The purpose of this study is to make an investigation of certain governmental policies in relation to parochial schools and to ascertain reasons why parents enroll their children in parochial schools instead of public schools.

Thesis advisor: Peter Skerry / K-12 education policy has become increasingly centralized and technocratic, while falling short of achieving policy objectives. Young people are generally maladjusted to the personal and professional challenges of contemporary life. Parents experience diminishing political influence over the form and substance of their children’s education. I argue that improvement of the quality of private education requires greater emphasis on local political dynamics. School choice offers a free market alternative to a public school system which has largely ceded decision making to avowedly apolitical bureaucrats. Ironically, politics remains essential for the formation and regulation of the very policies that enable the marketplace to thrive as in the case of the tax credit scholarship. The politics behind the marketplace is brought to light by examining the local political relationships required to establish and maintain the Illinois Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship (TCS), a school choice policy of unprecedented magnitude in Illinois. Furthermore, this research examines local dynamics among parents in the Archdiocese of Chicago, many of whom benefit from the aforementioned tax credit scholarships and manifest a variety of views on the teleological purpose of the parochial school. In a nation that is both diverse and increasingly polarized, successful governance of community schools depends upon discerning leaders and the practice of reinvigorated federalism. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

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Catholic parochial elementary schools in the United states are normally governed by the pastor of the local parish and under a local-executive governance model. Despite pastors’ paramount role in the governance of Catholic parochial elementary schools they often lack the training, interest, or time to fulfill their roles. This qualitative study explored pastors’ perspectives on the local-executive governance model, where governance of the school is local and the pastor is the sole executive of the school. This dissertation included interviews with nine pastors in a diocese on the west coast of the United States. The study explored how pastors’ view their roles at their parochial schools. The pastors were asked about their views on their spiritual, education, and managerial roles at their parochial schools. Findings indicated that pastors enjoyed their spiritual roles at their schools but chose to delegate many of their financial, human, and academic responsibilities to the school principal. The findings supported the need for Catholic schools to explore other options in school governance beyond the local-executive governance model and to shift more authority from pastors to qualified laypersons.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:35:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2949.pdf: 6936728 bytes, checksum: 49db82cdd194a90eb6bd9e622f8a15ba (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-11 / The survey, whose object throve institutional relations of church and society mediated by education, aimed to examine the remains of catechesis and education materialized in the Franciscan parish schools established in Goias in the first half of the twentieth century. These institutions intregraram Franciscan missionary project of two American religious orders: the Friars Minor (1944) and the Sisters of Allegany (1946). The theoretical assumptions of cultural studies and historical research located in the field of educational institutions guided search fundamentals. The research methodology documentation, which was essentially the basis for the analysis of empirical data. The specific object of catechesis, education and society, had the contribution of sociological theory and historical interpretation for the variables of social and economic context in which they entered the missionary and educational analyzed. Among the findings from the route and analysis, remains indicated that the Catechesis and Education Taught at the altar and in the classroom, they would have supported the project of evangelization and sacralization, strengthening the movement for renewal of the Roman Church and the new Christianity in Brazil . Uniquely, the consolidation of the Franciscan missionary work led to the syncretism of religious practices and the likely eclecticism of pedagogical practices and school strongly marked by active methods, in contrast to the structure and format of traditional religious order. The originality with the Franciscans not only spread their missionary project also defined as agreements and mediations with local realities, through the educational and catechetical work, resulted in the demarcation of spaces and competitors alike and the coexistence of the diverse. / A pesquisa, cujo objeto vicejou as relações institucionais da igreja e sociedade mediadas pela educação, teve por objetivo analisar os vestígios da catequese e da educação franciscanas materializadas nas escolas paroquiais criadas em Goiás na primeira metade do século XX. Estas instituições intregraram o projeto missionário franciscano de duas ordens religiosas americanas: os Frades Menores (1944) e as Irmãs de Allegany (1946). Os pressupostos teóricos dos estudos culturais e da pesquisa histórica situada no campo das instituições escolares orientaram os fundamentos da pesquisa. A metodologia da pesquisa documental foi, essencialmente, a base para o levantamento dos dados empíricos. As especificidades do objeto catequese-educação-sociedade, tiveram o aporte da teoria sociológica e histórica para a interpretação das variáveis do contexto social e econômico no qual se inseriu a obra missionária e educativa analisada. Dentre os achados resultantes do percurso e das análises, os vestígios indicaram que a Catequese e a Educação ministradas no altar e na sala de aula, teriam sustentado o projeto de evangelização e sacralização, fortalecendo o movimento de renovação da Igreja romana e da nova cristandade no Brasil. De modo singular, a consolidação da obra missionária franciscana levou ao sincretismo das práticas religiosas e no provável ecletismo de práticas pedagógicas e escolares fortemente marcadas por métodos ativos, contrastando com a estrutura e o formato tradicional da ordem religiosa. A originalidade com que os franciscanos não apenas disseminaram o seu projeto missionário como também definiram acordos e mediações com a realidade local, por meio das ações educativas e catequéticas, resultaram na demarcação de espaços concorrentes e similares e na coexistência do diverso.

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As the focal point of the school, the principal’s leadership is integral to its effective functioning. This study used a self-assessment to analyze the self-identified strengths of principals in Islamic schools within the five most populated states in the United States (which also have the largest number of mosques) and the commonalities in those strengths based on (a) the enrollment of the school; (b) year school was established; (c) the gender of the principal; (d) the principal’s professional preparation, e.g., degree in education vs. other fields and years of experience; and (e) geographic location. While only a small amount of statistical significance was evident (p < .05) in exploring the differences between groups, several conclusions were made. In analyzing the strengths of the principals, the least selected strength was Significance and the most was Analytical, which had the highest proportion of affirmatively responding principals as compared to any of the other strengths. Additionally, the relationship between principal strength and school enrollment resulted in for the strengths of Command and Developer at a significance level that was less stringent than the p = .002 dictated by the study; principals at schools that have a student enrollment of 151-200 ranked Command higher as compared to principals in schools of other sizes, whereas those with an enrollment of 150 or fewer students ranked Developer as a more preferred strength. In addressing principal strengths and gender, the results showcased males ranking Self-assuredness as their preferred trait more frequently than their female counterparts, who preferred Futuristic. Furthermore, the relationship of principal strengths and area of education resulted in the strengths of Activator, Maximizer, and Positivity as being iv ranked higher for principals who had a degree in education at the p = .05 level. The strengths of Empathy, Harmony, and Responsibility (p < .05) and Deliberative (p < .01) were ranked higher by principals who did not have a degree in education. Also, based on the average rankings of principal strengths, Achiever indicated the strongest association for principals with a degree in education and Deliberative for principals who did not. The results of the mean ranking of the strengths among principals of differing years of experience resulted in the ranking of Focus and Includer at higher levels for principals with 3-6 years of experience (p < .01). Furthermore, the average rankings showcased the strength of Achiever as the most strongly rated for principals with less than 3 years of experience, Focus for principals with 3-6 years of experience, and Analytical for principals with more than 6 years. Examination of principal strengths based on geographic location was conducted descriptively due to small group sizes. Among the five states of focus, average rankings of strengths indicated that Deliberative was the most preferred among California principals, Includer among Florida principals, Activator among Illinois respondents, Command among New York principals, and Analytical in Texas.

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