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By D.F. Kratzer/The Catholic Spirit
WEST VIRGINIA—Taking into consideration the theme of this year’s Catholic Schools Week, “Catholic Schools—Dividends for Life,” the diocese’s Department of Catholic Schools is investing, in many ways, in students’ educations and futures, and the 2009-2010 academic year has opened with many new opportunities for students and the diocesan schools they attend.
“Catholic schools,” said Sister Elaine Poitras, CSC, Ph.D., superintendent of diocesan Catholic Schools, “must be able to respond to the demands of a global society and to do that a lot of things have to change.” To adapt to these demands and to provide students with the best education, she continued, the diocese’s Catholic schools are evaluating the current curriculum, providing extensive professional development for teachers, establishing guiding standards for the schools and increasing the presence and use of technology in the classroom.
In May, the schools department and principals from the Catholic schools developed a list of guiding standards for Catholic education in the 21st century.
These standards provide guidance concerning the church and religious instruction, the curriculum, teaching and learning approaches, school leadership, the development of student leaders, the school and family relationship and school finances.
Sister Elaine said that the department and the schools will continue to work together regarding these principles and “every school will have its own plan about how to implement these,” but all in all, the guidelines are a large part of helping schools improve how they provide for students.
An important aspect of assuring that schools are providing the best education for students is professional development, which provides teachers the opportunity to refresh information, to learn about new technology for the classroom and to collaborate with one another, said Jennifer Hornyak, director of the Office of Instructional Technology for the department.
This summer, 13 teachers attended the National Educational Computer Conference and 61 teachers from more than 20 schools attended one of the three-day interactive whiteboard workshops held throughout the state. Additionally, teachers and principals will have more opportunities for professional development throughout the school year, including a professional development day and interactive whiteboard user groups throughout the state.
Through these opportunities, Hornyak said, teachers “continue learning from one another” and all of the diocese’s Catholic schools benefit from this sharing of knowledge and expertise.
This year, Hornyak said, “I am very excited about a few projects that are based in the schools” and will further the use of technology in the classroom.
For example, St. Patrick School in Weston is commencing a pilot program that provides each third-grader with a netbook—a small laptop that primarily uses the Internet and Internet-based applications—that students will use throughout the school year and will continue to use throughout their career at the school. This, Hornyak said, is “the first true one-to-one project that we have seen.”
St. Joseph School in Martinsburg, she continued, acquired several Apple computers and is the first school in the diocese to use them. Additionally, the school has a “pretty innovative” electronic music program.
In addition to these programs, many Catholic schools throughout the state are examining how to integrate more technologies into the classroom via various programs.
One technology currently in use at every school in the diocese is the interactive whiteboard. During the 2007-2008 school year, Hornyak said, every diocesan school acquired an interactive whiteboard and now 12 schools have them in every classroom, including Madonna High School in Weirton, which is the first diocesan high school to do so. Several schools in the diocese are ordering more boards, Hornyak said, and it is her hope that “all schools move toward replacing their chalkboard or dry-erase board with the interactive whiteboard.”
Improving the curriculum is another goal that the department is addressing.
In the elementary schools, said Robyn Hammond, associate superintendent of diocesan Catholic schools, the department is continuing the Curriculum Mapping Initiative that began during the 2008-2009 school year. Through this initiative, teachers at 11 schools are documenting the curriculum as it is taught, mapping essential questions, skills and objectives, skills and content to be mastered, variety of assessment and other areas.
Through this, teachers are able to evaluate the curriculum and see where improvements can be made and what works to the benefit of students. “Primarily,” Hammond said, “what it does for the students is to ensure that they are covering the full range of skills and contents that need to be mastered at certain grade levels or certain benchmark points.”
In the future, Hammond continued, the schools department hopes to expand this initiative to more schools.
The department has begun working with curriculum development leaders from each of the diocese’s high schools to “develop new secondary curriculum guidelines in each of the core content areas that will raise the schools’ already high standards and integrate skills necessary for 21st century success,” Sister Elaine said.
This is a large undertaking, she continued, and it will take a significant amount of time to fully develop and incorporate the new curriculum, which may not be fully incorporated until the 2010-2011 school year.
Referring to the theme of this year’s Catholic Schools Week, Hammond said, “it is certainly our hope that our schools provide dividends for life. ... We would hope that graduates of our schools are not only equipped with the dividend of a strong academic education, but also a strong faith formation, a sense of service, a call to make the world and their local community better places.” |
