The annual event, now in its fourth year as an initiative of the , draws numerous participants from the University community, as well as families from the local community. Participants will gather at 10:30 a.m. at Notre Dame’s Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes; proceed to the Main Building, where Mary’s image stands atop the Golden Dome; and complete their walk at Geddes Hall, where a statue of Mary will be crowned and adorned with flowers.

May Crowning customs have spanned generations in Catholic culture, nurturing “a vivid memory and a deep love” for the woman called “blessed” as mother of Jesus and powerful intercessor for God’s children on earth, said , program director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy at the McGrath Institute. The procession — a solemn carrying of the statue of the grace-filled person who points the faithful toward her son — “helps us broaden our imaginations around Mary,” Pirtle said.

“This is a devotional practice that is deeply human and almost instinctual for people” because, for example, “children love to honor their moms by bringing them flowers,” Pirtle said. Participants will hear a Scripture passage about Our Lady, or Notre Dame, receiving an enduring maternal mission from Jesus on the cross.

“To delve deeper and approach this [procession] from spiritual and theological levels — and to see the beauty and the fittingness of it — makes the human experience all the richer,” according to Pirtle.

The one-hour May Crowning is open to the public free of charge. Families are encouraged to bring their children, including children preparing for their first Holy Communion. They can wear their ceremonial attire, Pirtle noted, as an added reminder of Mary’s desire to lead people to Christ.

The introduction this year of a bilingual format highlights the fact that many cultures honor Mary through prayer and procession. “Love of the Blessed Mother unites the universal Catholic Church, and this event is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Church in its richness and diversity as we gather together around Our Lady,” Pirtle said.

Members of Notre Dame’s student council of the Knights of Columbus will carry the statue, an image of Our Lady of Grace, during the procession. The McGrath Institute will host a reception under a tent at Geddes Hall following the event.

To learn more or register for updates, visit��.

Contact:��Amy North, program director of communications, McGrath Institute for Church Life, 574-631-2894,��anorth1@nd.edu

Originally published by William Schmitt at on May 1.

The event, titled “Pro-Life Feminism” and co-sponsored by the and Notre Dame’s , will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Midfield Commons in the Duncan Student Center. Panel members will engage the Catholic intellectual tradition and the secular debate at the intersection of the feminist and pro-life movements.

Featured speakers include Abigail Favale, George Fox University; Kristin M. Collier, University of Michigan Medical 91��Ƶ; and Charlie Camosy, Fordham University. From their various fields of expertise, these panelists will respond to some of the most common objections to, and prospects for, pro-life feminism.

“Opponents of pro-life feminism often claim that being pro-life means being anti-woman,” said , program director of the Notre Dame Office of Life and Human Dignity. “This panel will explore the validity of this belief in light of academic research.”

“We are excited to be working at the intersection of pro-life and feminist concerns. We want to encourage the exploration of actual and potential synergies,” said , McGrath-Cavadini Director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life.

The public is invited to bring or order food for this free-of-charge lunchtime conversation.
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Contact: Amy North, program director of communications, McGrath Institute for Church Life, 574-631-2894, anorth1@nd.edu

Indiana’s Advanced Placement Teacher Investment Program announces nine public high schools selected to implement its model.

Read more: .

Education

Center receives grant to study Indiana laws.

Read more: .

The Haitian population is facing a critical need for literacy education. Forty-nine percent of Haitian students have no reading capabilities when they enter the third grade, and almost 50 percent of the adult population is illiterate. Lacking the ability to read, the majority of Haitian students fail to complete elementary school. Only 5 percent of students advance to secondary school, and only 1 percent go on to college.

In order to address the need, the University of Notre Dame’s (ACE) recently launched its “” project, an innovative literacy program in 52 Haitian Catholic schools. Working in partnership with the Haitian Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the project began in the summer and is supported by a $1 million grant from an anonymous foundation, as well as additional funding and staff support from CRS and ACE.

According to ACE Haiti Associate Director , who coordinates the project, illiteracy impedes educational attainment, job readiness and ultimately the health of Haiti’s economy. The roots of Haiti’s difficulty in teaching children how to read can be traced back to its poorly educated corps of teachers and the lack of an effective literacy curriculum in Creole, the language most Haitians speak.

“Literacy is the critical lever for improving the quality of education in Haiti,” Schuenke-Lucien said. “It is the foundation of all other learning. Students must ‘learn to read’ in their native language before they can ‘read to learn’ for the rest of their lives.”

The Read to Learn project will seek to replicate an earlier literacy pilot project in which Haitian Catholic educational leaders provided support and training to 300 Haitian schools. Building upon the method and lessons learned from that project, Read to Learn will focus on Creole rather than French, as Creole is the native language of 95 percent of Haitians and research has consistently supported the benefits of students learning to read in their mother tongue.

The literacy model uses supportive lesson plans for teachers and students, provides extensive teacher coaching and includes a rigorous randomized control trial evaluation conducted in partnership with Notre Dame’s . This approach to improving literacy has proven successful in other developing countries and has produced significant gains in reading fluency and comprehension for students.

“We believe that this early grade literacy program is the single most effective, scalable intervention to improve educational quality in the Haitian context at this time,” ACE Haiti Associate Director said. “We hope eventually to scale the program in all of Haiti’s 2,400 Catholic schools, which constitute the largest educational provider in the country. Advancing literacy will have a profound impact for generations of Haitian children.”

For more information on Notre Dame’s ACE Haiti programs or the Read to Learn project, visit , or to view a video about literacy in Haiti.

Contact: Kate Schuenke-Lucien, 574-252-9652

Excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is critical for the nation’s continued social and economic well-being and security. In order to foster growth in these disciplines, the University of Notre Dame’s is launching the Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows Program.

Study after study has shown that, more than any other factor within the control of schools, instructional practice best predicts successful student achievement. In addition, while teaching practice remains the single most important factor in a child’s academic development, maintaining a qualified and effective teaching force remains challenging. National studies indicate that nearly half of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years. A disproportionate number of these teachers focus their teaching on the STEM disciplines and often leave the profession for more lucrative financial opportunities in the private sector.

Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education plans to develop targeted strategies to address this dual challenge. First, the Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows program will develop strategies to recruit ambitious early-career STEM educators to participate in an innovative and comprehensive professional formation program to enhance their teaching skills. Second, over time, the program aims to develop a national corps of professional educators who are committed to long-term and continuing and rigorous formation in instructional leadership in STEM disciplines.

“The importance of the STEM disciplines for the future of our children and our country cannot be overstated, and the Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows program is enabling Notre Dame to work toward dramatically increasing the quality of instruction for tens of thousands of students,” , Hackett Family Director of the , said.

“We know that nothing impacts student learning more than great teaching, and there is no more important area in which we can help the youth of our country than in providing them a rigorous and engaging STEM learning experience,” Director of Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education said. “This program is committed to measuring the impact of its efforts, improving the program based on data and keeping teachers engaged in a supportive and mission-driven network of STEM �ٱ𲹳�������.”

The Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows program will help the Institute for Educational Initiatives continue to develop hundreds of STEM educators who will serve a critical and growing need in elementary and secondary schools across the country with a particular focus on Catholic schools. It is the most recent initiative of Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education, which, through research and the translation of research into practice, seeks to increase student interest and learning in the STEM disciplines.

Contact: Matt Kloser, mkloser@nd.edu

Mark Berends, a University of Notre Dame professor of sociology who directs the in the , has been named a fellow of the (AERA).

The AERA Fellows Program honors education researchers who have substantial research accomplishments, conveys the association’s commitment to excellence in research and emphasizes the importance of sustaining excellent research in the field.

The selection of Berends to join the AERA’s 2014 Class of Fellows was based on nomination by his peers and approval of the AERA Council. It was announced in mid-February.

“This is a high honor for Mark, as well as a well-deserved recognition of his leadership of the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity,” said , Hackett Family Director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives.

Berends is program chair for the AERA’s annual meeting, scheduled April 3-7 in Philadelphia. The meeting’s theme is “”

Originally published by William Schmitt at on Feb. 15, 2014.

New research led by the University of Notre Dame’s (CREO) points a way forward to improve certain teacher performance evaluation systems.

These systems look closely at the question: To what degree did the teachers add value — that is, did students of these teachers grow and achieve more than expected, as measured by their test score gains?

According to a U.S. Department of Education announcement of the study, the scholars’ report “provides new information on the degree to which value-added estimates of teachers differ by the assessment used to measure their students’ achievement growth.”

The research team was led by David Stuit of the independent Basis Policy Research. Other key participants were distinguished sociologist Mark Berends, director of CREO within Notre Dame’s , and CREO graduate student , along with R. Dean Gerdeman of the American Institutes for Research.

The researchers compared the value-added estimates of teacher effectiveness from the state test and a norm-referenced test in the academic years 2005-06 through 2010-11. Data were drawn from the reading and math assessments in grades four and five in 46 schools in Indiana. The state uses assessment tools called the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+) and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).

Results of the study showed a “moderate relationship” between estimates of teacher value-added performance from the two assessments, although there was also important variability among the estimates that requires further research. But the scholars’ new report finds that one can reduce the likelihood of misjudging teacher performance by looking at the student test results in a particular way, focusing on confidence intervals — degrees of confidence inherent in the data from the student tests.

“The findings indicate that incorporating confidence intervals for value-added estimates reduces the likelihood that teachers’ performance will be misclassified based on measurement error,” according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

This January report, “,” can be found at the Institute of Education Sciences website.

Contact: Mark Berends, IEI faculty fellow, Notre Dame Department of Sociology and CREO, mark.berends.3@nd.edu

Originally published by William Schmitt at on Jan. 25, 2014.

The “” of 2013 is in full swing as the University of Notre Dame’s (ACE) once again hosts more than 300 participants in programs preparing tomorrow’s leaders of Catholic schools.

Intensive coursework and vibrant opportunities for community life and spiritual growth are enriching many recent college graduates from around the country who have come to campus for , ACE’s distinctive formation of Catholic school teachers. That initiative is now starting its 20th year of operation.

In a related ACE program, more experienced teachers are taking courses to become Catholic school principals and sharing experiences that embody the same values in education, community and spirituality. Other Catholic school teachers are receiving focused preparation in “” or “” skills that will help make their classrooms more inclusive for students.

These varied participants, living on campus during all or part of the June-July peak season, are invited regularly to come together for Mass and meals, as well as other forms of prayer and fellowship. The season builds toward two annual highlights — the ACE Commencement ceremonies, set this year for Saturday (July 13), and the ACE Missioning ceremonies, on July 25 and 26 (Thursday and Friday), when the educators are sent forth to numerous partnership sites, often tasked to serve disadvantaged children in under-resourced schools.

This summer’s keynote speaker at the ACE Commencement exercises will be U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, who is a Notre Dame graduate. Among the participants in the ACE Service through Teaching formation program, 85 graduates are expected to receive master of education degrees from Notre Dame at the commencement. The University also expects to confer 26 master of arts degrees in educational administration to graduates of the curriculum preparing Catholic school teachers, namely ACE’s . Special awards will go to ACE graduates who have continued in education careers and are making big contributions through their service to Catholic schools.

The Missioning ceremonies will culminate in a Mass on July 26 (Friday) in Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart, with Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as the invited presider. The Archbishop will join ACE founder , in sending forth 173 participants in ACE Service through Teaching and 48 participants in the Remick Leadership Program to spend the regular 2013-2014 school year serving in Catholic schools around the country even as they continue in their two-year curricula and other formation.

Teachers enrolled in the Teaching Exceptional Children and English as a New Language initiatives, which are one-year programs leading to licensure and eligibility for certification, also will end their portions of the ACE summer by going back to the schools where they customarily serve and resuming their coursework online. Enrollments in the 2013-2014 initiatives to serve children with mild to moderate disabilities and young English-language learners have expanded. Some 24 educators are starting their Teaching Exceptional Children studies this summer (up 85 percent from last year), and the ENL program is welcoming 42 participants (up about 130 percent), including teachers from Puerto Rico and Chile.

ACE Summers include a variety of activities beyond the strictly academic, such as retreat opportunities for the formation program participants and a number of conferences on key topics in Catholic education, attracting to campus diverse groups of leaders who serve children and share ACE’s mission of sustaining, strengthening and transforming Catholic schools.

The summer is reliably a busy time of ongoing programs and new initiatives for all members of the ACE community. Aspiring teachers in the “ACE 20” cohort, which comprises the 90 newest participants in the ACE Service through Teaching program, may be especially aware that the “20” moniker foretells a 20th anniversary celebration set to begin soon.

ACE has said it plans to mark the anniversary — of its founding in 1993 and the missioning of its first cohort of teachers in 1994 — with a celebration of Catholic schools that will span the 2013-2014 academic year. Notre Dame’s will launch in October, with plans to visit Catholic schools, along with their communities of supporters and ACE partners, in more than 40 cities nationwide.

Contact: William Schmitt, 574-631-3893

, senior director of the in the University of Notre Dame’s (ACE), has received the C. Albert Koob, OPraem, Merit Award, with which the (NCEA) honors an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to Catholic education in the United States.

The NCEA presented the 2013 Koob Award to Father Nuzzi during the group’s annual convention, attended by 8,000 Catholic educators April 2-4 in Houston.

“I am honored and humbled by this gracious award from my good friends and colleagues at the NCEA,” Father Nuzzi said in a statement. “I am especially grateful for the many faith-filled colleagues with whom I share this important ministry, here at Notre Dame and across the country.”

Father Nuzzi made reference to his work in ACE, where he has served since 2002 as the founding director of the formation initiative preparing the next generation of principals and other leaders for Catholic schools. The Remick Leadership Program has become the largest program of its kind in the country.

“It is a blessing beyond measure for me to contribute to the success, perseverance and development of Catholic school leaders in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Ireland,” Father Nuzzi said. “There is much work to be done, a new generation to reach, a new evangelization to proclaim. I hope that all of our efforts — those led by Notre Dame, ACE, the NCEA and other Catholic institutions — may continue to bring life to Catholic schools and especially to those teachers and leaders who are so dedicated to the future and to our children.”

Later this year, Father Nuzzi will lead a new ACE initiative assisting Catholic schools as they assess and renew their Catholic identity in the spirit of the New Evangelization. ACE will seek a new director for the Remick Leadership Program, for which Father Nuzzi will continue as a faculty member.

As Father Nuzzi commented in a posted April 2 by the NCEA, his perspectives on Catholic education have been shaped by his own service in parish and diocesan schools and at Notre Dame, as well as scholarly work at Saint Louis University and the University of Dayton.

He cited the inspiration he draws from the Catholic school teachers and leaders being formed in ACE — their “great commitment to the faith, a serious commitment to Catholic education, a quest and hunger for social justice.” Their energy, he said, gives him “great hope for the future.”

Father Nuzzi, a priest of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, has a distinguished academic background. He has authored or edited a number of books, including two published in recent months: “Striving for Balance, Steadfast in Faith: The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Catholic Elementary 91��Ƶ Principals” and “Building Assets: The Strategic Use of Closed Catholic 91��Ƶs.” Both were co-authored by ACE faculty members and . The same team produced “No Greater Work: Meditations on Church Documents for Educators” in 2010 and “Faith, Finances, and the Future: The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors” in 2008.

The University of Notre Dame’s (PLACT) coach education program will host a symposium to help athletics administrators plan responsibly to ensure every child’s full protection from the tragedy of abuse.

A one-day symposium titled will provide valuable information and tools to members of college athletic departments on April 26 (Friday) on the Notre Dame campus.

“In the aftermath of the NCAA’s Freeh Report and the tragic events at Penn State, it is timely to promote a new era of ethical awareness and responsibility in college athletics,” said Kristin Sheehan, co-director of the nationally recognized PLACT program. “One arena of critical importance is for athletic departments to ensure that their summer sports camps are safe as well as fun.”

“Camp coach counselors must be well prepared to protect the children entrusted to them,” said Clark Power, a Notre Dame psychology professor and founding co-director of PLACT. “Based on years of experience and extensive research, this symposium will help coaches understand what they need to do to respect all participants and create the most nurturing sport environment possible.”

The program directed by Sheehan and Power, part of Notre Dame’s , has provided character education clinics for coaches and parents since 2006, covering more than 30 American and Canadian cities. Sport-specific abuse awareness training has been a part of these clinics from their inception.

This symposium, for which is requested by April 19 (Friday), will feature presentations by experts from the legal profession, social work, developmental psychology and coaching education to explore the moral, legal and psychological issues related to abuse in sports. Speakers will include Sheehan and Power, along with , Notre Dame associate athletic director for compliance, and Mark Wilson, former director of camps and clinics for The Ohio State University Department of Athletics.

Registrants from college and university athletic departments will take away these benefits from the daylong event:

• They will be prepared to present a one-hour clinic to summer camp coach counselors regarding the urgent moral and legal issues of abuse awareness and protection for children.
• They will address the ethical principles and best practices that should inform coach counselors’ interactions with all athletes, including what constitutes abuse, the signs of abuse and when and how to report suspected abuse.
• A presentation and instructional materials will help participants to efficiently implement a transparent, effective system for managing child welfare on their own campuses for summer sports camps.

Registration is available . For information on participants’ eligibility for scholarship assistance, email plc@nd.edu.

An Indiana Supreme Court ruling last week that upheld the broadest school voucher program in the nation may impact the education reform debate in other states, says a University of Notre Dame expert on parental choice.

In its much anticipated Meredith v. Daniels decision, the court unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), a publicly funded voucher initiative serving at-risk children in the Hoosier State.

, of Notre Dame’s , noted, “One of the constitutional provisions reviewed states, ‘No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution.’ More than 30 states have similar constitutional provisions, often referred to as Blaine Amendments, which are a sad legacy of anti-Catholic bigotry that sought to protect against the growing ‘Catholic menace’ of the 19th century by forbidding state aid of religious schools.”

Meredith makes it clear that the ICSP does not violate this provision for two distinct reasons. “The first is that the public aid in the program is for the benefit of students, not religious institutions. And the second is that the schools participating in the program do not represent ‘religious or theological institutions,’ because the state is subsidizing a high-quality education — regardless of the building in which it happens — in much the same way it would subsidize fire service or Medicare treatment.”

Schoenig continued, “It is entirely possible that the impact of this decision will not be confined to Indiana. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia currently have some form of publicly funded program similar to the ICSP. In some other states, efforts to advance such policy have been quashed by concerns that it would run afoul of any constitutional language resembling the one reviewed in Meredith. Should state courts in such states choose to take a cue from Indiana, this could signal an inflection point in the ongoing debate regarding the contours of the reform movement in public education.”

Schoenig is the director of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s and a fellow of Notre Dame’s .

Contact: John Schoenig, 574-631-8709, jschoeni@nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame’s (ACE) is planning a cross-country celebration of Catholic schools that will mark ACE’s 20 years of service to underserved children and to the Church’s mission of educating hearts and minds.

“Celebrating the Gift of Catholic 91��Ƶs” is the message that will literally roll out from the Notre Dame campus this fall, when ACE leaders, faculty and staff will travel by bus to events in nearly 50 cities, advancing their mission to sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools.

Spanning the 2013-14 academic year, the bus tour will be part of a 20th anniversary campaign highlighting the contributions that Catholic schools make to the rich education landscape in America and to society generally. An ACE-themed bus will visit communities where ACE has been privileged to send forth faith-filled teachers and school leaders as well as enter into a variety of innovative partnerships since it was founded in 1993 by , and

“We want to express our gratitude to the teachers, leaders, students and families that enable Catholic schools to develop the God-given talents of each child, and we hope to draw greater attention to the amazing legacy and bright future of these schools that form engaged citizens and advance the common good,” Father Scully said. “After 20 years of providential growth that has allowed the Alliance for Catholic Education to work with so many communities, dioceses, schools and partners, we want to stand alongside them to renew our commitment to serve to more children and families through Catholic schools.”

An array of events are scheduled at Notre Dame and across the country to convene supporters of Catholic schools to pray together, to honor local leaders and to celebrate the profound contributions of Catholic schools for the Church and the nation. To reflect ACE’s work in scores of dioceses, a specially outfitted tour bus, provided by a generous benefactor, will bring a Notre Dame presence to cities big and small — from New York to Tampa, Tucson and Dallas; from Baton Rouge and Memphis to Chicago and Los Angeles.

The bus tour will come home to the Notre Dame campus for events on the weekend of the Notre Dame-Navy football game in early November to commemorate the first ACE recruiting meeting, on Nov. 4, 1993, when students learned of a new opportunity to serve as teachers in under-resourced Catholic elementary and secondary schools. Those students constituted the “ACE 1” cohort and began their preparation for teaching following their graduation from Notre Dame, in the summer of 1994. The “ACE 20” cohort, consisting of about 90 graduates competitively selected from colleges and universities across the United States, begins its two-year formation experience this summer.

Segments of the bus tour will continue in spring 2014, and the broader celebration will culminate that summer.

, Notre Dame’s president, notes ACE’s strong connection to the University’s values: "The mission of the Alliance for Catholic Education uniquely embodies the University’s mission to ‘create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.’”

Learn more about the upcoming celebration at a special section of the ACE .

Contact: William Schmitt, Alliance for Catholic Education, 574-631-3893, schmitt.27@nd.edu

The (ACE) at the University of Notre Dame capped its annual “ACE Summer” of formation programs and conferences with a “missioning” Mass on July 27 (Friday), sending forth more than 200 teachers and leaders to Catholic schools across the United States.

The Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., and a prominent voice on education within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, presided at the Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to honor what he termed the “vocation” and “calling” of service in Catholic elementary and secondary schools.

“Your participation in the ACE program is a great blessing for the Church,” he said in his homily. “As the chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, I thank you for your willingness to enter into this most important and essential work of the Church.”

More than 170 participants in ACE’s initiative and more than 50 aspiring principals in the prepared to fan out to serve in under-resourced schools during the upcoming academic year, even as they continue their coursework leading to Notre Dame master’s degrees.

The bishop also invoked blessings upon the efforts of teachers in ACE’s licensure program, as well as teachers who will serve in at-risk schools that have partnered with the in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla., as well as the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz.

Bishop McFadden prayed for all those being missioned, that the Lord “will allow you to be the good teachers and leaders that we need in our Catholic schools, especially among the poor and most vulnerable in society.”

ACE has prepared and sent forth college graduates to teach in Catholic schools for 19 years. Its mission to sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools has evolved to include additional formation programs, such as a Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC) licensure program. ACE’s response to needs voiced by bishops and schools around the country has also spawned a number of other units assisting children and schools through professional services, partnerships and research.

Several of the units co-sponsor conferences on campus during the summer, attracting attendees such as diocesan school superintendents, Catholic school principals, sports education leaders, parental choice policy advocates, proponents of increased Latino enrollments in Catholic schools, and pastors of parishes with schools.

During the latter event, the 91��Ƶ Pastors Conference (July 17-20), Bishop McFadden was the keynote speaker, spotlighting the U.S. bishops’ commitment to Catholic schools as a top-priority mission of the Church. He recalled that the bishops have called upon Catholic universities “to assist our Catholic elementary and secondary schools” with their staffing needs.

Speaking of ACE’s contributions, he said, “Notre Dame has not only accepted the challenge but has worked diligently to be a catalyst to help address the various issues that are crucial to the success of maintaining Catholic schools in the future.”

ACE’s traditional missioning ceremonies, at which ACE co-founder , welcomed Bishop McFadden as a lifetime member of the ACE movement on behalf of Catholic schools, began with an evening Grotto prayer service on July 26. At that occasion, Father Scully bestowed an award upon friends of ACE who have been strong supporters of the University.

The 2012 Notre Dame Award for Outstanding Contributions to Catholic Education went to Paul and Patti Purcell, who have made generous, lifetime contributions to sustain and strengthen Catholic educations and who work tirelessly to enhance educational opportunities for all children.

Originally published by William Schmitt on on July 31, 2012.

The University of Notre Dame awarded 104 graduate degrees July 14 (Saturday) to the next generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders who completed their periods of formation with the (ACE).

ACE’s annual Commencement exercises, held at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, drew encouragement from keynote speaker Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, who praised the graduates’ “ethic of service.” A good teacher-student relationship is the basis for transforming lives, she said, regardless of how much technology or pedagogical theory might change.

“What will remain is the essential thing — the eager student working under the careful guidance of a dedicated teacher,” said Sullivan, whose research as a sociologist has probed educational opportunities for inner-city students, among other subjects.

A total of 81 graduates from ACE’s , who had pursued their studies while teaching in Catholic K-12 schools in underserved areas around the country, capped their two-year formation by receiving their master of education (M.Ed.) degrees.

Twenty-three graduates from ACE’s (RLP), whose 26 months of formation prepared them to be principals and other leaders in Catholic education, received the M.A. degree in educational administration.

, University vice president and senior associate provost, conferred the degrees. , director of Notre Dame’s and co-founder of ACE, called the graduates “sources of vitality and love and courage and learning” for Catholic schools.

The Service through Teaching graduates were described as the “ACE 17” cohort because that program has been sending forth young teachers to help sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools since ACE’s founding in 1993. The “ACE 1” class began its formation in 1994 as a regional service initiative, out of which evolved the program’s pillars of professional service, community life and spiritual growth.

Three ACE graduates from earlier cohorts received awards as part of this year’s ceremony. The seventh annual went to Molly Carlin and Kyle Pietrantonio, who are both outstanding school leaders in the Atlanta area. Carlin, who has degrees from both Service through Teaching and the Remick Leadership Program, is beginning new duties in the 2012-13 school year as principal of Queen of Angels Catholic 91��Ƶ in Roswell, Ga. Pietrantonio will serve as associate head of school at Holy Spirit Preparatory 91��Ƶ in Atlanta.

The second annual Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Education Field went to Michael Faggella-Luby, an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut. After graduating from ACE, he received his Ph.D. in special education from the University of Kansas.

The Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education each year goes to two graduates of ACE Service through Teaching who have made significant contributions to the ministry of Catholic education. The Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Education Field goes to an ACE formation program graduate whose work in academia echoes Pressley’s commitment to strengthening education through research and scholarship.

Pressley, whom these awards honor, was a prodigious and world-renowned scholar who served as the inaugural academic director of ACE’s master of education degree program.

ACE’s 2012 Commencement also served as the backdrop for the bestowal of the Maureen T. Hallinan Award for Excellence in Catholic Education to Erik Goldschmidt. A Service through Teaching graduate, Goldschmidt is the director of the Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College. Hallinan, the founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, is one of America’s leading sociologists of education.

Sullivan, in her keynote remarks to the Commencement audience, made reference to John Henry Cardinal Newman and his famous writings about education. She drew upon the importance Newman gave to the relationship between teacher and student and to the education of the whole person. Offering a model to the ACE graduates, she said great teachers “help form our character and attend to our spiritual as well as intellectual development.”

Addressing the Remick Leadership Program graduates, she urged these Catholic school leaders to identify their priorities and to stay conscious of what’s important. “We cannot let the important things suffer for the sake of resolving the urgent things,” she said. Sullivan also urged the degree recipients to never stop learning: “Lifelong learning creates lifelong leaders.”

Originally published by William Schmitt at on July 17, 2012.

The (ACE) begins its peak season for scholarship during summer break at the University of Notre Dame. This internationally known initiative is welcoming new classes to its formation programs for teachers and leaders and will host numerous campus programs and events for people passionate about sustaining, strengthening, and transforming Catholic schools.

ACE is best known for its program, founded in 1993, to prepare young men and women from around the country to serve as teachers in under-resourced Catholic K-12 schools in more than two dozen dioceses. Nearly 90 newcomers in ACE’s 19th class arrived on Friday, June 1, to begin their formation in this two-year journey that culminates in an M.Ed. degree.

These competitively selected members of “ACE 19” have joined the “ACE 18” teachers taking their second summer of courses, and all are spending eight weeks experiencing the pillars of ACE formation—excellence in professional service, community life, and spiritual growth. The two cohorts live in residence halls and share retreat and daily Mass opportunities during their rigorous summer schedules. They prepare to take up classroom duties this fall in numerous cities—from Brownsville, TX, to Washington, DC, from Los Angeles to Memphis to Tucson—serving children in Catholic schools while living in their own intentional faith community houses near those schools.

Current educators preparing for careers as principals arrive in mid-June for their master’s degree curriculum in the — a 26-month formation journey that embodies all three ACE pillars and allows the teachers to return to their classrooms during the school year.

Other educators will come to campus in June and July to gain specific skills to make their Catholic schools more inclusive through ACE’s and certificate programs.

Every summer at Notre Dame is also the launching point for a number of initiatives and community-building opportunities established by ACE in response to emerging needs in Catholic education. will convene educators and their supporters for a number of purposes, including professional development, skills and insights for advocacy, and strategic briefings for Catholic school superintendents, principals, and pastors.

Among this summer’s special events, have prompted a gathering of interested parties June 19-20. Cosponsored by ACE and several organizations on and off campus, the meeting of Church leaders, educators, development policymakers, and others will prepare next steps to aid Haitian schools and improve teacher training

To help improve access to excellent educational opportunities in the United States, for Catholic schools, along with insights for local advocacy of parental choice.

Symbolizing ACE’s growing role as a generator of research in the field of Catholic education, required of all RLP degree candidates. They will share their solutions-oriented research with educators from the region around Notre Dame.

ACE’s national movement in support of leadership in Catholic schools also gains strength through the bestowal of annual awards. The Notre Dame Award for Outstanding Contributions to Catholic Education will be awarded for distinguished lifetime service to children through Catholic schooling. The for Excellence in Catholic Education will go to ACE graduates with a proven commitment to the highest standards in teaching and school leadership. The Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Education Field will go to an ACE graduate who has pursued service to Catholic education through cutting-edge academic research.

These awards will be presented during ACE Commencement exercises on July 14, during which the graduate-level formation programs will bestow degrees.

Toward the end of July, ACE also conducts an annual “missioning,” solemnly and joyfully sending forth its educators-in-formation to the schools where they will serve at-risk children during the regular school year. The Most Rev. Joseph McFadden, Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, will preside at the Missioning Mass on July 27. Bishop McFadden chairs the Committee on Education of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

ACE, founded by Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., and Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., embodies the commitment to Catholic education demonstrated by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The call of Holy Cross founder Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C., for “making God known, loved, and served” is at the root of the energy surge that helps to renew both campus and visitors during the summer months.

Contact: Bill Schmitt 574-631-3893

The annual culmination of summertime studies in the University of Notre Dame’s (ACE) programs on July 22 and 23 saw hundreds of new teachers and school leaders join the mission of Catholic education in schools and classrooms from coast to coast.

About 250 participants in the ACE formation programs for Catholic school teachers and leaders ended their coursework and prepared to fan out to serve in under-resourced schools during the upcoming academic year. But before leaving, they were missioned with the help of Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and Bishop Thomas J. Curry, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Bishop Rhoades addressed the program participants at a prayer gathering at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on Thursday evening. A vocation to work in Catholic education is “a noble mission, a holy mission,” he said. Complimenting the ACE participants, he said such Catholic school teachers “recognize the mind, body and spirit” of children.

On July 23, a Missioning Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart by Bishop Curry, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) committee on Catholic education. Praising ACE’s contributions to the Church and American society, he described as “beacons of hope” those being missioned to work in hard-pressed schools at the invitation of various dioceses.

“You are in the forefront of the movement for reform, for change, and for excellence in education,” Curry said.

The congregation receiving his blessing included some 180 current participants in ACE’s formation program, which since 1993 has combined community living, spiritual growth, and a rigorous master’s degree curriculum to prepare teachers to serve in Catholic elementary and secondary schools.

Also in the congregation were some 48 participants in the , a master’s degree program that prepares aspiring leaders to be principals and superintendents for Catholic schools. Additionally, the congregation included members of ACE’s (ENL) certificate program for teachers, plus educators from the Diocese of Tucson, Az., participating in a rollout of the program that engages whole schools in the use of ACE professional services.

ACE also conducts a certificate program called (TEC) and provides a number of other professional services to dioceses and schools. ACE is part of Notre Dame’s .

Contact: Bill Schmitt, Communications/Media Specialist, IEI, 574-631-3893

The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) conducted its 15th Commencement exercises July 10 (Saturday) with one of the nation’s most distinguished leaders in the field of education addressing the 106 graduates who received master’s degrees.

Anthony Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, praised the ACE graduates for embracing their formation as Catholic school teachers and principals in the spirit of a vocational call.

He quoted to the audience in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center the words of President John F. Kennedy, from the 1960 Inaugural Address: “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

Bryk also recognized ACE’s preparation of tomorrow’s teachers and leaders in terms of the skills and apprenticeship experiences imparted, but he told the graduates the program’s distinctive characteristic is “formation of your identity as a Catholic educator,” leading to “a special role you take on in the lives of your students.”

The graduates comprised 85 members of the teacher formation class—the “Service through Teaching” program—who are collectively known as ACE 15, as well as the latest, 21-member cohort from ACE’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program (known as ALP 7) focused on the formation of Catholic school principals.

The former group earned the master of education degree, while the latter group earned the master of arts in educational administration degree. They received the degrees from Dennis C. Jacobs, vice president and associate provost of the University, who served as master of ceremonies at the Commencement.

Also as part of the event, James T. and Maureen O. Hackett, of Houston, Texas, received the 2010 Notre Dame Award for Catholic Education. Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., founder of ACE and director of the University’s Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI), described the Hacketts as outstanding supporters of Catholic education from the grade school to university level, with a generous commitment to the work of ACE and long histories of faith-filled service to communities and civic and charitable causes.

Two members of former graduating classes—Jennifer Beltramo, from both ACE 9 and ALP 8, and Antonio Ortiz, from ACE 5—were this year’s recipients of the Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education. Both have distinguished themselves through long-term dedication, overcoming challenges for the sake of children in the classroom and beyond—Beltramo at Mother of Sorrows 91��Ƶ in South Los Angeles and Ortiz at Cristo Rey High 91��Ƶ in Chicago.

Since its inception some 17 years ago, the ACE Service through Teaching program has grown from a service initiative composed of a handful of Catholic school educators to a movement that has commissioned 1,200 teachers to serve Catholic schools throughout the United States. The Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program has prepared more than 150 faith-filled educators now serving as school leaders in 59 dioceses.

The annual ACE Summer Forum, which attracted more than 100 participants from around the country to campus during the Commencement weekend, focused on progress in the Catholic 91��Ƶ Advantage campaign to improve education opportunities for Latino children. The campaign is ACE’s ambitious follow-up to the final report of the Notre Dame Task Force on the Participation of Latino Children and Families in Catholic 91��Ƶs. Learn about the initiative at .

ACE and the IEI, a Notre Dame academic unit of which ACE is part, undertake numerous formation, research and professional service initiatives to support and strengthen Catholic education. Find out more at and .

Contact: Bill Schmitt, Communications/Media Specialist, IEI, 574-631-3893

Construction is underway to build a new home for the (ACE) and elements of the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) at the University of Notre Dame.

The new building, to be called Carole Sandner Hall, will connect to the historic Institute for Educational Initiatives building, which was designed by University founder Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C. The historic structure, undergoing its own extensive renovation, will be joined to Carole Sandner Hall at the heart of campus adjacent to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Grotto and the Main Building.

This project is made possible by the generosity of two families who are long-time supporters of Notre Dame: Mary Ann and Jack Remick and their children from Rochester, Minn., and Carole and Jack Sandner and their children from Chicago.

Both families have deep connections to Notre Dame with Jack Remick being a member of Notre Dame’s Class of 1959 and Jack Sandner graduating from Notre Dame Law 91��Ƶ in 1968 and serving on the Board of Trustees. Mary Ann Remick also is a member of the ACE Advisory Board. Mary Ann Remick and Carole Sandner both have been champions of Catholic schools and the ACE program during its rise to become the premier provider of Catholic school teachers and leaders in the United States.

The ACE program has grown in 17 years from one part-time employee and 40 ACE teachers to 60 full-time faculty and staff and nearly 300 full time graduate students in its various academic programs annually. In addition to its core strength of forming teachers and leaders for Catholic schools, ACE now offers a suite of professional and consulting services to these schools while also leading academic research on issues confronting Catholic education. With international programs in Chile and Ireland as well as future programs in Haiti, ACE is working to meet the needs of Catholic schools in the U.S. and abroad.

ACE forms part of the IEI, which is dedicated to interdisciplinary, problem-solving teaching, research and outreach to improve elementary and secondary education, particularly for the disadvantaged, with a special call to serve Catholic schools. Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., professor of political science and founder of the ACE program, serves as director of the Institute. More details are available at .

A groundbreaking celebration for the new building, which will house faculty and staff affiliated with the growing number of ACE and IEI programs, took place in April. The building is scheduled to open in May 2011, just in time for the busy summer when many young people, selected from outstanding applicants nationwide, attend the numerous graduate and other formation programs that prepare them to support the mission of Catholic schools. Learn more about the multiple ACE programs at .

During the renovation, an addition to the original building from the late 1800s will be removed. The building will be expanded to the north with offices, meeting rooms and flexible spaces encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. The historic portion of the IEI, once used as the chapel and convent for the Sisters of the Holy Cross who have contributed so much to sustaining Catholic teaching, will be restored. The renovated chapel will become Remick Commons, a spacious area welcoming all parts of the Notre Dame community in a setting that celebrates education of the heart and mind.

Contact: Bill Schmitt, IEI communications/media specialist, 574-631-3893, Schmitt.27@nd.edu

This spring, the University of Notre Dame continues a 14-year-long tradition of raising awareness about the Holocaust. This year’s approach will be a little different, and it will literally offer “food for thought.”

The annual Holocaust Project, begun by Rabbi Michael Signer, the Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture, has always held events highlighting the need for individuals and societies to pursue justice and tolerance and to be on guard against the genocidal inclinations that still imperil the world. Rabbi Signer, who died last year, sought to help students make the connection between the Holocaust and the human family’s cry for solidarity.

“It’s a universal theme, and it fits in very well with what this University’s goal and purpose are,” says Betty Signer, the spouse of the late Rabbi, who carries on the work of coordinating the Holocaust Project. She says the 2010 program, “Food For Thought,” scheduled for April 20 to 24 (Tuesday to Saturday), taps into an even more expansive connection she has seen between the lessons of the Holocaust and the values that inform students’ everyday lives.

Several years ago, while she was visiting the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Signer read the remnants of notes in which a Nazi administrator had quantified the minimum number of calories necessary daily to keep a prisoner alive to do assigned tasks, plus replacement costs when an inmate died of malnourishment.

“I thought to myself, how could anyone sit down and calculate that without any sense of feeling?” Signer recalls.

This led her to consider carefully various instances of starvation in history and its use as a tool to eliminate whole groups.

“Whoever controls the food source has power over the people,” Signer commented. With this call to awareness, highlighting how global and local issues of food and water supply can be tied to questions of power and justice, malevolence and compassion, the 2010 Holocaust Project program will present films and lectures grouped around the subject of food.

Notre Dame faculty, staff and students will be invited to consider questions like food safety, nutrition, water contamination, the pros and cons of our globalized and corporate-controlled food supply, impacts on the environment and energy, the “local food” movement and other issues.

Food for Thought events include “Sustainability: The Key To Today’s Food Revolution,” a lecture by Marion Nestle, author of “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health,” which takes place April 20at 7:30 p.m., in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium.

On April 23 at 3 p.m., Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio of the Hungry Planet present “FOOD THINK: A Global Nutritional Survey from Hungry Planet and What I Eat” in Room 129 of DeBartolo Hall.

“Food for Thought” also includes screenings of five films at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Browning Cinema: “No Impact Man,” April 22, 7 p.m.; “Food, Inc.,” April 23, 7 p.m.; “The End of the Line,” April 23, 9:30 p.m.; “One Water,” April 24, 6:30 p.m.; and “Babette’s Feast,” April 24, 9:30 p.m.. Sanjeev Chatterjee, director of “One Water,” is scheduled to be present for the screening of the film, and will participate in a panel discussion following the film.