Can Research Keep Catholic Schools Open?

Two recent experiences got me thinking about the administration and leadership of Catholic schools and how research might contribute to new models to keep schools open. I hope that others more knowledgeable about this topic will contribute more than I can by way of comments to this post.

The first experience was a discussion about the Notre Dame Magnificat Schools model, which is mentioned in the report of the Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education. Magnificat schools receive resources to help increase enrollment and student achievement and decrease faculty turnover. It was not clear to me from the discussion - or from other resources I could find - what, specifically, would be done to achieve these objectives. From what I gather, the model is an evolving one, open to the creative solutions of individuals, parishes, and school and Notre Dame faculty. In other words, it seems like a ripe area for research about Catholic school "survival," leadership, and collaboration. What I'm less certain of, because leadership/administration is not my area of expertise, is what specific research questions within these rather broad topics might look like.

The second experience I had helped me to begin to see some potential research questions. I sat in on a budget meeting involving an administrator at a public school system and a project director at a university. The exasperation of the project director was palpable as the administrator described the many layers of bureaucracy of determining - and executing - a project budget within the system. Evidently, the administrator, who knew more than anyone in the school system about costs associated with the project, had the least to say about the budget. I got the sense that the administrator lacked the management skill to more successfully navigate the business end of the program.

These two experiences started me wondering about the nuts and bolts of running a Catholic School. For example, in small Catholic elementary schools (at least those that I have experienced), the principal typically serves the multiple functions of, among many others, "operations manager" (making day-to-day decisions about school functioning), chief disciplinarian, business manager, and academic leader (or curriculum supervisor), probably in that order. It occurred to me that to perform these functions well, a person would not only have to have the time to commit to all of them, but also specific and detailed training in each area. Some might be best learned through experience, but others - particularly expertise in organizing curriculum and managing a budget - seem much more detailed than on the job training (or even an education administration degree/certificate program?) can provide.

Perhaps research into the various outcomes of different Catholic School models might make for fertile ground for research. It seems plausible to explore the effects of the distribution of any of the leadership functions on any number of other functions or school and demographic outcomes. For example, research might explore:

• the effects of turning financial management of a group of Catholic Schools to a central office or business manager that serves all of the schools as one unit
• the impact of having a full-time assistant principal on staff to handle any of the principal's duties so that he/she can focus more fully on others. That is, does an assistant principal "pay for herself" in terms of increased enrollment because school quality improves?
  
• whether or not a Catholic School principal can be effective in any role when trying to juggle all roles.
  

As a Curriculum & Instruction guy, this timid foray into educational leadership and school governance/administration models is admittedly limited. I therefore look forward to reading others' thoughts about potential research questions and research that has already been (or is being) conducted.