A Letter from Executive Director
Sister Karen Dietrich, SSJ, PhD
Last May, I stood on the stage at Rutgers University’s Gordon Theater at our first ever student arts showcase celebrating the creativity and promise of our children. I was surrounded by a few hundred of our children … glowing children who had just completed phenomenal performances, accepted awards and received scholarships totaling over $150,000 to some of the finest area high schools. Several held signs that captured the essence of that very special event. In bold color and design, they read: Dreams, Scholarship, Arts, Excellence. As I looked out to the 400+ audience made up of families and friends, benefactors and supporters, I was so filled with pride and hope. OUR dreams for the children we serve were so real to me that evening.
Today, there are more than 1.5 million elementary and middle school-aged children attending Catholic schools throughout the United States. Forty three percent are in urban and inner city areas where, for more than 100 years, they have been educating and preparing for success many of the country’s immigrants and working poor.
With values-based, academically focused schools – that daily provide the structured, safe, and nurturing culture so desperately needed by children today — they are the embodiment of the most highly-prized characteristics touted in education reform discussions. A Catholic Partnership Schools education not only provides the academic and intellectual tools to succeed but an education that emphasizes character formation and spiritual grounding.
The five Partnership schools – Holy Name, Sacred Heart, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Cecilia, and St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral – already serve as great resources for their students and families. Children take pride in their schools and for many, it has become a loving, second home. Our task at the Partnership is to build on existing strengths and to revitalize each of our schools – through increased enrollment, funding, and emphasis on excellence.
Children at our schools deserve a more just and equitable education system – one that includes schools with recreational facilities, afterschool and summer programs, science labs, dedicated art programs and spaces, well-integrated technology and quality instruction.
We know that, despite formidable challenges, the Partnership’s goals are achievable.
At the Catholic Partnership Schools, 93% of our families are below poverty level, 65% of our students are Hispanic, 30% are African-American, and approximately 50% are non-Catholic. And what may be the most telling statistic: Citing just one of our schools as an example, over 90% of our students graduate from high school. This is compared to less than 25% at the two Camden City schools that are the public high school options for our young people.
Our Partnership schools are accountable. Each child is assessed twice a year using nationally, norm-referenced instruments (the NWEA Northwest Evaluation Association MAP Instrument and IOWA tests) aligned with the national core and NJ curriculum standards. Our children out-perform the Camden City Public School district and almost all of the charter schools in math and reading/language arts at each grade level. Eighty (80%) of our 8th grade students are proficient or advanced proficient in reading. This is with 87% of our children receiving Title I remedial services.
Our five schools are regularly re-accredited by the Middle States Association Commission on Elementary Schools. They choose to seek this rigorous critique from a well-respected and objective accrediting agency. Not one of the public or charter schools in Camden City holds this recognized and valuable accreditation.
What motivates me every day is seeing the children in the classroom, hearing the stories of faith and perseverance from their families, and sharing the good news of our accomplishments with partners throughout the region. Last May our fifth graders built their very own bookcases to take home and hold their personal library. I spent an hour encouraging, oohing and ahhing over their handiwork and doing final tightening with an electric drill. As we posed for a group photo, one little girl asked, “Sister, are you coming back?”
“Of course I am,” I said. “I have to finish reading our book!”
“No Sister, next year. Are you coming back next year?”
How could I not?
Our schools are not broken! Our schools are working incredibly well! The commitment to keep our schools as an alternative to the public system is a steadfast one. Clearly, it is in everyone’s best interest to keep Catholic schools open and thriving and offering educational excellence to the children of our inner cities. Let our families have the choice of educating their children in the schools that partnered with the parents of so many fine men and women who have gone before us. Surely that includes some of you in the legions of hard-working men and women who have so positively impacted every aspect of our society.
Become part of our story. Become part of something great!
Sister Karen Dietrich, SSJ, PhD
kdietrich@catholicpartnershipschools.org
856-338-0966
