De La Salle High School is a Lasallian high school that serves 1,000 boys in Concord, California, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. De La Salle is known for providing an excellent education and preparing students for college and life. Almost 100% of the graduating students attend a two or four year college. The school also has a strong financial position and recently completed a large capital campaign that included a 25 million dollar Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STREAM) innovation center. Though De La Salle provides an excellent education and has invested heavily in capital improvements, teachers in the science department noticed that building a new STREAM center alone did not improve student performance on essential math skills for science. This project, Improving Essential Math Skills for Science—A Collaborative Approach, aimed to increase the average freshmen science proficiency on the Essential Math Skills for Science (EMSA) from 45.5% to 60% during the spring semester of 2020. The collaborative approach involved the creation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) between the freshmen algebra and science teachers to identify math/science skill overlap between courses, create formative assessments and a formative assessment tracking dashboard to monitor student skill development and provide tier II intervention when necessary. Two weeks into the eight-week formative assessment data collection phase the project was halted, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the departments have plans to continue collaborating to improve student math and science proficiency when we return to school.

Spencer Shively has been a science teacher at De La Salle High School in Concord, CA since 2003. His career in teaching started immediately after completion of his B.S. in Biochemistry from Saint Mary’s College of California. During his 17 year career, he has taught Biology, all levels of Chemistry, and Marine Biology. He has served as the Science Department Chair for the past 13 years. Spencer is an active participant in all areas of school life and is regularly involved in Campus Ministry retreats and other co-curricular programming. He has served as a golf Coach for five years and has also moderated the School ski club for the past 15 years, which just completed its 50th trip this February.

St. Thomas More School, located in Northwest Indiana 30 minutes from Chicago, is home to 420 students in preschool through eighth grade. As the demographics of the school shifted over the past decade both ethnically and socio-economically; parent engagement dwindled and school communication began to lag. This project focused on increasing effective communication and building trust between the school and its families. The ultimate goal was to increase family engagement and attendance at school events from 27% to 50% by May of 2020. In the early implementation of this intervention family attendance at school events increased significantly for all child-centered events. While the goal was to increase engagement and ultimately attendance at school events, the Coronavirus created a unique communication opportunity for teachers and families. On-line distance learning required an incredible amount of communication and collaboration between teachers and families. Positive relationships formed between families and teachers earlier in the year continued to strengthen during the school closure. Teachers, parents, and students were all in regular communication via email, phone and video calls throughout the school closure. Steps for continuing to cultivate positive communication and relationships between teachers and families is scheduled to start immediately at the virtual Open House and continue through individual teacher contact as the year progresses.

Dr. Samantha Hofferth-Francis has been the principal of St. Thomas More School in the Diocese of Gary for two years. Her principalship began as she entered the Remick Leadership Program in 2018. She has almost a decade of teaching experience in the classroom. Samantha taught middle and high school science in both public and Catholic environments. Catholic school leadership has brought her back to her alma mater. Her leadership focus is creating a culture of engagement, strong teacher development and increased student success within a Catholic school environment.

St. Mark Catholic School was established in 1982 in Plano, Texas. Currently the school serves 506 students in grades Pre-K - 8. With three classes per grade level, St. Mark is one of the larger Catholic schools within the Diocese of Dallas. St. Mark Catholic School has recently instituted a root belief of “Be Golden” with a mantra of “Be Aware, Be Kind, Be Golden.” This root belief was infused into every part of the St. Mark school community. However, there were some issues within the culture of the middle school community. St. Mark Catholic School has scored within the lowest scale range for the past three years on the annual Dallas Catholic school's (DCS) Elementary School Survey in the category of bullying. A three fold intervention was designed to decrease by 50% the number of middle school student discipline referrals for gateway behavior from the first quarter by the end of the 4th quarter and increase student perceptions of belonging. The intervention consisted of increasing awareness and understanding of gateway/bullying behaviors (Be Aware), increasing teacher interventions (Be Kind), and implementing a peer mentoring program (Be Golden). The first two parts of this intervention (Be Aware. Be Kind.) were able to be implemented while the third (Be Golden.) was interrupted by the Covid-19 quarantine. Through the implementation of the direct instruction of gateway and bullying behaviors and intentional observation and intervention of teachers, discipline referrals for gateway and bullying behaviors for middle school students decreased by 43% from the first quarter (28) to the third quarter (16). Plans are being made to reintroduce the first two areas (Be Aware. Be Kind.) at the beginning of the next school year and to fully implement the peer mediation program (Be Golden) by October of 2020.

Greg Michniak is currently serving the Diocese of Dallas as the 7th/8th grade literature teacher at St. Mark Catholic School in Plano, TX. Greg began his teaching career in 2004 at the June Shelton School, a private school for students with learning differences in Dallas. In 2012, Greg was called to begin his career in Catholic education as the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade religion and social studies teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Catholic School in Dallas. OLPH is a school that serves a 98% Latino population in a very low socio-economic area of Dallas. Greg has plans to become the assistant principal at St. Mark Catholic School after the 2020 - 2021 school year.

Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires (NDV) is a French Catholic TK-8th grade elementary school located in the heart of downtown San Francisco. It is home to 280 students, 37 staff members, and 25 teachers. NDV is known for its academic rigor, however, in the last five years, student Math achievement has dipped. On average, 30% of students scored below benchmark in Math at the end of each school year according to the STAR test. The NDV team of teachers identified the problem and set the collective goal to increase from 70% to 80% the number of students who scored at or above benchmark according to the STAR test by May of 2020. This project involved vertically aligning math standards, creating a clear and comprehensive path from TK-8th grade that included steps and processes for student mastery of standards, creation and implementation of curriculum plans, and weekly PLC meetings. In February of 2020, student math achievement was the highest it has been in the five-year history of the STAR test at NDV by grade. Despite the COVID19 closure, the NDV team of teachers taught all standards and curriculum thoroughly for the first time since the adoption of the 2016 math program. Moving forward, the NDV teaching team will continue to improve student achievement in math with the goal of increasing student achievement to 85%.

Sarah Currier is in her third year as principal of Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires TK-8th grade school in the Archdiocese of San Francisco California. The goal of her Inquiry and Intervention project, Math Proficiency and Achievement Improvement, was to increase from 70% to 80% the number of 2nd-8th grade students who score at or above benchmark in Math according to the STAR math assessment. Sarah is completing her 20th year as a Catholic school student, 14th as an educator, and 6th as a parent. She considers her vocation to Catholic education to be just beginning and is looking forward to continuing to follow God's call as a Catholic student, educator, and parent.

St. Athanasius School is a K- 8 Catholic school in Long Beach, CA, that serves a primarily Latinx/Hispanic community in an underserved area. In response to the needs of their school community, the school has been participating in the Onward Readers initiative since 2017. After two years of support with curriculum resources and professional development, 88.88% of students in 1st grade through 8th grade were still performing below the archdiocesan benchmark on their Star Reading assessment. Teacher turnover lead to a critical number of teachers who did not receive the original Onward Readers professional development. Additionally, the absence of time and structures for teachers to collaborate further exacerbated the problem. The aim of this project was to increase the number of 1st through 8th graders who score at or above the Archdiocesan set benchmark of 65 PR on the Star Reading Assessment from 12.12% to 25% by May 2020. The intervention included protecting time for teachers to collaborate, establishing norms for collaborations, and providing professional development around a collective focus. The structures for communication and collaboration embedded the ongoing professional development and ensured teachers gained the tools to improve student learning. By providing appropriate structures throughout the intervention, teachers learned how to collaborate and utilize feedback to improve instruction. The sudden shift to distance learning due to the pandemic, further highlighted the need for positive teacher collaboration. By adjusting structures based on the teachers' needs, the intervention was able to successfully transition to an on-line format with a majority of teachers participating in spite of any of their current challenges. This embedded, structured, and collaborative professional development model produced higher rates of adult engagement and learning, and more importantly, will positively impact student learning.

As a Los Angeles native, Karisa Avalos has spent 16 years in Catholic education, serving in a variety of roles across Los Angeles. She began her ministry as a teacher within the PLACE Corps Program through LMU. Since then, she has taught fifth grade at St. Turibius School and second grade at Mother of Sorrows School, as well as middle school social studies and religion. Karisa eventually transitioned into instructional leadership as a curriculum coordinator while teaching middle school at Saint Joseph School and later in her current role as an Academic Excellence Specialist for the Department of Catholic Schools at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Recently, Karisa said, “yes,” to the calling as a principal at Saint Sebastian School in Los Angeles that belongs to the archdiocese’s Dual Language Immersion Network for the upcoming school year. She is looking forward to continuing her ministry in Los Angeles Catholic education in this new role.

Notre Dame School of Milaukee, located in the near south-side neighborhood of Milwaukee, serves 533 students in pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. Composed of three academic programs, the two campuses are geographically separated by a mile. The founding campus remains an all-girls middle school and a second campus houses the dual-language primary school and all-boys middle school. The school has grown considerably in recent years and teacher collaboration has not been fostered as a means to improve student outcomes. Hindered by the geographic separation, teachers met once every six weeks and the topics were not meaningful or applicable to improve teacher practice. Surveys with English Language Arts teachers revealed a collegial culture rather than a collaborative one. While the school remains committed to offering students a rigorous academic experience, only 30% of students were meeting grade level expectations in reading comprehension in grades 4-8. This project was designed to improve teacher collaboration through the implementation of targeted fluency interventions in grades 4-8. School leadership established consistent meeting times for the teachers and implemented progress monitoring data collection and analysis protocols. After six weeks, teachers self-reported an increase in the value of their collaborative time together and 60% of students selected for intervention demonstrated improvement in reading fluency. Additionally, 30% of selected students were reading fluently on grade level and no longer in need of the intervention. Though teachers disagreed on the relevance of fluency intervention for all grade levels, the changes that allowed for more collaboration were positively received. Steps are in place to expand teacher collaboration through the Professional Learning Community structure to more content areas next school year.

Megan Otero has been serving in Catholic schools for the past nine years. She is blessed to have worked in schools in Oklahoma City, Santiago, Chile, and her hometown of Milwaukee. Most recently, Megan served as the Academic Dean at Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, working with teachers to improve collaboration and monitoring student learning outcomes. She is excited to begin the upcoming school year in her first principal role at Saint Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee.

Saint Bernadette Catholic School, located in Springfield, VA, serves a diverse community of learners in pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. While most St. Bernadette graduates move on to respected Catholic high schools, an analysis of High School Placement Test scores demonstrated that while students were scoring above the national average, they were considerably lower than other Diocese of Arlington schools. Additionally, students in grades six and seven were not demonstrating enough reading growth on standardized assessments in order to reach grade level goals by the end of the school year. A number of students, regardless of where they scored in previous testing sessions, were not in line with their target growth rate. Many middle school students lacked stamina and comprehension skills when reading longer passages; furthermore, English Language Arts (ELA) skills taught within the ELA classroom were not being utilized in other subject areas. This project was designed so that each student would build a personal skill and strategy set that he or she could deploy when faced with a challenging reading obstacle regardless of content or subject area. While opportunities for independent reading are well-intentioned, it is the connection to intentional instruction that allows the student to grow in his or her reading strategies and skills. Purposeful implementation in ELA classes allowed students to actively use a taught strategy within the support system of a small group. Due to the impact of COVID-19, minimal data was collected. While there is insufficient data to determine whether the project implementation improved student comprehension, assessments point to a small increase in student performance. Although the current project limited the ELA teacher to a few strategies and reading skills, the 2020-2021 school year will open up the project to an entire year’s worth of reading strategy and skill development.

Breigh Finnerty has been a Catholic educator for over 13 years, working predominantly with Middle School English Language Arts students. Her project, Improving Middle School Reading Achievement Through the Partnership of Independent Reading and Intentional Instruction, comes from vast experience in Middle School ELA classrooms. Two years ago, Breigh recently transferred from the Diocese of San Jose, CA across the country to the Diocese of Arlington, VA. Utilizing her experience as a former Vice Principal, next year Breigh will serve as Middle School Team Lead at St. Bernadette Catholic School in Springfield, VA.

Holy Family High School, located 20 minutes north of Denver in Broomfield, Colorado, is an archdiocesan high school serving 687 students. Founded by the Sisters of Loretto in 1922, the school was located in North Denver for 77 years before it relocated to a 55 acre campus in Broomfield in 1999. The school has over 7,500 alumni but receives minimal financial support from them. Surveys revealed that although graduates felt positively about their experience while at the school, they also felt a lack of connection to it as alumni. A lack of engagement and a lack of compelling alumni events were cited as reasons for alumni reluctance to support the school. This project was designed to move the school towards the fulfilment of the Vision 100 mission alignment documents that calls on us to “engage our alumni in a lifelong relationship that nourishes them and enlists their time, talent, and treasure in support of the school.” In order to improve our connection with our alumni we aimed to increase contacts with alumni from the “old” North Denver campus, the current campus, and through social media. Covid-19 forced the cancellation of the alumni events planned for the spring, but the insight we have gained has been invaluable as we plan for the future.

Matt Hauptly became the Principal at Holy Family High School 6 years ago after previously serving as the Head of the English Department and the Mock Trial coach. Matt has taught and coached football, wrestling, and lacrosse at a variety of public and private schools before joining the faculty at Holy Family. Matt is a graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he was a member of a nationally ranked Division III wrestling team, and the University of Colorado Law School. In addition to his work as an educator, Matt has run a small business and worked for a Fortune 50 company. Matt spent 5 years as a ski bum in Aspen, CO and currently resides in Longmont, CO with his wife Eleanor and his 5-year old son Augustus. Matt is a fourth-generation Catholic Educator whose great-grand uncle, Bishop Francis Howard, was the President of the NCEA from 1928-36.

Saint Ambrose Academy is a Prekindergarten through fifth grade Peace of Christ Parish mission school within the Diocese of Rochester, New York. The school is a diverse community with the majority of its students coming from the urban Rochester community. There are eight suburban districts representing just 18% of the student population. With more than 80% of the student body qualifying for the New York State food program, the entire school receives free breakfast and lunch. The aim of this research was to determine the root causes for low parent involvement to increase participation from 10% to 50% within the school year. Two significant drivers were the people involved, both the parents and the teachers, and frequency and modes of communication. Improvement strategies put in place prior to the COVID-19 building closure indicated parent and teacher satisfaction with communication from the administration and the development of a school-wide platform for communication between the teachers and parents. Measures of improvement with increased participation were interrupted by the closure. Through the investigation of teacher to parent communication and the teachers’ general outlook on their role at Saint Ambrose Academy, an underlying factor that impacted parent engagement was the teachers’ willingness to invite the parents, their willingness to promote the school program to friends and family, and their willingness to collaborate with their colleagues. Future steps will be taken to improve faculty mindset and morale as key components to developing a sustainable culture of welcome among colleagues and critical stakeholders, the parents.

Christine Deutsch has been an educator in Catholic education for the last 19 years. She taught Kindergarten, first grade, third grade, technology instruction K-6 and provided counseling services PreK-6 within the Diocese of Rochester in New York. In the fall of 2019, Christine began her leadership career as a principal at Saint Ambrose Academy, PreK-5 diocesan elementary school, where she focused on faculty interactions and morale, collaborative planning and parent engagement.

Lakewood Catholic Academy (LCA) located on the westside of Cleveland, Ohio is home to 423 students in preschool through eighth grade. LCA’s mission statement states they “strive to provide each member of our community with the highest quality educational experience that is rooted in the Catholic faith and the common humanity that unites us all.” When completing an analysis of the 2018-2019 NWEA MAP test scores, 60% of students in grades 1-4 were below the Conditional Growth Percentile benchmark of 65%. Additionally, 39% of students in grades 1-4 were below the percentile rank benchmark of 65%. To increase achievement in the Math classroom, lesson study, a Japanese form of professional development, was implemented, Increasing Math Achievement through Collaborative Planning, Peer Observation, and Reflection. Using these methods, teachers were able to focus on differentiation in order to best reach all learners while also enhancing teacher pedagogy. LCA had an aim to increase from 40% to 50% the number of first through fourth grade students who scored at or above the conditional growth benchmark in math as well as increase from 61% to 70% the number of first through fourth grade students who scored at or above the percentile rank benchmark in math according to the NWEA MAP by May 2020. Due to COVID19, data was unable to be collected to showcase student growth, however, teachers reported they had a positive response to this form of professional development and were excited to continue to plan standards-aligned lessons and use various methods of differentiation. Through classroom observation and teacher reflections, teachers gained a better understanding of both differentiation and planning standards-aligned lessons in the Math classroom. With the support of teachers and leadership, plans for continued professional development and opportunities for collaborative planning for teachers through lesson study will occur in the 2020-2021 school year.

Courtney Ryan has been a classroom teacher in Catholic schools for the past ten years. Her career as an educator began in 2010 with the University of Dayton's Lalanne Program, through which she taught second grade at Saint Thomas Aquinas in Cleveland, Ohio. Most recently she served as the 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, primary department chairperson and campus minister at Lakewood Catholic Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Next year, Courtney will become the principal at Saint Mary Magdalene in Columbus, Ohio.

Saint Pius X Catholic High School serves as an educational home for nearly 1100 students on the outskirts of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In surfacing our area of intervention, we turned to the affective statements recorded by seniors on the Assessment of Child/Youth Religious Education (ACRE) Exam. Over the past five years, an average of 76% of graduating seniors indicated that “cheating/lack of honesty” was an issue at Saint Pius X. Building upon the various insights gathered through student surveys and focus groups, the school resolved to work towards the goal of decreasing the level of academic dishonesty, as indicated by the ACRE Exam, from 75% to 60% by May of 2020. When probing the root causes of academic dishonesty within our community, the ease of cheating, lack of deterrents, and the high level of expectations faced by students coalesced with the various pressures articulated in the research. Additionally, research consistently highlighted two drivers that aligned with these root causes, particularly the actualization of instructional practices, such as aggressive monitoring, and consistent implementation of discipline procedures. Throughout the Spring, a select group of teachers implemented a series of research-based instructional practices and discipline procedures and were able to see the first signs of change. Results varied with each implemented practice; however, 97% of students indicated that their teachers “active monitoring” during assessments caused them to practice integrity, while 96% affirmed that clear communication of collaboration levels catalyzed integrity. Recognizing that teachers shared various levels of commitment towards implementing the current honor council system, a great deal of work throughout the Spring focused on developing concrete succinct changes to the discipline system at large to catalyze buy-in and clarify expectations. Thus outlining best practices and clarifying discipline procedures became an integral part of future plans.

Melissa Ginther has worked with young people in various capacities for over a decade. During college, Melissa was given the opportunity to serve as a missionary with NET Ministries on a team that was embedded for nine-month in Saint Michael, Minnesota. After college, Melissa spent several years working as a youth minister in Duluth, Georgia. Just over six years ago, Melissa began teaching theology and coaching softball while working to complete her Masters in Theology and Christian Ministry from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. This Spring, Melissa was hired as the principal of Saint Michael Catholic School in Saint Michael, Minnesota, and has returned this summer to the same community she initially served.

St. Joan of Arc School is located in southwest Toledo. As a parish school, it prides itself on its mission to “form Saints, Servants, and Scholars.” Despite a strong academic history, St. Joan of Arc saw a significant decline in academic performance in the last several years. Although underperformance was found in both achievement and growth metrics at numerous grade levels, this project particularly addressed the underperformance in Reading in 2nd and 3rd grades. The aim was to bring 60% of students to benchmark in the area of performance and 90% in the area of growth. With norm-referenced baseline data, the aim was pursued through ability-based grouping and direct instruction geared toward the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The data provided from the baseline test indicated the most essential focus skills for each group of students, driving the instructional priorities. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the planned intervention, however, illness within the community prevented substantial progress. Notwithstanding this setback, the lessons learned about structuring broad-scale, effective intervention instruction will be most helpful in planning for the “SJA Bridge Project”, a school-wide remediation plan to bridge both math and reading gaps in response to the potential effects of the “COVID-19 slide”. These lessons stretch from the necessity of clarifying through in-house professional development how to write quality formative assessment questions to the challenges of progress monitoring and aligning data collection to best practices.

Gabriel Jakubisin just completed his tenth year of service in Catholic education. After nine years of teaching theology at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio, Gabriel transitioned to the position of Interim Principal at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School, a preschool to 8th grade elementary school in southwest Toledo. His Inquiry and Intervention project, Addressing Gaps through Targeted Small Groups, prepared him to address learning gaps following the "COVID-slide" this year, having been asked to return to St. Joan of Arc as Principal this fall.

Red Cloud High School, located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, serves 200 9th-12th grade students of the 600 students in the Red Cloud Indian School District. Red Cloud is administered by the Jesuits and Lakota as a dual mission Catholic/Lakota school. Observations and a faculty survey revealed that deficit thinking, the belief that students' have the inability to learn because of their own deficiencies, was present among Red Cloud High School’s faculty and staff. This project aimed to decrease the amount of deficit thinking among faculty and staff by building the skills of self-efficacy, asset-identification, and reframing among adults at Red Cloud through targeted professional development which included storytelling, student interviews, and goal creation. Due to Covid-19 only development of self-efficacy was fully implemented and asset-identification was implemented in an abbreviated format with no measured change in faculty mindset. Future plans to continue the project include integrating these skills into orientation of new volunteers and faculty, ongoing development and measurement in professional learning communities, and larger school structures to support faculty mindset.

Christopher Smith is the current Assistant Principal of Student Academics at Red Cloud High School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Red Cloud High School is a Lakota/Catholic Jesuit school on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Christopher’s project is titled Faculty Deficit-Thinking: A Skills Based Approach. He arrived at Red Cloud in 2016 as part of the MAGIS Catholic Teacher Corps through Creighton University where he earned a M.Ed. in Secondary Teaching. In his time at Red Cloud, Christopher has taught science and spiritual formation. He has also served in leadership roles as the campus minister and spiritual formation department chair prior to his current role.

Saint Anastasia Catholic School serves 515 pre-kindergarten to eighth grade students in Fort Pierce, Florida. Widely known for its academic excellence and large number of high socioeconomic status families, Saint Anastasia’s demographics have shifted over the last six years. Decreasing levels of achievement on standardized assessments were falsely attributed to this shift in student demographics and upon investigation revealed a necessary area for growth; the need to review, analyze, and use standardized assessment data to inform instruction. Surveys revealed that most teachers did not review standardized assessment data beyond annual benchmarking. This project was designed to address the lack of data inquiry and analysis by building collective capacity around the STAR Reading assessment and Data Informed Instruction (DII). By designing and engaging in differentiated professional development with scaffolded entry points and benchmarks for progression all teacher participants made identifiable and meaningful growth. Though this project did not aim to measure student growth as a product of this professional development and subsequent instructional changes, all teachers participated in data analysis focused on the growth their students made as a function of their Student Growth Percentile. This intervention was recognized for its positive impact on teacher learning and will be expanded next year to include other content areas. This project is a model for successful, embedded, on-going teacher professional development.

Kristopher Takahashi has worked in the realm of Information Technology for over a decade. His crossover focus to make an impact in education began in 2008 when he joined the Diocese of Palm Beach at Saint Anastasia as a Systems Administrator. In 2011 he began his mission to serve a wider community and opened his consulting firm, E1C Technologies, where he would find the opportunity to serve many educational institutions across Central and Southern Florida. Most recently he was appointed to the Advisory Board at Saint Anastasia Catholic School in Fort Pierce, Florida. Next year, Kristopher will continue an expanded role as the Director of Information Services there, focusing on Data Informed Instruction and Educational Technology. Kristopher is both a Google Certified Educator and Certified Clinical Educator in the Diocese of Palm Beach.

Catholic Memorial School is an all-boys independent Catholic school serving grades 7-12 in Boston, Massachusetts. The school has undergone major changes since hiring a new President in 2013. The academic program of the school has strengthened with a focus on how boys learn, advancement efforts have grown, and enrollment has remained steady among a competitive marketplace. Most significantly, the school has seen a major turnover in faculty leading to a lack of consistent enforcement of school rules and policies. Detention data and surveys with students and teachers revealed that the dress code policy was a major issue within daily school life. This project was designed to focus on how to build structures rooted in restorative justice to enact cultural change around the dress code policy. Through professional development conversations among faculty and students surrounding classroom management best practices, Catholic Memorial was ready to implement change until a global pandemic hit. Despite this setback, there were strong findings on the importance of conversations and the role of relational learning amongst boys with regards to student discipline and the enforcement of school rules. In the wake of online learning, the next steps are to find ways to continue to maintain and build community among the students and faculty of Catholic Memorial moving forward.

Michael Dermody has been working in Catholic education for the past seven years all at his alma mater, Catholic Memorial School, an all-boys school grades 7-12 located in Boston, Massachusetts. In his time there, Michael has served as a Theology teacher and has also held several other significant roles including Communications Associate, Director of Student Activities, and Assistant Director of Admissions. Next year, Michael will become the Director of Campus Ministry at Catholic Memorial where he will seek to continue to invigorate the faith formation of boys through a variety of new programs and look to build the schools first adult faith formation program.

St. Martin de Porres Catholic School, located in Prosper, Texas, moved to its current location despite opening its doors five and a half years prior. Amidst the corn fields, the school’s enrollment was expected to grow quickly resulting from the economic boom the North Texas area experienced. Housing developments exploded nearby revealing prospective students and families. After increasing enrollment every year, the 2019-2020 school year enrollment members fell by 6% from the previous year while falling 20% from the overall anticipated enrollment. This project sought to increase awareness of the school within the newly formed parish and the greater community while retaining an early childhood population that historically withdrew before entering Kindergarten. Through means of print and social media, building relationships with prospective parents, participation in community events, and addressing the disconnect between the pre-kindergarten program and kindergarten, the project identified the most effective recruitment strategies to increase student enrollment. While the school’s website and word-of-mouth from current families were most effective in acquiring new students to the school, the pandemic contributed to the loss of current students. Reaching the 2020-2021 school year goal will be difficult but continuing to increase awareness of the school is essential. Next steps focus on utilizing a dedicated enrollment committee designed to effectively market the school to reach the prospective families relocating to the area.

Courtney DeMakas began teaching and coaching in Catholic schools in 2016. Desiring to share her Catholic faith with her students and colleagues, Courtney left the public-school sector to serve the school community of St. Martin de Porres Catholic School. Courtney’s role as Assistant Principal, Athletic Director and Physical Education teacher allowed her to reach everyone in the school community. Next year, she will be moving to Saint Paul Catholic Classical School in Richardson, Texas as Principal where she looks forward to serving the school community and work to increasing student enrollment.

Partnership Schools (PNYC) is a network of seven urban Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx of New York City. Serving approximately 2,000 students from two of the lowest socioeconomic status communities in the country, in the heart of one of the highest financially, culturally and artistically rich cities in the world. Fine arts courses at PNYC schools are designed to provide opportunities for students to navigate group environments, build social skills, and boost self-confidence all of which translate to success in and out of any classroom. However, fine arts teachers are not fully supported with specialized professional development. The aim of this intervention was to better support PNYC fine arts teachers by increasing the collaborative efforts and quantity of Professional Learning Community (PLC) gatherings from 2 to 5 for full-time PNYC Fine Arts teachers in the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic school year. A PLC protocol was designed for fine arts teachers to participate in sessions that better address specific arts-centered teaching practices and challenges. The plan was to collaborate and develop an efficient and effective framework to present to the network as a viable professional development approach for all PNYC fine arts teachers. Fine arts teachers who attended the PLC meetings were very satisfied that the structured time spent collaborating with their colleagues was effective and supported their professional growth even in the absence of tailored professional development days. This intervention can serve as a professional development model for PNYC schools to foster and develop a rigorous, comprehensive, and sustainable fine arts program. Structured supports for fine arts teachers to improve instruction, teacher self-efficacy and ultimately as a result retention, will support the operational vitality and integrity of the PNCY fine arts program. This will help the network deliver on its promise to educate the whole child.

Vincent Hale’s journey to education has taken a non-traditional route. He began his teaching career as travelling performer with Poetry Alive!, a theatrical company that provides high energy performances and interactive workshops in schools and classrooms across the country. Upon moving to New York City in 2015, he began teaching music and eventually theatre in Partnership Schools. Next year, in his 6th year in Catholic education, he will take on leadership of the professional development for fine arts teachers at the network level. He believes in the impact the arts have on student’s academic, social, emotional and physical development. His project, “Let’s Rap: A Professional Learning Community of Fine Arts Teachers” sought to identify strategies to increase the collaborative efforts of art, library, and music teachers in Partnership Schools.

Bishop Lynch High School is a co-educational institution that serves over 1,000 ninth-twelfth grade students in the greater Dallas Metroplex. In 2017 Bishop Lynch integrated a House System for all members of the community, driving comradery and engagement between students, faculty, and staff; the 2019-2020 school year was the first full year of this initiative. In the past decade, Bishop Lynch has been the largest co-educational private high school in the state of Texas, but over the past decade, enrollment numbers have declined and the attrition levels are at an all-time high. At the end of the 2018-2019 school year, 18% of the students who did not return to Bishop Lynch did so by choice, citing issues with student engagement, cultural diversity, rigor, and financial burdens. This intervention sought to reduce the attrition rate by 6% through a three pronged approach: building community, increasing student engagement, and shrinking the socioeconomic gap. The overall goal, decreasing the attrition rate of students who choose to leave from 18% to 12%, changed drastically with CoVID-19 and distance learning. Though efforts were made to address all previously mentioned prongs, students and families were still leaving Bishop Lynch; CoVID-19, however made it nearly impossible to determine the true reasons why students were choosing to leave and if the efforts made had any effect on these choices. At the start of the global pandemic, student engagement and building community became the forefront of all initiatives, attempting to engage students in a non-academic setting. These efforts were made through social media outreach, Zoom calls in House System mentor groups, and maintaining digital contact with students seeming to withdraw. Steps have been taken to ensure that these foundations will continue through the 2020-2021 school year, regardless of distance learning.

Kristie Wainwright started her teaching career in 2013 at her alma mater, Bishop Lynch High School, in Dallas, Texas. Since her start, she has taught multiple different preps within the Science Department, but has focused on Freshman Biology, Pre-AP Biology, and AP Biology for the past five years. In 2017, working in conjunction with Administration, she helped to research and implement a House System at Bishop Lynch, and in January 2018, she was named as one of two House System Directors. Additionally, in 2018, she took on the role of Assistant Mock Trial Coach. Currently, she is developing the Veritas Board, a student-led judicial board set to debut at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.

Central Catholic High School is located in Modesto, California. The school houses 350 students in 9th through 12th grade. Although the school is a College Preparatory high school which regularly sends 100% of its graduates to college, each year there is a cohort of students who struggle to achieve in mathematics. A survey of data from the College Board indicates that over the past several years, it has been common for less than 50% of the students who take the Scholastic Assessment Test for Mathematics to score at or above the benchmark that indicates a readiness for college level work. The aim of this project was to increase the percentage of students who score at or above that benchmark. The theory of action taken for this project focused on the application of one-on-one intervention provided by a school resource specialist. The resource specialist met individually with a small cohort of students who were identified because they each failed to meet the benchmark. The cohort studied specific skills and concepts identified by the College Board report of student achievement, as being necessary for improvement. Weekly meetings were held after school during “What I Need”, or WIN time, and were recorded by the resource specialist. Soon after the start of the intervention, the school was forced to move off-campus to a distance learning environment, which had a negative effect on student participation. Consequently, data was not able to be collected as to whether or not the intervention was successful. Steps are in place to continue the intervention through an increase in the resource specialist’s work hours for the next school year. Also, the school will invest in high quality diagnostic assessment tools for the mathematics department that should help with early identification of student struggles.

Bruce Sawyer has been a high school principal for the past four years. His career as an educator began in 2001 with a social studies teaching position in a large public high school in Tracy, California. He earned an Administrative Services credential for the state of California in 2011, and moved from the classroom to an administrative position in 2012, when he was hired as an assistant principal, also in Tracy, California. Most recently, Bruce has been the principal of Central Catholic High School, in Modesto, California, which is in the Diocese of Stockton.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School (GRCC), located in the Heartside neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan is home to 625 students in 9th-12th grade. GRCC, founded in 1906, is the oldest, Diocesan, co-educational Catholic school in the country. A college-prep high school, GRCC has a 100% graduation rate, a 100% college acceptance rate, and offers 13 AP courses; 96% of graduating seniors enroll in higher education. GRCC’s athletic teams and artistic endeavors are similarly successful. However, the House System, implemented last year, did not initially match this standard of excellence. The House System’s success is predicated on the student leaders who take charge of its programming and development. Surveys completed by students and teachers, supported with focus group feedback, indicated that the student leaders in the inaugural year of the House System entered their roles underprepared, lacking role clarity, and without a vision for their House and their role. This project included designing and writing a House System Student Leader Handbook with clear, detailed role descriptions, policies, and procedures; overhauling the election process to require that students request teacher nominations and interview with the three House Deans before speeches and voting; moving the elections to May so as to capitalize on the summer months for planning and team-building; and, most importantly, implementing an off-campus, overnight retreat for the newly elected student leaders in June. Next year, given the improvements made to the front-end preparation of student leaders, a logical evolution of this work would include more direct instruction and modeling of leadership best practices for student leaders so as to leverage their roles for even better House System outcomes.

Rob Bonner has worked in Catholic schools for nine years. His career in education began in 2011 with the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers. During the two-year program he earned his Master's of Education and taught English at Lowell Catholic High School in Lowell, Massachusetts. After teaching for several years at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts, Rob moved with his wife to Grand Rapids, and he has worked at Grand Rapids Catholic Central since 2017. Over the past two years, he developed and implemented a House System at Catholic Central, and, in addition to teaching English, he is the Dean of the Casey House.

Visitation Catholic STEM Academy is an urban school, located in the Archdiocese of Seattle, in Tacoma, Washington. For the past 15 years, Visitation Catholic STEM Academy has a history of being under-enrolled and under-resourced. The school has been identified as a “Fragile School” due to its need for an Archdiocesan subsidy as well as the overall challenging financial situation for both the parish and the school. The school’s sense of mission and academic structures received increased attention the previous two years, so in the fall of 2019 it was a critical time to enhance marketing and enrollment. The aim for this Inquiry and Intervention project was to increase the ratio of tuition to salaries and benefits from .46 (2019) to .53 (2020 budget) through an increase in enrollment. The interventions included improved website design and internet presence, clear timelines and processes for re-enrollment, and leveraging parents to encourage re-enrollment and recruitment. The results of this Inquiry and Intervention project highlight that collaboration and critical self-reflection are necessary elements of a successful marketing and enrollment strategy. Future goals for this project will include greater emphasis on communicating and structuring tuition assistance for families who have financial need and strengthening community partnerships with local businesses in order to support both STEM and the tuition assistance program.

Marc Nuno currently serves as the principal at Visitation Catholic STEM Academy in the Archdiocese of Seattle. He has been a principal for six years, and is completing his 19th year in Catholic education. His favorite parts of Catholic education are the shared faith and the relationships.

Founded in 1914 Holy Trinity Catholic School is the oldest Catholic School in Dallas, Texas. It serves a diverse population with families representing over twenty countries. From 2017 to 2019, student enrollment increased from 102 to 145 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grades. However, in the same time period, surveys conducted by the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy reported students were increasingly struggling to have positive relationships with each other. The percentage of students who felt they could believe what their school peers told them dropped from 76% to 31%. The percentage of students who believed their school peers cared about them dropped from 93% to 31%. The percentage of students who felt they could depend on their school peers for help dropped from 88% to 37%. This data along with other research determined that students did not understand empathy nor exhibit trust towards each other. Be Tiger Bold. Be Gold! was created to help teachers implement activity-based lessons designed to improve students’ understanding and ability to empathize with and trust each other. The goal was to reach 75% in each of the aforementioned categories in 2020. Five Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons were taught before Holy Trinity changed to e-learning in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Though the program was not completed, some improvement from 2019 to 2020 was evident on the 2020 Oklahoma Center for Education Policy survey. In their respective categories the percentages increased from 31% to 38%, 31% to 36%, and 37% to 45%. Even though the goal was not reached, the slight improvement was promising. It is recommended that Holy Trinity Catholic School begin Be Tiger Bold. Be Gold! in August, 2020 and teach it to completion in May, 2021.

Kristy Martínez attended Catholic schools through high school. After college she worked as a paralegal and administrative assistant before beginning her career in education in 2001. After teaching in private and public schools in New Mexico, she moved to Texas, and in 2015 she returned to Catholic schools as a teacher and then assistant principal at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Dallas. On June 1, 2020 Kristy became the principal of Santa Clara Catholic Academy, a dual-language school in Dallas.

Assumption Catholic School serves a population of 170 students in preschool through eighth grade. Located in the Welby community of Denver, Colorado, the school was founded 100 years ago to serve the children of an Italian immigrant community of farmers. Today, the school is proud of its diversity with over 70% of students identifying as LatinX/Hispanic. One of Assumption Catholic School’s root beliefs is, “Our school is a sacred space where all are valued and welcome.” However, a review of parent attendance data and teacher surveys revealed that less of half the parent population was attending school events or engaging with teachers. This project sought to increase parent attendance from 49% to 69% through targeted engagement opportunities around student learning and more frequent, consistent and concise communication from the administrator and teachers. While the closing of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic altered the focus on in-person parent engagement opportunities it provided other opportunities for families to engage in online prayer, and use the school as a resource to support their child in distance learning. Additionally, administrator and teacher communication with families increased to a weekly basis during the shutdown. At the school’s final engagement opportunity of packet pickup, parent attendance was at 96%. Steps are in place for the upcoming school year to continue to build on the strong foundation laid this year regarding parent engagement and communication.

Marie Dunn has been in education for the past eight years in Chicago and Denver. Her leadership roles have included admissions director, head of early childhood, and most recently, the assistant principal at Assumption Catholic School in Denver. This coming year, Marie will serve as principal at Assumption Catholic School, where she will focus on continuing to foster family engagement and participation.

St. Albert the Great Catholic School is one of four elementary schools in the Diocese of Reno. Located in the North West neighborhood of Reno, Nevada, the school currently serves 273 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. In the 2014-2015 school year, the Diocese switched from the SAT 10 to the ACT Aspire test. Over the last 5 years, math achievement has decreased between third, fourth, and fifth grades at an average of a 15% loss between each of the grades. This project aimed to increase math achievement on the ACT Aspire national readiness benchmark in grades 3-5 by 7% by May 2020. Survey data from the fourth and fifth grade students as well as the third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers revealed that testing mindset was one of the factors affecting student achievement. Throughout the intervention, students completed classroom assessments each week that assessed a standard the students mastered previously in the school year. In conjunction with each assessment, students self-reported on a survey how they felt both before and after the assessment, how they felt they did on the assessment, and their level of effort compared to their effort during math class. Effort on the assessments began matching classroom effort and student achievement increased on the classroom assessments. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, students did not take the final spring summative assessment. Plans for next year include the use of classroom assessments provided by ACT Aspire in addition to the use of individual student data folders to track student mindset and math score data for each assessment.

Sara Sears has taught at St. Albert the Great Catholic School for the last six years. She began in third grade, where she taught for three years before rolling up with her class to fourth grade, where she taught for three more years. She served on the Parent-Teacher Organization Board as the teacher liaison and the School Board as the secretary. Her inquiry and intervention project, Increasing Math Achievement at St. Albert the Great Catholic School, was used by the third, fourth, and fifth grade teaching team to increase math achievement in the school. Next year, Sara will be returning to third grade, but will be teaching at Epiphany Catholic School in Chicago, Illinois.

St. Mark the Evangelist School was founded in 1912 in Harlem by St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. The school serves Pre-k through 8th grade students and 97% of students are African American. Saint Mark the Evangelist found itself in crisis at the end of the 2018-2019 school year. Enrollment had dropped from 261 students to 210 going into the 2019-20 school year. More troubling was that only 68.85% of families had re-enrolled for the school year and 40% of families left because of a negative experience, specifically, bullying and student incidents of fighting and foul language. St. Mark needed to regain control of the culture and come together as a staff. Implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) sought to solve the behavioral problems that had negatively affected the school’s enrollment. Teachers collaborated to define school-wide behavior expectations and planned and executed a “Teach Day,” where all students were taught the expectations of the school in the different settings of their day from the classroom to the cafeteria. In the month of February suspensions dropped by 50% and at the end of the school year 86% of students re-enrolled. St. Mark will continue to implement and refine PBIS each year by starting each September and January with a Teach Day to establish a clear and positive culture for behavior for teachers and students alike.

Dominic Fanelli began his career in education as an ACE Teaching Fellow, teaching for two years in Baton Rouge, LA at the school Sr. Helen Prejean attended as a child. He then completed a Fulbright in Germany for a year. From there he joined ACE classmate Chris Rhodenbaugh at a charter school in Harlem and in addition to teaching middle school math was the varsity basketball coach. He was then connected with Kathleen Porter-Magee, superintendent of the Partnership for Inner-City Education and accepted the role of Academic Dean at Sacred Heart Highbridge in Highbridge Bronx. After a blessed year there he was asked to be the principal of St. Mark the Evangelist School in Harlem and just completed his third year as principal and is excited to enter his fourth year as principal of St. Mark next year.

Greensburg Central Catholic (GCC) Junior-Senior High School, located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1959 as the sole Catholic secondary school in suburban western Pennsylvania. Today in it’s 60^th year, GCC is home to 328 students in grades 7-12. Defined as a college-preparatory, Catholic school in mission, GCC has two primary focuses: providing a rigorous curriculum infused with Gospel values and promoting service to the global community. While 99% of students go on to college, surveys of teachers and students revealed that the school’s emphasis on service had dissipated, with less than half of the student body participating in meaningful service projects. This project was designed to increase the number of students participating in service projects that connect to student identity, are motivated by personal values, and are likely to be repeated. Teachers were consulted regarding the importance of service as it relates to the mission of the school. Student input was gathered to ensure service opportunities were attractive and barriers that previously limited student participation, such as grade-point average or club enrollment, were removed. Students completed service reflections that shifted the focus of the school’s service program from quantity of hours to quality of experience, closing the gap between the service program and the school’s mission. Despite interruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, steps are in place to ensure that student experience is at the center of the service program in the 2020-21 school year.

Will Merchant is in his tenth year of teaching at Greensburg Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. After completing his Master’s in Systematic Theology at Duquesne University in 2009, he returned to his alma mater to serve high school students. In addition to his service at Greensburg Central Catholic, Will has also served as an adjunct professor of Theology at Seton Hill University. Most recently, he assumed the role of Theology Department Chair where he sits on the school’s Academic Council. His inquiry and intervention project, “Core Service and the Catholic School,” aims to shift the focus of a service program from quantity to quality, ultimately aiming to create a service program that is connected to the Christian value of charity, intrinsically motivated, and desired to be repeated by students.

St. Josaphat School, located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, is a two-time National Blue Ribbon Award recipient. The school has two classes of each grade from PreK-3 to eighth grade. Although the school is recognized for high test scores and other indicators of academic achievement, the faculty experiences a high degree of turnover every year. Forty percent of the faculty were new to the school last year, and 70% had been at the school less than four years. Surveys and interviews with teachers revealed that primary reasons for turnover were beyond the reach of the school’s leadership team. However, teachers, both those who left and those who returned, expressed concern about how they were being developed and evaluated as professional educators. As a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the school uses a version of the Charlotte Danielson Framework that includes Catholic identity. An analysis of formal evaluations revealed that more than half the teachers grew less than 5% in their evaluation rubric score from one year to the next. This project was designed to develop teachers’ effectiveness through improving teacher understanding of and engagement with the evaluation tool, providing feedback from observations aligned with each teacher’s goals, and aligning professional development with teacher’s goals. Although the project was terminated before its planned conclusion due to the COVID-19 school closure, teachers exhibited significant growth from the fall to winter. Teachers improved an average of 25% in a selected goal from September to February. Although planning for the reopening of school has impacted the extent to which the project can resume in the fall, using the instructional coach to support teachers’ development toward their selected goals will continue.

Jen Kowieski has worked in Catholic education for over 20 years. She began her career teaching second grade in St. Petersburg, Florida with the Alliance for Catholic Education and then moved to Chicago to teach fourth grade at St. Mark School. Jen took a two-year break from teaching to found the LU-CHOICE program at Loyola University Chicago. She returned to classroom teaching at St. Josaphat School as a junior high math, science, and religion teacher and was honored with the NCEA Distinguished Teacher Award in 2011. For the past three years, Jen has been the assistant principal at St. Josaphat School. This past month, she moved to Boston to become the new head of school at Saint Columbkille Partnership School. Jen is grateful for the many ways in which the Remick Leadership Program has helped her to grow professionally and spiritually, and she plans to draw on the incredible Remick community in the years to come.

St. John Vianney Catholic School (SJV), a parochial school founded and led by priests from the Congregation of Holy Cross, has served prekindergarten through eighth grade students in Goodyear, Arizona since 1992. Located in one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, SJV found itself on the verge of closure with an enrollment under 200 in 2012. Due to leadership's focus on utilizing Arizona tax-credit scholarships, the school has grown from 190 students to approximately 500 students for the 2020-2021 school year. The school’s story of growth has transcended enrollment into the classroom for most students; however, data analysis showed that some students were not included in this growth story. Specifically, those sixth through eighth grade students whose reading assessment data showed achievement in the bottom quartile have not shown the same growth as their classmates. These students tended to remain in the bottom quartile year-to-year. The project aimed to assist these students in transitioning out of the bottom quartile through an emphasis on tier II instruction as well as support at home. In building the capacity of teachers and parents in providing support to these children, these students would be provided with instruction targeted at skill gaps which prevented access to grade level skills and content. While the move to distance learning did not allow for full implementation and data collection of the project, teacher capacity was increased and tier II supports were implemented for more than a month. In this time, teachers grew in their own self-efficacy around providing this instruction which set the stage for more fuller implementation in the coming years. Further, the project revealed a relationship between leadership and authority that suggested the need for growth in personnel and authority structures to effectively implement supports for all students at SJV.

Ryan Costello spent the first eight years of his career as a teacher at St. John Vianney Catholic School in Goodyear, Arizona where he was sent as a member of the ACE Teaching Fellows. Ryan taught different combinations of fifth through eighth graders in ELA, social studies, and religion during those eight years. Next year, he will begin work as Dean of Students at Bourgade Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona.

Corpus Christi Catholic School is located on the north side of Holland, Michigan, along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. It serves a diverse population of 160+ students in preschool through eighth grade. The school boasts strong academics and a strong faith component, yet it has suffered for years of declining enrollment. Because of low enrollment, students progress with the same cohort of peers from preschool up through eighth grade as there is only one class per grade level. Though a small cohort leads to more personalized education, it also leads to strained relationships with students as they grow older and enter middle school. When surveyed, over 50% of students in fifth through eighth grade reported bullying, teasing, and name calling as a problem in their school. Additionally, this percentage increased each year as students grow older. This project aimed to decrease the percentage of students reporting negative culture as a problem at Corpus Christi Catholic School from 52% to 25% through student-led creation of a relationship-building protocol. The project was also designed to increase awareness of student behavioral expectations as well as consistency of teacher intervention to undesirable behaviors. Students worked together collaboratively to disaggregate their own survey responses and provide next steps to help curb the trending negative culture and establish a more welcoming school, pursuant to its mission statement. Students identified more leadership opportunities and shared experiences as key steps to take in changing the ways they relate to each other. Next steps are in place to establish a more permanent student leadership structure in the school as well as incorporating the younger grades in these behavioral changes in order to create an environment where all feel welcomed.

Jennifer Liniewski is a principal at Corpus Christi Catholic School, a K-8 school in Holland, Michigan. After beginning teaching in the public school system, her career in Catholic education began at West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she taught English and Spanish and was integral in preparing the school for a House system. She transitioned into leadership in fall 2019 when she assumed the principal role at Corpus Christi. Her work focuses on empowering students to boldly live out their Catholic values, creating a welcoming environment among the diverse student population and encouraging peace and empathy. Her project, "Improving Middle School Culture and Curbing Negative Social Behaviors at Corpus Christi Catholic School: A Mission-Based, Student-Led Approach", sought to increase student voice and ownership over the culture and climate in the middle school.

Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic School, located in Tucson, Arizona serves 356 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. There are two teachers per grade with an average class size of 17. The school’s faith formation is strong, but reading scores have dropped across the school. In August, 62 percent of the kindergarten students were considered to be at some risk or high on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) first assessment. Through teaching accountability and formative assessment, the end of the year goal was to increase the number of kindergartener students on benchmark from 38 percent to 80 percent. Shared teacher language and a tracker for phonics instruction were used, as well as data from the kindergarten students survey. By November 2019, gains were made in the second assessment - 66 percent of the kindergarten students were considered to be at benchmark or strategic. Unfortunately the third benchmark assessment was unable to be completed due to the distance learning that occurred due to the Corona Virus. For next year baseline assessments will be done in August in grades kindergarten through second grade to see where the students are re-entering after the pandemic.

Nicole Callahan has been a classroom teacher for sixteen years, ten in Catholic schools. Her career as an educator began upon completion of her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in May 2004. She has taught in grades ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade in Tucson, Arizona. She sat on her local schools Notre Dame Ace Academy leadership team and also led her kindergarten through second grade professional learning community. She was nominated for the Raytheon Teachers for Excellence Award in 2016. Next year, Nicole will continue to teach kindergarten at Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic School and coach the varsity basketball team.

Founded in a home in Irving, Texas in 1986,. The Highlands School (THS) began as a K-12 school inspired by the educational model of the Legionaries of Christ. Although they had numerous schools in Mexico, in 1990, THS became the first school the Legionaries sponsored in the United States. Since then, trying to replicate the model found in Mexico the school has taken on several administrative structures with frequently changing policies and procedures, and has undergone seven significant leadership changes in the past ten years. The instability caused by these constant changes in leadership and policy lead to an unclear narrative about the school’s mission and confusion regarding stakeholders’ expectations. Since 2016, overall enrollment has declined 23%, the lowest it has been in 7 years, and the retention rate in August 2019 was 83% the highest it had been in that time frame. This project sought to boost enrollment to 90% by defining and clearly communicating the school's vision narrative - what it has done well, has improved, and what it seeks to accomplish; engaging the school's diverse stakeholder groups; and concentrating on students and families that were at risk of withdrawing from the school. The school shut down due to COVID-19 in March motivated the Headmaster to halt parts 1 and 2, focusing school communication on addressing the logistics of teachers and families pivoting to on-line learning. Looking to create clear religious, disciplinary, and academic expectations and draw stakeholders into the deep mission of the school, the details of this project are already in place for next year.

Father Daren Weisbrod is a religious priest in the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. He began his ministry in Catholic Schools in 1997 when he served as a Dean of Students at a high school seminary in Center Harbor, New Hampshire. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2006 and since then has ministered as admissions director, principal, and chaplain in Indiana and Georgia. He currently serves as chaplain at The Highlands School in Irving, Texas. His project focused on improving student retention through personalized, clear and compelling communication of the schools mission and culture to all school stakeholders.

Cristo Rey New York High School is one of 37 schools in the Cristo Rey Network. Cristo Rey New York serves 376 students in grades nine through twelve who have been economically and educationally marginalized. Following the network model, every student at Cristo Rey New York works one day a week and attends classes four days a week. Despite fewer academic days, the students have a comprehensive academic program. Recognizing that students who attend Cristo Rey New York are on average two years behind grade level, the school has built-in serval supports over the years. These supports begin with a double dose of Math and English in each students’ freshmen year. In addition, there is a comprehensive Multi-Tiered Support System. Tier II supports are provided by teachers twice a week in the school’s Academic Support Program after school. However, the data revealed that 86% of the students who failed Math had tier two intervention for more than one trimester. This intervention sought to increase the number of students able to transition from tier II to tier I supports after only one trimester by 10%. The intervention focused on redefining the Academic Support Program from homework help to direct intervention that targeted specific misconceptions, shifting the math teachers’ perception of the purpose of tiered supports, and by providing them with implementable strategies for delivering tier II math intervention. While the strategies the math teachers learned and the tools the teachers created were not implemented due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the math teachers’ understanding of the school’s Multi-Tiered Support Systems was changed, providing them with a clear progression between tiers. Next year, the math teachers will review the tools created and strategies learned to proceed with providing students in the Academic Support Program targeted interventions.

Rosanjela Batista has been a math teacher for the past eleven years. Her teaching career began at Notre Dame High School in New York City and has continued at Cristo Rey New York High School (CRNYHS). At CRNYHS, Rose began as a full-time Math Teacher, and for the past four years the Dean of Student Learning and Support while still teaching one section of math. Her Intervention project, Stuck at Two: Providing Appropriate Math Intervention, leveraged progress monitoring, pre- and post-assessments, goal setting, and collaboration between the Math department and Math Interventionist to provide students with targeted intervention in Math at the appropriate tier of CRNY Multi-tier Support System.

Founded in 1907, St. Joseph is a Jesuit Parish grade school located in the affluent Northern Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. St. Joseph serves 546 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Historically, St. Joseph has enjoyed robust enrollment but began experiencing a gradual decline during the 2016 school year. This decline accelerated in both 2017 and 2019 as kindergarten enrollment dipped precipitously into the 30s, more than 20 students below the target kindergarten enrollment of 60 students. While student retention remained strong, the growing trend of low kindergarten enrollment caused alarm in the parent community as well as amongst teachers, staff and administrators who feared the adverse effects that a persistent decline in enrollment would have on fiscal strength and mission viability. An examination of the factors which contributed to this problem revealed that shifting demographics in the city of Seattle and fierce competition from local independent schools left St. Joseph vulnerable to long term deficiencies in its marketing practices. The aim of this project was to increase kindergarten enrollment from a low of 34 students in 2019, upwards to 54 students in 2020. This was to be accomplished employing three aligned strategies: utilize social media to drive prospective parents to the school website, update the school website to reflect best practices in admissions and leverage heuristics in the school tour protocol to increase applications and enrollment. While implementation of this project fell short of expectations, it exists as a framework for future improvement efforts to be conducted in light of key learnings, namely the importance of creating and maintaining stakeholder buy-in during all phases of design and implementation. Next year it will be necessary to re-engage stakeholders in a mutually designed and agreed upon plan for enhancing and aligning St. Joseph marketing practices.

Robby Hayes is a complete product of the Catholic school system having attended elementary, high school and undergrad at Catholic institutions. For the past ten years he has taught within the Seattle Archdiocese and currently teaches at St. Joseph School in Seattle, Washington. Robby has taught both middle school Social Studies and K-8 Physical Education. Currently, he teaches K-4 P.E. and is the Athletic Director for his school. He also coaches cross country and track for his alma mater, Bishop Blanchet High School. Robby looks forward to utilizing the skills, knowledge and dispositions he developed in the Remick Leadership program in further service of Catholic Education.

Saint John’s Preparatory School was founded by the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey in 1857. This grades 6-12, day and boarding independent school enrolled 290 students. Situated on grounds encompassing 2900 acres of woods, wetlands, and lakes in rural Collegeville, Minnesota, the location provided ample access to the adjacent Saint John’s Abbey and University. Surveys and conversations with parents, students, and faculty members revealed that students in the middle school suffered from anxious behaviors. The goal of the intervention was to provide tools to allow students to use prayer and work to better cope with stress in their daily lives, aligning these tools with practices of Benedictine religious members. Due to the transition to online education, the research was not executed in the original timeframe, however a plan was put in place to utilize monastic practices in combination with other methods to reduce student stress and anxiety in subsequent academic years.

Br. Richard Crawford, OSB is a Benedictine monk of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. Since 2012 he has served as the Technical Director for the Theatre Department, Staff Accountant in the Business Office, and on the Board of Regents for Saint John's Preparatory School, a Catholic, Benedictine day and boarding school serving students from 14 countries in grades 6-12. His project, "Ora et Labora: Reducing Student Stress and Anxiety through the use of Monastic Practices" sought to apply the 1500 year tradition of Benedictine monasticism through prayer and work to build resilient students in uncharted times.

Most Holy Trinity School is a TK-8th Grade school affiliated with the Sisters of the Notre Dame de Namur and operated within the charism of the Society of Jesus. The school serves a diverse and underserved population of East San José, California, allocating over $500,000 for tuition assistance (~40% of the school’s budget) for 70% of MHT families. While the school outperforms local area elementary and middle schools in literacy achievement, almost three-quarters of its students do not meet the college-ready benchmark in STAR Reading. Forging “Ridas” sought to close this gap by (1) inspiring Middle School faculty to become literacy-focused ride or die teachers (i.e. “Ridas”) and (2) improving the quality of Middle School literacy instruction. The intent of the project was to increase the percentage of Middle School students who demonstrated literacy proficiency on STAR by 26%, from 22% to 55%. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the school building to close in March, which rendered final STAR test administration impossible. March test results indicated that the percentage of students demonstrating literacy proficiency had declined by 7%. However, student scores below the 75th PR were trending upwards, indicating that the intervention was yielding positive results for struggling students. Two problems remain as we move into the next phase of the intervention in 2020. The first is that teachers are still not “Ridas” and fail to see literacy as an intimately important part of their work. The second is that they cannot yet teach literacy skills with excellence. The 2020-2021 school year will focus on these priorities.

Douglas Hosking’s path to Catholic education has been circuitous. While he began his career leading retreats at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton (his alma mater), his career took a sharp turn into corporate work at Deloitte Consulting before he returned to education. The experience of working with Fortune 500 companies opened his eyes to operational excellence, but also exposed him to profound inequity. This drove him back to the education sector. He restarted his career in Stanford’s Teacher Education Program and spent the next four years seeking to reshape the educational landscape in East San José. For three years, he worked to found Cristo Rey San José Jesuit High School, and for the last year he has been leading the transformation of Most Holy Trinity (MHT) School. Next year, he will take over as Principal of MHT. His project, “Forging Literacy-Focused ‘Ridas’ to Change Middle School Literacy Outcomes” sought to inspire a “ride or die” (Tupac Shakur) attitude in his teachers. His project sought to prove that this attitude, coupled with strong literacy pedagogical skill, can dramatically change reading outcomes for Middle School students in the Eastside.

The Department of Catholic Schools (DCS) for the Archdiocese of San Antonio serves 29 Elementary Schools and 9 High Schools. Each of these schools has their own unique history, diverse demographics, and school culture; yet all share the same challenge of declining enrollment, a common occurrence in Catholic schools nationwide. Since the year 2000 the Archdiocese has decreased by 6,113 students, yielding a trend of about a 5% loss each year. In response to this trend, the aim was to increase the total students re-enrolled the following school year through retention and recruitment. Every Catholic school may not have the financial resources to launch a professional marketing campaign or substantial tuition assistance to impact parents who cannot enroll without significant aid; what can be found in every Catholic school is dedicated people serving in the front office. This intervention was designed to leverage fellowship and resources to build the capacity of enrollment personnel. While certain templates provided to schools became irrelevant in light of school closures and program changes due to the pandemic, the engagement of the enrollment personnel in the cohort increased and the leading data revealed that each week the enrollment personnel were making progress in the retention and recruitment of students. Steps are in place to continue with the positive momentum by guiding the enrollment cohort throughout the summer.

Dené Hummon began her career in Catholic education by serving as a board member for ACE Advocates Tucson in 2013. This led her to serve as the Scholarship Manager for St. John the Evangelist NDAA, an unprecedented role at the K-8 level in Catholic schools within the diocese at that time. She served Catholic education in Tucson for 5 years, focused on student recruitment and the strategic management of school choice scholarships. She is currently the Director of Recruitment and Enrollment for the Department of Catholic Schools with the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Dené continues to promote the school choice movement with the goal of making Catholic education available, accessible, and affordable.

Nativity Jesuit Academy, located on the Southside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is home to 260 students in grades K4 through eighth grade. In the Jesuit tradition of Catholic education, Nativity Jesuit Academy provides a rigorous education that addresses the needs of the whole child. Nativity Jesuit Academy is rated the top elementary school in the city of Milwaukee according to the results of the Wisconsin State Test. Like Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45), Nativity Jesuit strives to transform students to become men and women for and with others. Nativity Jesuit Academy’s student population is 99% Latino and around 97% identify as practicing Catholics. In their home’s students have very rich faith traditions and devotions to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and other Mexican rituals such as Las Posadas and Rosca de Reyes throughout the liturgical year. However, the Catholicity of students and their rich traditions from home did not transfer to the school’s religious celebrations and rituals. Student mass participation and reciting responses at mass was extremely low and students were not joining the choir to sing. This intervention sought to strengthen the students’ Catholic identity at school and to provide students authentic encounters with Jesus. The third through fifth grade teaching team collaborated and created core value prayers, established a schedule for students to frequently reflect in prayer journals, infused bilingual prayer opportunities within classrooms, and scheduled service projects for students. Due to the Covid-19 closure, full implementation and tracking of this intervention did not come to fruition, however surveys and focus groups prior to the start of distance learning did indicate that students were growing in their faith. Nativity Jesuit Academy plans to continue the implementation of this intervention throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

Ally Beckwith has been a classroom teacher in Catholic schools for the last seven years. After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her career began in 2013 at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Lincoln, Nebraska. At Sacred Heart Catholic School she taught fourth grade and served as a teacher ambassador for Diocesan spiritual formation curriculum and initiatives. In 2019, Ally moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and accepted a teaching position at Nativity Jesuit Academy. At Nativity Jesuit Academy, she serves as the fourth and fifth grade English Language Arts teacher and is an active member of the Ministry Team. Her project, Strengthen Catholic Identity at Nativity Jesuit Academy; Reinforcing the Jesuit in Nativity Jesuit Academy, was inspired by the work she encountered as a Ministry Team member. Next year, Ally will continue at Nativity Jesuit Academy forming men and women for others in the Jesuit tradition.

St. Edward the Confessor Parish School, an elementary school in Dana Point, California, serves over 700 preschool through eighth-grade students. St. Edward the Confessor prides itself on preparing students for success in high school and beyond, yet graduating eighth-grade students reported challenges with the shift in workload as they transitioned to high school. Further, in the first trimester of the 2019-2020 school year, missing reports reflected that 52% of seventh grade students and 68% of eighth grade students had at least one missing assignment. Student surveys revealed that seventh and eighth grade students experienced challenges completing work on time as a result of shifts in homework policy and absence of time management supports. This Inquiry and Intervention project sought to provide the tools and supports students needed to successfully complete homework through a multi-tiered approach. This approach focused on executive functioning support through the modeling of organizational tools and strategies, positive reinforcement of completed work through the school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, and individualized Tier II/III supports for students requiring additional direct support. As a result of campus closure, students transitioned to a home learning program, which shifted the intervention’s priority to Tier II/III executive functioning supports for fifth-grade students. Team-based approaches to student support through collaborative video calls, real-time online student chats, and consistent communication of missing work resulted in improved work completion for fifth-grade students. Near the end of term, 62% of fifth-grade students had missing work in contrast to 99% of seventh and eighth grade students. Plans are in place to provide Tier I organizational support and positive reinforcement through the school-wide behavior program while expanding the intervention team supporting students requiring Tier II/III supports in grades seven and eight.

Stacie Rego has been a classroom teacher in Catholic schools for the past ten years. Prior to transitioning into the classroom, she worked with an ethical review board to ensure patient safety within medical and device trials. Stacie has taught second grade, middle school technology, and fifth and sixth grade science. Most recently she served as the fifth-grade math and STEM teacher at St. Edward the Confessor Parish School in Dana Point, California. Stacie serves as a Notre Dame Trustey Family Senior STEM Fellow, facilitator of the school-wide PBIS implementation team, and coordinator of the Junior High Academic Decathlon program. Next year, Stacie will continue her work in the mathematics and science classroom where she will focus on improving Tier II/III supports within the general education classroom.

Saint Patrick School is a Vincentian School located in downtown San Jose, California. The school is sponsored by the Daughters of Charity and serves a culturally diverse population in a low socioeconomic area. The teaching tradition of Saint Vincent de Paul and the charism of the Daughters of Charity is serving the poorest of the poor by providing them with high quality education. Saint Patrick School works in partnership with school families in transforming students into lifelong learners and inspiring service to others as compassionate and effective leaders. Saint Patrick School was experiencing inconsistencies in handling student behavior in the Middle School. This Inquiry and Intervention project was aimed at reducing the number of office referrals from an average 11 daily referrals to a maximum of three. In order to affect this change, teacher mindset in addressing the student behavior needed to shift. First, the upper grade teachers collaborated to standardize the expected behavior and teachers’ disciplinary practices. As a result, a thoughtfully designed behavior matrix was created in alignment with the existing Discipline with Purpose Program (DWP) that the school was already implementing. The new behavior expectations were explicitly taught to students using the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program (PBIS) alongside the DWP program. The teachers were hoping to reduce the 15% instructional time lost while addressing students behavior. Unfortunately, the current reality of school closures due to the pandemic halted the implementation of the PBIS and DWP behavioral intervention. As a result, the implementation of the behavioral intervention will once again commence this coming school year with a slight modification that will include students’ behavior online, digital citizenship, internet etiquette and safety.

Jed de Torres has been a classroom teacher in Catholic schools for the past 19 years. He taught Religion for two years in all grade levels from K-8 and was the homeroom teacher in 5th grade for 12 years. He also served as the first Blended Learning Specialist and the Director of Educational Technology for the Drexel schools for five years before joining Saint Patrick School last year as vice-principal. He will continue serving in this capacity this coming school year and will be helping lead the school in its preparation for the WCEA accreditation in 2022.

O’Hara Catholic School is located in Eugene, Oregon, home to 512 students, and is the largest Preschool - 8th grade school in the Archdiocese of Portland. Despite high academic achievement and community engagement, middle school enrollment steadily declined over the past five years due to a lack of parent satisfaction with local Catholic high school options and misperceptions related to the middle school program. On average, 5% of students were leaving middle school to acclimate to the public school culture in anticipation of attending public high school. A fall 2019 survey revealed that nearly 40% of 4th and 5th grade parents had misconceptions, and 23% of students’ felt like they did not belong. The aim of this study was to increase middle school local retention from 95% to 100%. An analysis of student and parent surveys indicated a need to clarify misconceptions with 4th and 5th grade parents, communicate middle school programming, and create intentional rite of passage activities for the middle school students. The project involved frequent and improved communication systems and the development of a Faith Family program which included grade level band Faith Family lunches, 8th grade leadership development, and a faculty planning committee. Prior to and throughout COVID-19 closures misconceptions were clarified and parent perceptions of middle school began to shift, while students responded positively to the rites of passage activities and increased opportunities for connection.. As of July 1, 2020, O’Hara had achieved 100% retention of 5th -8th grade for the 2020-2021 school year.

Angi has been a Catholic educator for twelve years. She spent five years as a middle school language arts/social studies/religion teacher, ten years serving her family by raising her children, and seven years as a physical education teacher. Most recently she served as the Preschool – 8th grade physical education teacher and 8th grade leadership teacher at O’Hara Catholic school in Eugene, Oregon. Next year, Angi will continue to work in her current role to increase student belonging, middle school leadership, and further develop the Faith Family program which she started at O’Hara.

Located in Tucson, Arizona, San Miguel High School is a member of the Cristo Rey Network and provides a Catholic college preparatory education to students from families with limited financial means. As a result of underperforming elementary and middle schools in the area, a majority of students enter San Miguel High School below grade level. San Miguel High School’s mission is to prepare students “for college, career, and a fulfilling life.” The academic program is intended to prepare students for college. However, only 48% of 10th - 12th grade students at San Miguel High School demonstrated mastery of Social Studies benchmarks by passing the End-of-Course Assessment with a 70% or better. Consequently, the majority of students have not mastered key critical thinking skills essential for success in college. Without those skills, students will not be prepared for college. A root cause analysis conducted in conjunction with the Social Studies Department and administration revealed a misalignment between the style and rigor of classroom summative assessments and the style and rigor of the End-of-Course Assessments. This intervention aimed to increase from 48% to 60% the number of students who passed the End-of-Course assessment with a 70% or better. To achieve that end, the intervention focused on improving the alignment between teacher summative assessments and the End-of-Course Assessments by using Understanding by Design backward planning principles. The Social Studies teachers worked as a department to redesign one unit using backward design. As a result of professional development and consistent collaboration, alignment between unit summative assessments and the End-of Course Assessment increased. While COVID-19 halted implementation, the intervention was successful in changing teacher planning practices and increasing alignment between summative assessments and the End-of-Course Assessments. Next steps include reengagement in backward design planning principles through continued department professional development and collaboration.

Clare Curry has been a history teacher for the past nine years at San Miguel High School in Tucson, Arizona. At San Miguel, Clare also served as the Social Studies Department Chair and was a member of the Instructional Leadership Team. Her intervention project, Improving Social Studies Achievement Using Backwards Design, leveraged Understanding by Design unit planning principles and department collaboration to improve 10th through 12th grade Social Studies achievement. Next year, Clare will become the Assistant Principal at Cristo Rey St. Viator College Preparatory High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. In that role, she will focus on teacher observation and coaching, faculty professional development, and student academic support.