University of Dayton, Ohio

Faith, Service, Excellence Through Collaboration and Innovation

The Center for Catholic Education at the University of Dayton is becoming a nationally recognized leader in research and programming for Catholic schools. While our core programs, Lalanne and the Urban Child Development Resource Center, continue to be a focus of our work, we readily expand the scope of our service in response to the needs of Catholic education. We adhere steadfastly to our core values and beliefs while seeking to improve our connection with those who share our mission, including other areas of the University of Dayton, the Marianists, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and other universities.

Mark your calendars! The next Catholic Education Summit will be held July 12, 2013!

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VISION

The vision of the Center for Catholic Education is to be a servant-leader in working with Catholic educators to foster excellence in Catholic schools.

MISSION

Through collaboration, research and creative action, the Center for Catholic Education, in close connection with the University of Dayton and with the Marianists, serves and leads the local, national and global Catholic school community.

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Collaboration and Support for the Catholic Marianist Spirit

Established in 1996, the Center for Catholic Education at the University of Dayton promotes, enhances, energizes and supports Catholic schools. Our professional staff delivers programs and services in a Catholic and Marianist spirit – to educate for formation in faith; to provide an integral quality education; to educate in family spirit; to educate for service, justice, and peace; and to educate for adaptation and change.

The Center for Catholic Education, housed in the School of Education and Allied Professions, collaborates with colleagues at the university to share resources, research best practices and talent.

We serve through:

• Professional development programs and initiatives.
• Teachers in the Lalanne Program.
• Mental health therapists and social workers of the Urban Child Development Resource Center.
• Director of Marianist Educational Studies and Partnerships.
• Nationally known historian of Catholic education, Dr. Thomas Hunt.

We are honored to serve and nurture Catholic schools in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas as well as in other dioceses in the Midwest.

Grow in faith and service.

LALANNE PROGRAM

Lalanne is a post-graduate teacher service program that specializes in supporting beginning Catholic school educators by combining service and teaching. Lalanne teachers make a two-year commitment to teach in an under-resourced Catholic school. They live together in a faith-based community, and pursue professional as well as spiritual and personal development.

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EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE

The Excellence Initiative was established in response to the existing difference between assessed skills of grade school graduates and the expectations for skill in content areas of Catholic high schools. This initiative serves to address the degree to which curriculum standards, as required by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, are being met. It familiarizes Catholic school educators with a model for aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment. The model, known as curriculum mapping, provides the means to chronicle what is being taught and how it is being taught. With greater alignment between archdiocesan curricular content as students move from grade schools to high schools, overall achievement will likely improve.

The Excellence Initiative has been quite successful, with 332 teachers in 19 Dayton-area Catholic schools utilizing the curriculum mapping model.

READING MENTORING PROGRAM

Faculty members at the University of Dayton, supported by the Center for Catholic Education, created the Reading Mentoring Program in 2006. This program collaborates with both campuses of Mary Queen of Peace School, an urban Catholic school in Dayton. We launched the program to support the professional development of the teachers at Mary Queen of Peace after it opened in 2006 as the result of the closing of five urban Catholic elementary schools in Dayton.

Among the benefits of this effective reading mentoring program are monthly in-service training sessions for teachers, one-on-one tutoring, placement of student teachers, classroom modeling of reading comprehension strategies for teachers, ongoing faculty support and partial support for attendance at the NCTE annual conferences. 

Currently, 21 teachers and student teachers from both Mary Queen of Peace campuses have volunteered to participate.

The program was expanded in the summer of 2009 to include other schools in the Catholic Education Collaborative, established to advance and enhance Catholic education in the Dayton Deanery.

ST. REMY INITIATIVE

The St. Remy Initiative provides Catholic school principals and teachers with an opportunity to strengthen their knowledge and skills in the spiritual, academic, and managerial dimensions of their ministry. Participant teams (the principal and two teacher leaders from each school) will develop a school-wide project for enhancing the Catholic identity within their individual schools.

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Urban Child Development Resource Center

The Urban Child Development Resource Center (UCDRC) is a partnership between the University of Dayton's Center for Catholic Education and local Catholic schools. 
UCDRC's expertise is working with children from under-resourced neighborhoods and from diverse cultures.

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What We Do

OUR PLAN

• Serve as a guide for discussion and action that will enhance the future of Catholic education.
• Initiate conversations that are both meaningful and relevant for contemporary Catholic schools.
• Become a place where diverse groups of people will meet to engage in inquiry and active listening.
• Inspire dialogue, research, and the re-envisioning of Catholic education for practical application in Catholic schools.

OUR STRATEGIES

• Obtain input from center supporters and stakeholders.
• Dialogue with Catholic school principals and teachers.
• Foster a welcoming intellectual space for educators at the Center for Catholic Education.
• Collaborate across the university to promote programs for Catholic school teachers and administrators.
• Establish a research agenda.
• Sponsor local and national forums to envision education for the future.
• Provide for the future growth and development of the Center for Catholic Education.

Get an inside look at the Center for Catholic Education!

Take a closer look at the work of the Center for Catholic Education through these photo galleries:

• Professional Development Day
• Giving Angels
• Peacemakers
• Catholic Education Summit

Get involved!

Have questions? Let us know!

Center for Catholic Education
School of Education & Allied Professions
Chaminade Hall, Room 313
300 College Park Ave.
Dayton, OH 45469-0531

Phone: (937) 229-3778
Fax: (937) 229-3670

Susan Ferguson
Executive Director
Center for Catholic Education
(937) 229-3709

Barbara Miller
Administrative Associate
(937) 229-3778

Rhonda Mercs
Director
Urban Child Development Resource Center
(937) 229-3778

Jacinta Mergler
Director
Lalanne Program
(937) 229-3928

Toni Moore
Director, St. Remy Initiative 
Planning Director, Leadership Institute
(937) 229-1051