Alliance for Catholic Education
After gathering ideas and input from ACE graduates and friends at last month's virtual summit, the ACE Advocates team is coordinating a series of weekly conversations focused on critical issues impacting Catholic schools and educators.
Conversations
Building Inclusive and Anti-Racist Classrooms, Schools, and Communities: A Series with LiberatED
Alliance for Catholic Education · FACE to FACE: An Overview of Our Anti-Racism Series with LiberatED
As people who believe that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, we are called to actively confront all forms of racial injustice and exclusion. This carries a particular urgency for us as educators as we confront racism in all of its forms. ACE Advocates is proud to partner with LiberatED to offer a series of workshops to help build inclusive and anti-racist classrooms, schools, and communities. The five interconnected, yet stand-alone sessions will take participants on a meaningful journey of reflection on identity, race, values, culture and institutions.
Week 16
Session 5: Building Inclusive and Anti-Racist Institutions
Wednesday, January 13 - 7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
Alliance for Catholic Education · FACE to FACE: Building Inclusive and Anti-Racist Institutions
We will individually and collectively reflect on personal archetypes for success and how these archetypes are socially/culturally mediated. We will analyze the ways dominant cultural schema have influenced the way we envision success for individuals and organizations, and we will brainstorm the ways that our faith might assist us in reorienting our standards for success, in a way that is more inclusive and in keeping with the idea that all are made in the image and likeness of God. We will facilitate this session through the lens of our Catholic faith and our perspectives as Catholic educators, using both whole-group presentations and small-group discussions to support participants' learning. Participants will earn 90 minutes of continued professional learning credit.
Week 17
The Power of Protocols: Learning How to Grow from Problems of Instructional Practice
Wednesday, January 20th | 7:00pm-8:00pm EST
Great educators reflect on their instructional practice, engage in collaboration, and devote themselves to ongoing professional development. In this session, participants will have the opportunity to engage in all of these trademarks of instructional leadership by learning how, through the leadership of teacher educator Dr. Christine Trinter, to use a specific protocol dedicated to working through a problem of instructional practice. Math teachers will find this session particularly compelling given that we'll be unpacking a problem of practice that transpired in a math classroom. Nonetheless, all teachers and administrators interested in continued growth and instructional leadership will leave this session reflecting more deeply on their own practice and knowing how to use a protocol that will prove useful in a future PLC, coaching, or planning session. Participants will receive one hour of continuing education credit.
Week 18
Enhancing Marketing and Growing Enrollment in Catholic Schools
January 27th | 7:00pm-8:00pm EST
This session will focus on marketing and growing enrollment in Catholic schools, with a portion dedicated to marketing to the Latino community. Featured presenters will include Erika Gallardo, Hispanic Engagement and Outreach Manager for the Archdiocese of Chicago, who brings a wealth of experience and first-hand knowledge of working with schools to increase enrollment, and Christine Tax, principal of St. Agnes Catholic School in Phoenix, AZ who has proved instrumental in increasing her school's annual enrollment, including during the time of the pandemic. Whether you're looking to navigate the challenges of recruitment and enrollment unique to the limitations posed by this pandemic or enhance your marketing and enrollment strategies for the long term, you'll leave this session with practical ideas you can begin implementing immediately.
Week 19
Celebrating Catholic Schools: Our "Yes" to Catholic Education
In celebration of Catholic Schools Week, we are excited to bring our FACE to FACE series to a culmination by hosting a panel discussion highlighting voices of those who have said "yes" to Catholic education. Be on the lookout for more information about this special Catholic Schools Week FACE to FACE conversation in the coming days!
Past Recordings and Materials
Week 15
Session 4: De-mystifying "Culture:" How to Foster Cultural Competence
Wednesday, December 9 - 7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
Alliance for Catholic Education · FACE to FACE: De-mystifying "Culture:" How to Foster Cultural Competence
This session focused on Cultural Competence. We discussed race, culture, values, and the intersection of these themes with our work. We felt confident in accepting and healthily acknowledging the cultural differences between ourselves and others. We facilitated this session through the lens of our Catholic faith and our perspectives as Catholic educators, using both whole-group presentations and small-group discussions. Participants will earn 90 minutes of continued professional learning credit.
Week 14
Wednesday, December 2 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Sprucing Up Your Shelves: A Guide to Transformational Reading in the Catholic Classroom
Week 13
Session 3: Disrupting the Status Quo: Interrogating Our Identity and Biases
Wednesday, November 18 - 7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
Alliance for Catholic Education · FACE to FACE - Disrupting the Status Quo: Interrogating Our Identity and Biases
We will describe and summarize aspects of our own socialization and reflect on our individual identities, experiences, beliefs, and biases. We will consider how each of these points of reflection impact the way we interact with each other and the way we approach our work towards justice in education. Facilitating this session through the lens of our Catholic faith and our perspectives as Catholic educators, we will look to the ways that Christ and a host of holy men and women have built their ministry on disrupting the status quo. As with previous sessions, participants will find themselves learning through whole-group presentations and small-group breakouts, and all who participate will earn 90 minutes of continued professional learning credit.
Resources from the conversation:
- Participant Guide
- Sr. Thea Bowman Speech to US Catholic Bishops 1989
- Prophetic Witnesses Against Racism
Week 12
Wednesday, November 11 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Leading by Faith: Nourishing Spirituality in Catholic School Communities
This FACE to FACE session anticipates the Advent season, while also speaking directly to current and aspiring Catholic school leaders about the why and how of spiritual growth in Catholic school communities. Karisa Avalos, Dominic Fanelli, and Jocelyn Pierre-Antoine explain how their own faith formation led them to Catholic school leadership, how they have created space for their own spiritual growth, and how, as Catholic school leaders at school and diocesan levels, they have sought to nourish and strengthen the faith lives of other school leaders, faculty, staff, students and families. Whether you're looking to process the state of your own spirituality or to reignite the Gospel message that animates your school community, you'll find this an hour well-spent.
Week 11
Wednesday, October 28 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Catholic Education, the Supreme Court, and School Choice
In ACE we strive to provide a Catholic education of the highest quality to as many children as possible, but many families are denied access to such an education solely because of their socioeconomic status.
While many states have enacted school-choice programs that offer these families publicly-funded scholarship support, the current landscape comes nowhere near meeting parental demand. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court this past summer issued a landmark decision in Espinoza v. Montana that could eliminate constitutional barriers to public funding for Catholic schools.
John Schoenig, ACE's Senior Director for Teacher Formation and Education Policy, and Senior Policy Advisor Nicole Stelle Garnett share a conversation about Espinoza v. Montana and its potential long-term impact for Catholic school families.
Resources from the conversation:
- Dr. Ashley Rogers Berner on Pluralism
- Espinoza v. Montana Opinions
- School Choice as Simple Justice by John E. Coons
- Why We Still Need Catholic Schools by Nicole Stelle Garnett
- School Funding Under the Neutrality Principle: Notes on a Post-Espinoza Future by Aaron Saiger
- Symposium: Principles or improvisations? Why (and how) the justices should reject anti-religious discrimination
- Reform Leaders' Summit
Week Ten
Session 2: Understanding the Theory and Practice behind Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Wednesday, October 21 - 7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
We learned about the Anti-Oppression and Liberatory Consciousness Lenses as foundational frameworks to build cultural competences and critical self-awareness. Looking at the examples set by Christ in the Gospels, we reflected on the ways that a Christo-centric culture, much like liberatory consciousness, enables people to live outside patterns of thought and action that impede or counteract justice. Participants were able to capitalize on the communal dynamic of the session, toggling between whole-group presentations and small-group discussions, and earned 90 minutes of continued professional learning credit.
Week Nine
Wednesday, October 14 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Supporting English Language Learners Up Close and at a Distance
Building on students' diverse linguistic assets to support English language learners can prove challenging in a traditional classroom environment. The task may prove all the more daunting in a virtual context. Join ACE graduates, Dr. Katy Lichon (ACE 12, ENL 2, ChACE 7) and Amanda Hamilton (ACE 21, ENL 13), discuss tools and strategies for supporting the language and literacy development of all students.
Week Eight
Wednesday, October 7 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Navigating the Challenges of Teaching the 2020 Election
Discussing presidential elections in the classroom always involves a certain level of risk. This is even more true in an election season contextualized by a national movement for racial justice and a global pandemic. In this session, ACE 23 graduate, Kelly Griffith Bell (principal of St. Laurentius School in Philadelphia), and ACE 18 graduate, Meghan McDermott (teacher educator at ACE Teaching Fellows and the University of Michigan), presented a framework for the pedagogical considerations that teachers must make as we approach the November election. Participants discussed strategies for engaging students in productive civic discourse in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.
View the List of Additional Resources
View the Breakout Discussion Prompts
Week Seven
Wednesday, September 30 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Planning and Designing for an *Inclusive* Hybrid/Online Learning Experience
This interactive session will feature ways educators can plan and design for the needs of ALL learners in the ever-changing hybrid/fully online classroom. Using SMARTER planning and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework, educators can embed effective strategies and digital solutions to allow students options in understanding content, sharing what they know, and enhancing their level of engagement. This proactive approach will remove learning barriers, herein reducing stress at home while learning. Participants will obtain critical concepts and strategies and engage in thoughtful conversation about future implementation.
Week Six
Session 1 with LiberatED: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Catholic Social Teaching: Overcoming Dominant Culture in Pursuit of Justice
Wednesday, September 23 - 7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
Alliance for Catholic Education · FACE to FACE: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Catholic Social Teaching
In this first session, we considered the ways Catholic Social Teaching offers both a "why" and a "how" in the work of dismantling oppression. We critically reflected on the ways dominant culture limits our own leadership as we generate more culturally sustaining, Christo-centric ways of operating that will better serve our communities. This session was facilitated through whole-group presentations and small-group discussions, and participants earned 90 minutes of continued professional learning credit.
Session Resources:
- Overcoming Dominant Culture Reflection
- White Dominant Culture Worksheet
- Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
- White Supremacy Culture in Organizations
- Open Wide Our Hearts
- Sr. Thea Bowman's Address to the U.S. Bishop's Conference (June 1989)
Week Five
Wednesday, September 16 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
Exercising Fiscal Savviness in Financially Trying Times
While Catholic schools have always faced financial challenges, the financial constraints imposed by COVID have called for a new level of resourcefulness on the part of Catholic school leaders. In this session, three experienced Catholic school leaders speak to how they have approached challenging financial realities with increased resourcefulness in service to their socioeconomically and racially diverse schools and families. Jocelyn Smith (LEI, ENL), Jeff Eiser (LEI), and Tomas Gallegos (LEI, ACE, ChACE, and RLP) talk through their own experiences allocating and effectively using the CARES ACT dollars, leveraging Title funds, and engaging and maintaining donor support in a financial crisis. By the end of the hour, participants will find themselves poised to recognize and creatively seize funding opportunities that will strengthen their schools.
Download "How to Build an Advancement Board"
Week Four
Wednesday, September 2 - 7:00-8:00 PM Eastern
School's Back in Session: Lessons Learned in the First Weeks of the 2020 School Year
Still trying to process the first days of this new and unique school year--either virtually or in-person? Perhaps you're not scheduled to return until after Labor Day, and you're wondering what the future holds. Watch as Catholic school principals, Tony Harris and Kari Buchinger, and Catholic school teachers, Brynn John