Forming Effective Catholic School Principals
THE ACE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
The Task Force on Catholic Education recognizes that, as in Catholic school classrooms, the trend in Catholic school leadership is one of transition from religious to lay principals and administrators. In preparing this new generation of mostly lay Catholic school leaders, strong spiritual formation is essential. The incoming ranks of lay administrators are most apt to build a strong Catholic identity in their schools if their own spirituality is sound and well-fed.
It is to this end that in 2002 Notre Dame established a new program to form Catholic school administrators, the ACE Leadership Program. Led by Rev. Ronald J. Nuzzi, Ph.D., the ACE Leadership Program accepts cohorts of current and potential Catholic school principals and provides them with both academic and practical preparations for leadership while preparing them to be the spiritual leader of a Catholic school. The program culminates in a master’s degree and an administrative certification in the state of Indiana. In the six years since its inception, the ACE Leadership Program has become the largest preparer of Catholic school leaders in the nation.
