The Catholic School Advantage Campaign

The Campaign to Improve Educational Opportunities for Latino Children

The University of Notre Dame seeks to open the gift of an excellent Catholic education to nearly double the Latino children currently enrolled in Catholic schools – from 3% to 6% – in the next 10 years, raising the number of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools from 290,000 to 1 Million by 2020.

Key Facts:

Latino students suffer from a persistent academic achievement gap.

• Only 53% of Latinos graduate from HS in 4 years
• Only 16% of Latino 18-year-olds are considered “college-ready.”
• Only 25% of Latinos aged 18 to 24 enroll in college

Catholic schools are uniquely able to serve Latino students well.

• Latinos who attend Catholic schools are 42% more likely to graduate from high school
• Latinos who attend Catholic schools are two-and-a-half times more likely to graduate from college

Notre Dame’s Commitment:

• Form partnerships with major dioceses with large and growing Latino populations to work with schools and parishes: Beginning in Brooklyn, Chicago, Joliet, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and San Antonio, and developing additional materials and services for other arch/dioceses, schools and Catholic educators throughout the country.
• Serve as the ongoing base of operations for research and program development to achieve the goal.
• Develop a series of additional initiatives aimed at teacher and leadership formation, and the recruitment and formation of Latino educators.
• Launch a national center to strengthen local scholarship support and expand publicly funded scholarship options
• Conduct ongoing research and program evaluation to address this goal and refine and improve these efforts

For an in-depth look at the Catholic School Advantage Campaign and Notre Dame's committment, download the Task Force Report or watch the CSA video to learn more.