August 5, 2019 (Louisville, KY)–Jefferson County Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville will begin the first official day of instruction on August 14, 2019. Although this is the first “official” day of school, some Catholic schools choose to begin on a day other than August 14. Parents should consult their school’s handbook to determine when their particular school will begin instruction.
Catholic elementary and secondary schools outside Jefferson County generally follow the calendar of the public school district in which they are located.
Catholic secondary schools have a variety of start dates:
Assumption High School: August 12
Bethlehem High School (Bardstown, Ky.): August 1
DeSales High School: August 15
Holy Cross High School: August 9
Mercy Academy: August 13
Presentation Academy: August 12
Sacred Heart Academy: August 14
Trinity High School: August 13
Saint Xavier High School: August 16
There are 49 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in seven counties of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Last year nearly 19,000 students attended grades PK-12 in Catholic schools. Included on the following pages is a sampling of new initiatives of the Archdiocese and of individual schools for the coming school year.
Back to School Information – Archdiocesan Initiatives 2019-20
Crusade for Children Grant
The Archdiocese of Louisville received a $40,000 Crusade for Children grant for sensory materials, sound systems, assessments, adaptive classroom furniture, and technology to be used in Catholic schools. Since the Crusade began issuing these educational grants, the Archdiocese has benefitted from $1.5 million in assistance for students with special needs.
ACE Teaching Fellows from the University of Notre Dame
The Archdiocese of Louisville will welcome its inaugural class of ACE Teaching Fellows from the University of Notre Dame in August 2019. Four teachers will serve at Holy Cross High School, Presentation Academy and Saint Nicholas Academy.
The ACE teachers are:
- Madison (Maddy) Schreiter (Social Studies, Holy Cross High School)
- Joseph Kelly (Theology, Holy Cross High School)
- Madeleine Corcoran (Mathematics, Presentation Academy)
- Thomas Bergan (Fifth Grade, Saint Nicholas Academy)
These teachers will serve two years in their assigned schools as part of the ACE Teaching Fellows program, and they have the opportunity to stay beyond those two years.
The Alliance of Catholic Education (ACE) seeks to develop a corps of highly motivated and committed educators to meet the needs of underserved elementary and secondary Catholic schools across the country. Established in 1994 by Fr. Tim Scully, CSC, and Fr. Sean McGraw, CSC, ACE now places over 120 college graduates in more than 120 parochial schools throughout the United States.
Back to School Information – Archdiocesan Initiatives 2019-20
ACE recruits talented undergraduates from colleges and universities across the country. ACE teachers represent a broad variety of undergraduate disciplines, with a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences. The program provides an intensive two-year service experience encompassing the three pillars at the heart of the ACE program: professional development, community life and spiritual growth. ACE aims to provide excellence in education and to maximize opportunities for its participants’ personal and professional growth.
Upon completion of the program, ACE teachers receive a cost-free Masters of Education degree from Notre Dame, are eligible for teacher licensure and are eligible for a Segal Education Award from the corporation for National and Community Service. During their two years of service, ACE teachers receive a modest living allowance, are placed in affordable housing arranged by the diocese where they serve, are eligible for loan deferment and possibly for partial or complete loan cancellation and are eligible to become AmeriCorps members.
“Get on the MAP”–Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment Begins in 2019-20
Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, all Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville will administer the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). Reading, Math and Language Usage assessments will take place in Grades 3 through 7 in early fall and late spring, with an optional winter testing window. In addition, all Catholic elementary schools will use NWEA MAP Reading Fluency assessment in Grades K, 1 and 2 to measure fluency, foundational skills and comprehension.
The MAP Growth and Reading Fluency assessments, administered by either tablet or computer, will provide a personalized learning assessment experience for students, one that adapts to the student’s level of learning. If a student answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If the answer is incorrect, the next question is easier. This approach results in a detailed picture of what students know and are ready to learn. Due to the online nature of MAP assessments, results are immediate and accurate, helping teachers to identify the strength and growth opportunities for each student in their classrooms.
Back to School Information – Archdiocesan Initiatives 2019-20
In shifting to this interim assessment model, our students will be joining nearly 10 million students across the country, including 400,000 Catholic school students, who currently use the NWEA MAP suite of assessments.
“Making Math Matter”—New Mathematics Standards
The Archdiocese of Louisville will implement new elementary school mathematics standards in the 2019-20 school year. The standards align with common core standards and provide students individual and collaborative experiences that promote their ability to make sense of mathematical ideas and reason mathematically. The standards also contain the following shifts:
- Focus—Teachers narrow and deepen the scope focusing on fewer topics in greater depth.
- Fluency-Students ground procedures in conceptual understanding and gain speed and accuracy in simple calculations.
- Coherence-Teachers connect the learning within and across grade levels building on students’ previous learning.
- Understanding-Students develop deep conceptual understanding and easily operate within a concept before moving on.
- Application-Students use and apply math knowledge to solve real world problems.
The Archdiocese of Louisville has entered into a partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to provide professional learning for teachers and create informative communications for parents. In summer 2019, over 50 elementary and middle school mathematics teachers attended two days of professional learning on understanding numbers and operations and understanding the proportional reasoning progression. Teachers will meet for an additional two days in fall 2019 and will have access to coaching and classroom observations and feedback. Additional cohorts of mathematics teachers will have access to this professional learning beginning in spring 2020.
Back to School Information – Archdiocesan Initiatives 2019-20
Parent Education Sessions Offered in 2019-20
The Archdiocese of Louisville will offer two parent education sessions during the 2019-20 school year.
The first is “Instagram Ate My Daughter and My Son Won’t Stop Playing Fortnite: What Parents Need to Know to Improve the Odds for Their Children.” The session is presented by Dr. Leonard Sax, MD, PHD, author of several books including The Collapse of Parenting. The session will take place on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Mercy Academy (5801 Fegenbush Lane, Louisville) in the auditorium. All parents are welcome to attend.
Later in the year on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, a session entitled, “What Teens Want You to Know and Won’t Tell You,’ will take place. The session will be conducted by Dr. Roy Petitfils, noted author and clinical psychologist, whose latest book is Helping Teens with Stress, Anxiety, and Depression.” The session will take place 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Saint Xavier High School (1609 Poplar Level Road, Louisville) Auditorium.
“Getting to Know Theology of the Body for Teachers”
Theology of the Body is Saint John Paul II’s integrated vision of the human person. His reflections, based on scripture, offer a vision of a truly worthy and dignified human person. The human body is treated as means to love in the image of God. Because these ideas are universal and can be presented in age-appropriate ways across grades K-8, Theology of the Body standards are now included for each grade level in the Archdiocese of Louisville Religion Curriculum Framework.
Elementary school teachers will have the opportunity to implement Theology of the Body curriculum, Rooted, developed by Ruah Woods, during the 2019-20 school year. The curriculum was piloted in several schools in spring 2019, and a catechist formation course was designed for teachers to provide an overview of the teachings associated with Theology of the Body, as well as grade-level activities to bring the curriculum alive in their classrooms.
Back to School – Individual Catholic School Initiatives
Presentation Academy (861 South Fourth Street, Louisville; 502-583-5935)
English teacher and librarian Terry Roberts volunteered her time this summer to renovate the library. She removed a couple walls of book shelves, redesigned the space and gave everything a fresh coat of paint – giving the library an entirely new look!
(Photos available.)
Notre Dame Academy (1927 Lewiston Drive, Louisville; 502-368-8506)
Notre Dame Academy had a bit of a facelift over the summer. The school had new floors poured throughout and all of the walls painted. A ribbon-cutting will be held at the open classroom night on August 7 at 5:00. All of the students will get a chance to participate and cut the ribbon to be the first to see the newly renovated building.
(Photos available.)
Saint Martha School (2825 Klondike Lane, Louisville’ 502-491-3171)
Saint Martha’s middle school science teacher, Dana Bale, has secured several grants to enhance the school’s STEM offerings that encourage environmental conservation. Student proposals combined with the grants will result in a new rain barrel, compost bin, raised garden beds and a vermiculture bin at the school. Outdoor learning is associated with better grades, better health, decreased stress levels and better overall behavior.
For more, check out this blog: https://www.stmartharocks.com/3-grants-a-gifting/
(Photos available.)
Saint Martha School’s new Makerspace is a STEM Lab where students tinker, create and build using both low-and high-tech tools as a way to cultivate 21st century skills like problem solving, communication and collaboration. Tools in the lab include many different kinds of robots – VEX, Mindstorm, Sphereos, Ozobot, Dash and Dot – a 3-D printer, a Circuit as well as a Lego wall, K’next and arts and crafts materials such as pipe cleaners and pom poms. For more information, see the blog: blog: https://www.stmartharocks.com/st-martha-makerspace-prepares-students-future/
(Photos available.)
Back to School – Individual Catholic School Initiatives
Saint Martha School (2825 Klondike Lane, Louisville, 502-491-3171 Continued)
Saint Martha School offers a variety of resources to help teachers create a more personalized, research-based approach for students’ diverse needs. The new Learning Lab provides a space and tools for students to work in small group or 1×1 settings to enhance reading skills. In its first year, the Lexia program has already proved a valuable tool to help reinforce key reading concepts for students in grades K-5. Finally, St. Martha is unique in its offering of the Barton’s program – a specific resource for students diagnosed with dyslexia that typically requires tutoring outside school hours and at a significant cost outside tuition.
For more information, see blog: https://www.stmartharocks.com/st-marthas-learning-lab-builds-rockin-readers/.
(Photos available.)
For information, call: Cecelia Price at 502/585-3291 (office) or 502/417-7187 (cell).
