Center for Catholic Education

Catholic schools have served generations of U.S. families for nearly two centuries through strong academics, character development, spiritual nourishment and education of the whole person. But these schools face significant challenges, from declining enrollment and financial struggles to the need for professional development and research on best practices.

SOE’s Center for Catholic Education has established itself as an invaluable resource for confronting these challenges through leadership development, teacher preparation, and research and outreach. “At a time of great need, our contributions are being recognized both locally and nationally,” says Fr. Robert Walsh, SJ, CCE’s executive director.

Nationally, a key producer of the scholarly research and expertise so vital to elevating Catholic schools is the Journal of Catholic Education. Housed in the CCE and overseen by a governing board of representatives from Catholic colleges and universities across the country, the open-access, biannual peer-reviewed journal promotes and disseminates scholarship on the purposes, practices and issues in Catholic education at all levels.

The CCE’s national leadership was also on display in July at the Education Law Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky, where leading experts on the law as it applies to Catholic education and ministry addressed a host of important topics. The annual event, co-sponsored by SOE and the National Catholic Educational Association, is directed by Sister Mary Angela Shaughnessy, SCN, Distinguished Fellow in the CCE, who has been named one of the 25 most influential persons in Catholic education.

The CCE continues its unique partnership with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles through the CAST (Catholic Archdiocesan School Teachers) program, which since 2005 has brought uncredentialed full-time teachers in diocesan schools to SOE for a two-year program. The Catholic School Leadership Academy prepares Catholic school principals and other leaders through a two-year MA program as well as a four-course certificate program in Catholic School Administration. In addition, the SOE’s iDEAL (Innovation in Digital Education and Leadership) Institute, directed by Shannon Tabaldo, cultivates teachers and administrators as advocates for equity in educational technology access across a range of schools. Teachers at St. Aloysius Gonzaga School have called the impact the iDEAL Institute has on their school “immeasurable,” allowing students to build their content knowledge at their own pace as well as giving teachers real-time data to assess and accommodate accordingly.

PLACE Corps (Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education), a nationally recognized Catholic teacher service corps housed within the CCE, has prepared hundreds of talented and faith-filled educators for positions in Los Angeles Catholic schools since 2001. PLACE Corps members serve as teachers in primarily under-resourced Catholic schools while earning a master’s degree in education and California preliminary teaching credential. During the experience they live with their peers, building a strong, supportive and faith-filled community.

In July, Antonio Felix, MA ’07, ’10, took the reins as director of a newly expanded PLACE Corps, which now serves the dioceses of Orange and San Bernardino as well as the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Felix embodies the important contributions CCE is making to Catholic schools. In his second year as a middle-school math and science teacher at a Catholic school in South Los Angeles, he enrolled in CAST and earned a master’s degree in education. Felix later enrolled in SOE’s Catholic School Leadership Academy, which prepared him for a position as principal at Nativity School.

“I am excited to help support Catholic school educators and serve PLACE Corps at LMU,” Felix says. “The social justice and Ignatian principles that distinguish our SOE gave me the lens through which I see education, and those principles continue to motivate me every day.”

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