Scholars, staff, and students alike combine a growing spectrum of data and ACE’s innovative, problem-solving spirit to probe trends, assess policies, and generate knowledge essential for successful Catholic schools in the 21st century.

The new approach and support systems helped to build Jude’s self-confidence, undergirding the school’s oft-repeated call for students to seek, persist, excel, love and serve. It’s not just good news for Jude. Throughout St. John, the last two years have seen robust improvements in academic achievement, and León’s class has shown particu-larly strong gains. Over the course of one year, average fourth-grade performance increased by the equivalent of a year and a half. The story of hope and joy at St. John the Evangelist touches every facet of the school. Inspired by the ACE Academies initiative, a benefactor contrib-uted to the creation of a music program. The school hired a passionate music teacher and purchased instruments. Jude discovered that he had talent for the trumpet. He excelled in lessons and became a founding member of the school’s mariachi band during the spring of 2012. His proud mom and principal says, “Jude wants to be able to play with his uncle someday.”

The school is filled not only with the sounds of music but with stories of aspiration. That holds true for the teachers, too, who constantly remind students of St. John’s two goals for them: College and Heaven. Before the partnership with Notre Dame ACE Academies, Villanueva says, “we didn’t really realize what our school could be.” Now, Jude speaks for everyone when he says, “I thank the teachers, especially Mrs. León and my ACE tutors, for helping me. St. John’s is the best!”


10.5%

Percent increase in student academic achievement at

Notre Dame ACE Academies over one year.

Catholic Bishopsengaged in ACE-sponsoredconferences on advocatingfor Parental Choice policy.

77

19,713new students enrolled in aParental Choice programthis year. The Program forK-12 Educational Access is researching the best strategiesto utilize these policies.

17GENERATING RESEARCH AND IDEAS



As one of the parent ambassadors, or “madrinas” (Spanish for “godmothers”), helping St. Benedict make more families welcome, Sofía Aguilera personifies the relationships that ACE pursues with individuals, schools, parishes, and dioceses. Alliances at all these levels are coming together in Notre Dame’s Catholic School Advantage campaign to give more Latino students access to a quality education.

An ambitious Alliance for Catholic Education partnership with the Archdiocese of Chicago to help increase Latino enrollments in K-12 schools led to the madrinas of the Blue Island, Illinois, parish getting together with Catholic School Advantage field consultant Juana Sánchez. She offered strategies for explaining that advantageand the enrollment assistance available—to friends and neighbors. That set the stage for Sofía to call Rosalía Robinson. “I knew her family and wondered why she didn’t consider our parish school,” Sofía recalls. Shortly after that conversa-tion, Rosalía transferred her daughter Marissa from public school to sixth grade at St. Benedict. Marissa recalls the move. “It was very different,” she says. “It was like family at St. Benedict.” Her mom credits Sofía’s phone call for the enrollment decision: “I just needed that push—a friend’s promise that this move was possible.”

Building a Solutions-Oriented Network of Partnerships

“What works is the personal touch,” says

Sofía Aguilera, explaining how her

phone call to another member of the

Latino community in a town just south

of Chicago brought in a new student to

St. Benedict Catholic School this year.

The sense of possibilities is shared by Marissa and her classmates. Welcomed in the school’s cultur-ally rich environment—with a hospitality increas-ingly shared by dozens of archdiocesan schools, many of them receiving guidance from ACE’s Sánchez—the students are making plans to attend Catholic high school and, beyond that, college. Sofía’s own daughter, now in eighth grade at St. Benedict, explains that “I gained confidence in myself” after her own move to Catholic school. One result: She has been elected student council president for this year.

A broader success story also applies to the Catho-lic School Advantage campaign. With a projected enrollment of 210 students this fall, St. Benedict has recruited 51 new Hispanic students over the past three years. The principal attributes this to the madrina approach and stepped-up scholarship

19FORMING PARTNERSHIPS


The Catholic School Advantage campaign is one example of ACE’s wide-ranging embrace of partner-ships to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools, now with field consultants working in the Archdioceses of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. ACE responds to the invitations of dioceses, schools, and organizations to address their specific needs in tune with their own people and perspectives. The Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative constructs in-depth partnerships with selected at-risk schools, built to capture additional synergies with state parental choice laws, corpora-tions and benefactors, and the skills and insights providentially cultivated through all of ACE and Notre Dame. Valued partners in our teacher and leadership formation activities include the Corpo-ration for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps) and the Catholic Volunteer Network. The pursuit of synergy extends internationally to the sharing of skills and ideas in Chile, Haiti, Ireland, and Uganda. Globally and locally, the ACE Movement shares its zeal for educating minds and hearts with the Congregation of Holy Cross.

opportunities. Father Ismael Sandoval, the pastor, is “very happy” that transformative opportunities are being spread among Hispanic neighbors by madrinas who simply share their own stories and the improved performance of their own children. “The madrinas have their kids here and see the difference from the public school,” he says.

Building upon trusted relationships is standard procedure not only for St. Benedict, but for ACE, which has responded to growing needs in Catholic education by embracing a providential increase of collaborations. ACE draws others into action and invests its own support, resources, and reputation. Sofía recalls that ACE’s involvement “helped to validate” her inclination to serve as a madrina. “To see that a university such as Notre Dame was backing us up—that helped the notion to take off, just giving us more confidence in what we could do.” Principal Susan Rys, who initiated her school’s Latino enrollment initiative with inspiration from the Catholic School Advantage campaign, acknowledges the help from ACE’s consulting resources and insights. “We couldn’t do it without Notre Dame,” she says. “We have benefited from the partnership.”

ACE’s field consultant is indeed a linchpin among partners, working locally with the numerous school communities while also teaming with arch-diocesan leaders to promote Catholic education. And great successes have followed. The Archdio-cese of Chicago saw impressive enrollment gains this year, and those schools partnering with ACE saw Latino enrollment gains at nearly twice the rate of other Archdiocesan schools. The alliances keep growing, transforming schools and students’ lives with every call for collaboration—and with every call by a madrina.


74Archdioceses and Dioceses

where ACE was active during this year.

Catholic schools.

Partnered with the Church in Haiti to create

a strategic plan for

2,315

$1,000,000secured for new scholarshipsthrough the Arizona Tax Credit Program, increasing and creating scholarships for more than 300 Notre DameACE Academy students.

21FORMING PARTNERSHIPS

More than


ACE’s original initiative, founded in 1993, is the nation’s largest program forming the next genera-tion of educators for Catholic elementary and secondary schools. In 2011-2012, Service through Teaching supported over 170 ACE teachers as they pursued a rigorous, two-year graduate-degree curriculum, intentional Christian community life, and personal spiritual growth. These teachers served in more than 110 schools in 30 com-munities.

ACE Service through Teaching

2011-2012 IN REVIEW

Graduates from over 40 different colleges and universities have chosen to serve with ACE begin-ning this summer. One continually developing trend also reflected in the “ACE 19” cohort is that a number of the new ACE teachers are entering their commitment after a year or more of post-graduate international service. New print and digital resources, including a reading fluency appraisal app for mobile devices, were added to the program in 2011-2012.

Two classes of educators at Notre

Dame—one from 1929, the other eighty-

three years later during an “ACE

Summer” of formation—tell a story of

shared mission which inspires and

challenges the Alliance for Catholic

Education today. Today’s ACE teachers

and school leaders share their

predecessor’s zeal to make God known,

loved, and served.


Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program

2011-2012 IN REVIEW

232011-2012 IN REVIEW

This master’s degree program for aspiring educa-tional leaders, supported by a generous endow-ment from Mary Ann Remick, of Rochester, Minnesota, responds to the critical need for trans-formational principals in Catholic schools. The Remick Leadership Program has become the largest of its kind in the United States; in 2011-2012, there were 77 educators participating in cohorts at various stages of the 26-month formation process.

Faculty members of the program completed two major research projects in 2012 that can help guide diocesan decision-making—a national survey of Catholic elementary school principals and a comprehensive study of current uses of Catholic facilities (such as closed schools). The program’s emphasis on action research that marshals data to help solve educators’ practical problems was spotlighted in Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice.


Inclusionary Practices:Teacher Licensure

ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools

Recognizing the need for Catholic schools to serve the needs of all children, ACE conducts two teacher licensure programs—English as a New Language (ENL) and Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC). During the 2011-2012 academic year, teach-ers participating in the intensive, year-long curri-cula totaled 29 in the ENL program, and 18 in the TEC program.

The ENL program, established in 2006, is now attracting more teachers from outside the conti-nental United States who see the value of these language-education skills. Participants from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Puerto Rico are among the group beginning their studies in summer 2012. TEC preparation for teachers, now entering its third year, has proven increasingly popular in conjunction with larger groups drawn from schools and dioceses.

With a growing need in Catholic schools, the nation, and the Church for highly talented, faith-filled young leaders, the Alliance for Catholic Education invests in the ongoing formation and leadership development of its graduates. ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools, the unit leading these efforts, supports ACE graduates through conferences, retreats, mentoring, and networking assistance. Graduates of ACE’s programs are moving into the leadership echelons of Catholic education, and ACE Advocates assists others from our network in doing the same.

In 2011 – 2012, ACE Advocates supported twenty-five local networks of ACE graduates in cities from coast to coast. Regional Leadership Teams devise an action plan for providing service to local Catho-lic schools and educators. Additionally, ACE Advo-cates engages graduates in supporting relevant public policy and assists their spiritual growth and vocational discernment.

2011-2012 IN REVIEWInclusionary Practices:Teacher Licensure

ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools

Recognizing the need for Catholic schools to serve the needs of all children, ACE conducts two teacher licensure programs—English as a New Language (ENL) and Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC). During the 2011-2012 academic year, teach-ers participating in the intensive, year-long curri-cula totaled 29 in the ENL program, and 18 in the TEC program.

The ENL program, established in 2006, is now attracting more teachers from outside the conti-nental United States who see the value of these language-education skills. Participants from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Puerto Rico are among the group beginning their studies in summer 2012. TEC preparation for teachers, now entering its third year, has proven increasingly popular in conjunction with larger groups drawn from schools and dioceses.

With a growing need in Catholic schools, the nation, and the Church for highly talented, faith-filled young leaders, the Alliance for Catholic Education invests in the ongoing formation and leadership development of its graduates. ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools, the unit leading these efforts, supports ACE graduates through conferences, retreats, mentoring, and networking assistance. Graduates of ACE’s programs are moving into the leadership echelons of Catholic education, and ACE Advocates assists others from our network in doing the same.

In 2011 – 2012, ACE Advocates supported twenty-five local networks of ACE graduates in cities from coast to coast. Regional Leadership Teams devise an action plan for providing service to local Catho-lic schools and educators. Additionally, ACE Advo-cates engages graduates in supporting relevant public policy and assists their spiritual growth and vocational discernment.

2011-2012 IN REVIEW


ACE Collaborative for Academic Excellence

Through partnerships with arch/dioceses, the ACE Collaborative prepares teams of lead teachers and principals to work to strengthen curriculum, instruction, and assessment across schools. The diocesan-selected teams exchange and dissemi-nate best practices, assisted by ACE faculty and staff who offer a suite of services, such as work-shops, collaborative opportunities, and resources. This work, so far conducted in five arch/dioceses, has received primary support from the Louis Calder Foundation.

Four new dioceses commenced the Collaborative process in the summer of 2012—Camden, Jackson, Patterson, and Savannah. The Collabora-tive has continued to integrate online technology in its community-building for teams, including a “wiki” to share information, video clips for instruc-tion, and a classroom-walkthrough app for data-gathering on principals’ mobile devices.

ACE Consulting strengthens and transforms Catho-lic education through research-based consulting, strategic planning, professional education, and other professional services. Working at various levels, from individual schools to arch/dioceses to national organizations, consultants address areas critical to school success and institutional advancement. ACE Consulting also supports the work of other ACE units, including Notre Dame ACE Academies and the Program for K-12 Educational Access.

Consultants provided services to school leaders in 12 archdioceses and dioceses during 2011-2012 and extended on-site support to numerous schools in Catholic School Advantage partnerships. In Haiti, research in collaboration with the country’s bishops and Catholic Relief Services yielded unprecedented insights into the country’s Catholic school system, leading to the summer 2012 launch of a Haitian Catholic Education Initia-tive.

ACE’s Catholic School Advantage campaign is a nationwide effort to lift Latino enrollments in Catholic K-12 schools from approximately 300,000 to 1 million by 2020, thereby giving more children a hope-filled educational pathway to fuller partici-pation in America’s civil and economic life. In this way, Catholic schools can strengthen the well-being of the immigrant Church and contribute to the common good of the nation.

An expanding outreach in 2011-2012 helped more schools around the country adopt the strategies that increase accessibility and appeal to Latino families. These include new financial approaches and the fostering of supportive networks of parent ambassadors or madrinas (Spanish for “godmoth-ers”). On-site ACE representatives have energized the outreach in the Archdioceses of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York and in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

ACE Consulting

Catholic School Advantage Campaign

2011-2012 IN REVIEW

252011-2012 IN REVIEW


Notre Dame ACE Academies

Play Like a Champion Today received a grant from the Templeton Foundation in 2011 to study the role of group culture in moral formation, with interdisciplinary experts probing how classrooms, sports teams, and religious groups influence moral development. Separately, a gift from Shire Phar-maceuticals allowed PLACT to develop educational material to help coaches work with children with a range of pervasive developmental disorders and health problems.

This professional service, leadership formation, and research collaborative is dedicated to expand-ing and enhancing publicly funded K-12 scholar-ship initiatives serving at-risk Catholic school fami-lies. The Program for K-12 Educational Access (PEA) cultivates data-driven, parent-centered education reform. In 2012, the program continued its sponsorship of high-level conversations across dioceses to enhance the Church’s voice on matters of public policy and Latino enrollments in Catholic schools.

Nearly 77 archbishops and bishops have partici-pated in these discussions. Indiana’s Choice Schol-arship Program, a parental choice program enacted in 2011, prompted the PEA to launch a “Choice Implementation Initiative” to maximize prudent participation of K-12 Catholic schools in voucher and tax credit programs. The PEA is conducting a two-year analysis of the Indiana law.

The Notre Dame ACE Academies (NDAA) represent an innovative model of in-depth partnership between ACE and at-risk urban schools. The initiative’s three elementary schools in the Diocese of Tucson have completed their second year of implementing structural features to facili-tate school improvement. These features support a strong Catholic school culture focusing students on two goals: college and heaven.

In a new partnership, Notre Dame named two Catholic schools in the Diocese of St. Petersburg as Notre Dame ACE Academy schools. The model was introduced in the fall of 2012. Students will benefit from Florida’s private school tax credit. Mean-while, in Tucson, NDAA raised more than $1 million in new tax credit scholarships for those three schools. A generous grant from Target in 2011 enabled the schools to pilot a comprehen-sive early literacy initiative.

Play Like a Champion Today® (PLACT) has grown to partner with 23 diocesan-wide sport organizations since 2006. This coach and parent education initia-tive, with a presence in over 30 cities, offers work-shops that frame coaching as a character-building enterprise and have educated over 18,000 coaches to date. Initiatives to promote youth sports are ongoing in Chicago, South Bend, and Los Angeles, as well as Uganda.

Play Like a Champion Today

Program for K-12 Educational Access

2011-2012 IN REVIEW


272011-2012 IN REVIEW

2011-2012 IN REVIEWStrategic Intervention Teams

ACE’s Strategic Intervention Teams (SIT) develop in school faculties the knowledge and skills neces-sary to become more inclusive of children with special learning needs. The SIT initiative prepares teachers over a one-year period to coordinate their efforts and to share best practices in serving children with academic and behavioral challenges.

In 2012, ACE began offering SIT training to faculty groups via webinars, as well as in person. The virtual training is equally in-depth, and each group establishes a “virtual coach” relationship. The faculty members of nine schools had begun this training by summer, with both in-person and virtual training set to continue.

Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives

The Alliance for Catholic Education is one of three major units supported by the Institute for Educa-tional Initiatives (IEI). The Institute and its fellows conduct interdisciplinary teaching, research, and service to improve the education of the young, particularly the disadvantaged, with special, though not exclusive, attention to Catholic schools.

Initiatives begun in 2011-2012 include: a Research Center on Educational Policy, working with the Indiana Department of Education to inform policy-making in the state and nationwide; an Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program in Indiana (AP-TIP IN) to improve the teaching of science and math in high schools; and the IEI Excellence in Science and Math Education Initiative, enhancing research and practice in the STEM disciplines.

Haitian Catholic Education Initiative

Eighty-eight percent of Haitians live in poverty, and one half of Haitian adults are illiterate. ACE is part of a network of partners, including Catholic Relief Services, Haiti’s Catholic bishops, their Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, and the Congregation of Holy Cross, putting forth a Haitian Catholic Education Initiative. This multifac-eted program envisions the revitalization and expansion of Catholic education in Haiti, and the quickening of nation-wide education reform.

In 2011-2012, ACE Consulting conducted unprec-edented, comprehensive research into Haiti’s Catholic school system and, with its partners, developed an initiative that includes teacher train-ing for primary and secondary schools, along with support for Catholic schools in the areas of strate-gic planning, sustainability, community engage-ment, and technology.


2011-2012 IN REVIEWCommencement & Missioning

The University of Notre Dame bestowed 104 graduate degrees Saturday, July 14, during Com-mencement exercises for Catholic school teach-ers and leaders who had completed formation in Service through Teaching and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program. Dr. Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, was Com-mencement speaker.

Missioning ceremonies capped the busy “ACE Summer,” sending forth nearly 300 teachers and leaders to serve children in Catholic schools around the country. The Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg and chair of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, presided at the missioning Mass on July 27.

Notre Dame Forum 2011-2012

ACE and the Institute for Educational Initiatives were privileged to play a leading role in orches-trating the annual Notre Dame Forum, a campus-wide series of events sponsored by University President Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C. The Forum for 2011-2012, titled “Reimagining School,” explored the profound and challenging questions that shape the national debate about K–12 education, which has a dramatic impact on the future of American civil society.

During the Forum, Notre Dame welcomed an array of experts and thought-leaders to campus, including: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, CEO and Founder of Teach for America Wendy Kopp, and historian and former Department of Education official Diane Ravitch.

Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America

Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida

Graduates of the ACE 17 class


292011-2012 IN REVIEW

Haitian Catholic Education Initiative

Eighty-eight percent of Haitians live in poverty, and one half of Haitian adults are illiterate. ACE is part of a network of partners, including Catholic Relief Services, Haiti’s Catholic bishops, their Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, and the Congregation of Holy Cross, putting forth a Haitian Catholic Education Initiative. This multifac-eted program envisions the revitalization and expansion of Catholic education in Haiti, and the quickening of nation-wide education reform.

In 2011-2012, ACE Consulting conducted unprec-edented, comprehensive research into Haiti’s Catholic school system and, with its partners, developed an initiative that includes teacher train-ing for primary and secondary schools, along with support for Catholic schools in the areas of strate-gic planning, sustainability, community engage-ment, and technology.

Bridget Black, Philanthropic LeaderTom Black, Managing Partner, Black/Mann & Graham LLPSr. Barbara Bray, S.N.J.M., Superintendent, Department of Catholic Schools, Diocese of OaklandJohn Buck, Chairman and CEO, The John Buck CompanyPam Burish, Coordinator, Technology Outreach, IEIGwen Byrd, Superintendent, Archdiocese of MobileJohn Croghan, President, Rail-Splitter Capital ManagementRosemary Croghan, Founding Chair, Cristo Rey ChicagoRev. Lou DelFra, C.S.C., Director of Pastoral Life, ACEKaren DeSantis, Partner, Kirkland & EllisThomas Doyle, Senior Director, M.Ed., ACEMary Lee Duda, Philanthropic LeaderMaureen Hackett, Philanthropic LeaderMargaret Hank-Requet, EducatorMegan Hernandez, EntrepreneurJoyce Johnstone, Senior Director, Program Development, ACEDan Lapsley, Academic Coordinator, ACERick Maya, Director of Catholic Schools, Diocese of SacramentoJohn McGlinn, Managing Director, Archbrook Capital ManagementMelissa McGlinn, Trustee, The Colonial Oaks FoundationRev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., Assistant Professor, Department of Political ScienceAndy McKenna, Jr., President, Central Street GamesRev. Ronald Nuzzi, Senior Director, Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, ACEPatricia O’Hara, Professor, Notre Dame Law SchoolStephen Perla, Senior Director, ACE ConsultingMary Ann Remick, Philanthropic LeaderColleen Ryan, Philanthropic LeaderCorbett Ryan, Philanthropic LeaderRev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., Director, Institute for Educational InitiativesJeny Sejdinaj, EducatorJohn Sejdinaj, Vice President for Finance, University of Notre DameJohn Staud, Senior Director, Coordinator of Administration and Pastoral Life, ACERev. Jack Wall, President, Catholic Extension SocietyRev. Richard Warner, C.S.C., Superior General, Congregation of Holy Cross

ACE Advisory Board and Senior Leadership


As the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) marks its first year in its new home at the heart of the Notre Dame campus, particular gratitude goes to three families for their generosity and for their long-time support of Notre Dame: Bobbie and Terry McGlinn and their children, from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania; Mary Ann and Jack Remick and their children, from Rochester, Minnesota; and Carole and Jack Sandner and their children, from Chicago, Illinois. All three families have champi-oned Catholic schools and the ACE Movement during its growth as a premier provider of Catholic school teachers and leaders in the United States.

Annenberg FoundationArthur Vining Davis FoundationsAsante FoundationHelen Brach FoundationBradley FoundationLouis Calder FoundationCalifornia Community FoundationCatholic Relief ServicesCoca-Cola FoundationCorporation for National and Community ServiceDaniels FundDeHaan Family FoundationGE FundGoizueta FoundationConrad N. Hilton FoundationJones Day FoundationKoch FoundationLewis FoundationLinehan Family FoundationLumina FoundationM & T TrustMacNeal Health FoundationMacquarie Group FoundationMathile Family FoundationMazza FoundationMCJ FoundationO’Neill FoundationOpus FoundationOur Sunday Visitor FoundationPowers FoundationRaskob FoundationSeiben FoundationTarget FoundationWalton Family FoundationWilliam E. Simon FoundationW.K. Kellogg FoundationUPS Foundation

Support fromFoundations

Since 1994, the Corporation for National and Community Service and ACE have partnered to recruit, educate, and retain highly quali-fied college graduates to serve as ACE AmeriCorps members. For almost two decades, this partner-ship with AmeriCorps has provided support vital to the growth of ACE and the efficacy of its teachers, the majority of whom remain in educa-tion long after completing their service.



Alliance for Catholic Education Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

(574) 631-7052http://ace.nd.edu


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Alliance for Catholic Education 2011-2012 Annual Report

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