School Leadership for Social Justice: A Critique of Starratt\u27s Tripartite Model

Rather than treated as a discreet task or as an overarching orientation, leadership for social justice is more appropriately situated within a comprehensive theory of school administration, such as Starratt’s (2003) model of leadership as cultivating meaning, responsibility, and community. Starratt’s general model of educational leadership contextualizes social justice leadership practices in a broader context. The purpose of this article is to apply Starratt’s model as an analytical lens to examine the practices of school leaders in schools that are focused on promoting social justice by reducing barriers to traditionally marginalized students. The multicase study reported here provides empirical evidence illustrating the strengths and limitations of this model as an analytic lens through which such leadership practices can be critiqued and improved

To Act with Justice and Love Tenderly: Exploring the Church’s Call for Inclusion

This paper explores some of the documents that provide a foundation for the Church and its ministries to deliver justice and mercy to all, including students with disabilities. First, Catholic Social Teaching (CST) traditions will be presented as the foundation to some of the documents of the American Church. A chronology of the documents of United States bishops will trace the flow of CST as the impetus for designing and delivering programs for students with disabilities in Catholic schools. Implications for Catholic schools are outlined for next steps for implementation

Distinctive Imperatives for Mission Driven Teaching in Catholic Business Schools

We contend that there are distinct and socially beneficial perspectives, rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT) and Catholic Social Teaching (CST), which can help nurture future managers to be more attuned to the societal and ethical impacts resulting from their marketing decisions. In this paper, we briefly review several of these themes and illustrate how such messages can be integrated into the marketing instruction that takes place inside of business schools at Catholic universities

The Grammar of Catholic Schooling and Radically Catholic Schools

A grammar of Catholic schooling inhibits many elementary and secondary Catholic schools from reflecting on how they practice Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The values of human dignity, the common good, and a preferential option for the marginalized are central to CST. Schools can live these values by serving children who live in poverty, are racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, or have disabilities. This article demonstrates how a grammar of Catholic schooling has allowed Catholic schools to fall into recruitment and retention patterns antithetical to CST. Drawing upon a multicase, qualitative study of three urban Catholic elementary schools serving marginalized students, the article illustrates how select Catholic schools are breaking the grammar of Catholic schooling by practicing CST. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Defining Inclusionary Practices in Catholic Schools

The purpose of this article is to provide Catholic educators, administrators, families, and broader parish communities an understanding of critical elements required to effectively include all students, particularly those with disabilities, in Catholic schools. With an understanding that Catholic schools enroll and will continue to add not only students with disabilities, but also other students who may struggle with learning in some manner, the Catholic school community needs to keep abreast of effective practices that facilitate meaningful inclusion. This is especially relevant for those Catholic families who desire a Catholic education for their children with disabilities, as well as their typically developing children. This article seeks to: (a) offer a rationale for the need to include all learners in our Catholic schools through the reinforcement of Catechetical teachings, (b) define inclusion in Catholic education, (c) outline characteristics of high quality, inclusive schools, (d) review relevant research on inclusion that is applicable to the needs of our Catholic school environments, and (e) provide a case study of an effective, inclusive Catholic school to further contextualize to the field what is not only possible, even given limited resources, but what is happening in today’s Catholic school settings

School Choice Vouchers and Special Education in Indiana Catholic Diocesan Schools

Catholic schools are now located at a crossroads of school choice voucher programs and special education services. With enrollment in Catholic schools declining over the past several decades, voucher programs that allow parents to use public funds for tuition at private schools – including tuition for students with disabilities – could possibly help to steady or even reverse this decline. This study examined the impact of Indiana’s statewide voucher program on Catholic schools, student enrollment, and special education services in three large diocesan school systems. The findings address issues related to enrollment growth, changing student population characteristics, special education services, and the professional development needs of teachers in these schools. The authors discuss the implications of the voucher program for the enrollment and education of students with disabilities in Catholic schools. Los cupones para escuelas de elección y la educación especial en las escuelas de la diócesis católica de Indiana Las escuelas católicas se encuentran en una encrucijada entre los programas de cupones para escuelas de elección y los servicios de educación especial. Al disminuir las matrículas en las escuelas católicas en las últimas décadas, los programas de cupones que permiten que los padres utilicen fondos públicos para matrículas de escuelas privadas, incluyendo matrículas para estudiantes con discapacidades, pueden quizás ayudar a mantener, o incluso revertir, el declive. El presente estudio examina el impacto a nivel estatal en Indiana del programa de cupones en escuelas católicas, las matrículas de estudiantes y los servicios de educación especial en los sistemas escolares de tres diócesis grandes. Los resultados abordan problemas relacionados con el aumento de las matrículas, el cambio de las características de la población estudiantil, los servicios de educación especial y las necesidades de desarrollo profesional del profesorado de estas escuelas. Los autores discuten las implicaciones del programa de cupones en la matrícula y la educación de los estudiantes con discapacidades en las escuelas católicas. Palabras clave: escuela de elección, cupones, escuelas católicas, educación especial Chèques-éducation pour le choix de l\u27école et éducation spécialisée dans les écoles catholiques diocésaines en Indiana Les écoles catholiques sont maintenant au coeur des programmes de chèques-éducation pour le choix de l\u27école et des services d\u27éducation spécialisée. Étant donné que les inscriptions dans les écoles catholiques ont diminué au cours des dernières décennies, les programmes de chéques-éducation qui permettent aux parents d\u27utiliser des fonds publics pour les frais de scolarité d\u27écoles privées - y compris la scolarité des élèves handicapés - pourraient aider ou même inverser ce déclin. Cette étude examine l\u27impact du programme de chèques-éducation sur les écoles catholiques dans l\u27ensemble de l\u27État de l\u27Indiana, les inscriptions des élèves et l\u27éducation spécialisée dans trois vastes systèmes d\u27écoles catholiques diocésaines. Les constatations traitent des problèmes liés à l\u27augmentation des inscriptions, aux changements dans la population des élèves, aux services d\u27éducation spécialisée et aux besoins en développement professionnel des enseignants de ces écoles. Les auteurs présentent les conséquences du programme de chèques-éducation sur les inscriptions et l\u27enseignement aux élèves handicapés dans les écoles catholiques. Mots-clés : Choix de l\u27école, chèques-éducation, écoles catholiques, éducation spécialisé

Public-Private School Cooperation: The Delivery of Special Education in Catholic Elementary Schools

This is a qualitative case study about how four Catholic schools worked with local public school districts to provide special education services for their students. The study used institutional ethnography both as a method of inquiry and analysis focusing on the power dynamics involved in delivering special education. It recognized how people’s lives are “hooked up within institutional relations” (Smith, 2005, p. 207). Interviews conducted with Catholic school administrators, teachers, and parents as well as public school administrators and teachers showed that public school directors of special education had primary responsibility for interpreting and implementing federal and Minnesota law. Districts in the study complied with the law but tensions surfaced in the variety of methods used to deliver services - particularly choices about location (onsite versus offsite). Catholic school administrators gladly accepted whatever services the district provided; they were reluctant to challenge decisions made by the public school administrators in power fearing consequent undesirable changes. Decision makers, in their efforts to comply with the law and manage budgets, made assumptions about what students needed, what parents wanted and often what classroom teachers thought important for students. Catholic school administrators, teachers and parents need to be knowledgeable about the law, attentive to the perspective of students and willing to advocate for the most appropriate special education services

A Cord of Many Strands: A Case Study of Inclusive Practice within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

The foundational philosophy of Catholic schools impels them toward inclusive practice. Scholars have repeatedly established that a moral mandate exists in Catholic Social Teaching for Catholic schools to include all students. However, students with disabilities have traditionally been excluded from Catholic school settings due perceived resource constraints, lack of practitioner skill, and the disposition that students with disabilities are better served in public schools. Many Catholic schools have made tremendous progress in inclusive practice, and stand at the forefront of this work, but these efforts have not been replicated at scale. The purpose of this study was to explore how communities of practice support inclusion in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. A convergent mixed methods approach to social network analysis was used to describe the state of inclusive practice in Catholic schools and the relationships that facilitate diffusion of information and resources across these organizations. The findings of this study indicated that Catholic educators strongly support inclusion and associate it with the mission of Catholic education but lack capacity in their knowledge and resources to create inclusive environments, despite the presence of skilled teachers and other internal resources. The study found that Catholic schools are resourceful and build effective partnerships with parents, students, and outside organizations to support students with disabilities, but that networks across school sites are fragmented