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Exploring Potential Connections between Philadelphia-Area Catholic High School Experiences and Graduates' Later Life Pathways| Are These Schools Helping to Shape Service-Oriented Citizens?

<p> As the continuous search for educational alternatives in Philadelphia intensifies, one only has to look at the current landscape, our surrounding communities, and fiscal pressures to appreciate the need for better alternatives to our public system. This study examines one such &ldquo;alternative,&rdquo; though long-standing education model, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Catholic schools. Within these schools, perhaps we have leaders and a system that may be positioned to play an even greater role in providing a set of experiences that may impact the later life pathways of graduates, potentially predisposing them to community or civic service interests in their adult lives. I have completed an analysis of recollections of Catholic high school graduates across multiple graduation eras and collected insights from their narratives, to help illuminate those potential connection points. Further, unlike many previous longitudinal and correlational studies, in both Catholic and secular schools, I have conducted qualitative research to map earlier student experiences to current-day life practices and dispositions. Through surveys, one-on-one interviews and a focus group with graduates of Philadelphia&rsquo;s area high schools, I am surfacing findings to determine if graduates are embracing certain values from their experiences and whether and how this may have helped shaped their civic and community interests years later.</p><p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10600942
Date25 October 2017
CreatorsBoyle, Patricia
PublisherUniversity of Pennsylvania
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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