Recruiting Catholic Elementary Students Into Our High Schools

How can we persuade our elementary school families to enroll their children in our high schools? 

Most high schools, especially if there are multiple Catholic high schools in the area, have some form of an “8th grade visitation day,” inviting the entire 8th grade from each Catholic elementary school to visit for a day. Our 8th graders at Prince of Peace visit four Dallas Catholic high schools, typically in October.  It’s a kind of a “kick-off” for recruitment. Placement tests, applications and interviews come next. 

As a high school principal for three decades, I did it this way, too. 

But now, as an elementary school president, my perspective has changed. 

If you ask 8th graders in September (I do this), where they hope to attend high school next year, most have a definite first choice. Yes, the visits to follow might persuade a few to change their minds, but more often than not, the visits only confirm a choice they’ve already made, and there’s a selection bias coming in: they are predisposed to find reasons to like the school they already want to attend. 

The point is, by 8th grade, the “battle lines” have been mostly drawn. For this reason, I now think it would be prudent for high schools to invite 7th graders for the general visit, not 8th graders, and then develop a comprehensive 2-year campaign to pull these students (and their parents!) into the life of the high school. 

During that 7th grade visitation, I suggest developing profiles: What are their interests? Do they play a sport? Are they involved with band, choir, cheerleading, dancing, scouts? What parish do they belong to? What are their hobbies? Where did their parents attend school?where do their older siblings attend? If 5 were a definite “yes” and 1 a definite “no” with 3 as “neutral at this point,” on a scale of 1-5, could they see themselves attending here? Also, if they “had to guess”, how might their parents answer that question? 

Each admissions person might then be given a “portfolio” of possible applicants it was his or her job to enroll. They would do so through both general outreach and specific, targeted appeals.

The general outreach could be through hosting regional social events (like “learn how to line dance” events or Halloween celebrations, or Christmas parties), academic enrichment opportunities (such as “preparing for the high school placement test” or a workshop for parents, like “What you need to know about competitive college admissions and how to begin preparing now”). Can the high school offer Saturday morning “Preparing for high school” or “study skills”  classes, with parents invited to “hang out” with free coffee and WiFi in the high school library?

The targeted appeals would match student interests with specific programs in the high school. For example, admissions could coordinate meetings between middle school  football players (and parents) with the weight training coaches, for a “workout session.” The coach could tell them “what they can be doing now” to get ready for high school athletics, including nutrition information. Could the high school coaches occasionally visit middle school practices and run a few drills? Could they invite elementary teams to have an occasional practice “under the lights” of the stadium, or in the high school gyms? Could the high school dance team invite kids to a clinic?  Could talented musicians be invited to play or sing for some  high school functions? At minimum, could they and their parents be personally invited to the plays and musical events hosted by the high school? 

Yes, this is a lot of work! But enrollment drives EVERYTHING: budgets, salaries, advancement dollars,  and the general perception of how the school is doing. As school leaders, we must be sure we’ve equipped our school with the RIGHT staff, and ENOUGH staff, to do it well! 

The Need for Beauty in our Churches and Schools

“Art imitates life.” That’s true, no doubt, but the converse is also true, and more frightening:  that “Life imitates art.” The technological know-how to produce stunning HD video, the ability of advertisers to manipulate our emotions through images, colors, sound, and music, the use of headlines to provoke us to “click” on a link —all conspire to manipulate us and appeal to our lesser angels, the voyeuristic part. Our attitudes and values are "artfully" shaped by those who wish to sell us something, creating a culture that sweeps us and everyone else downstream, 

This cultural current can not be resisted merely by force of will. We need God’s grace to overcome our creaturely vices. 

But we also need beauty—to see it and to immerse ourselves in it. We are not philosophers who revel in the abstract; rather, we must see, touch, taste and smell. 

This is the reason for our sacramental tradition, that through the “portal” of physical signs we are drawn into the invisible world,  so as to experience God’s love and mercy for us.  It is why we build churches and cathedrals, filled with sculptures, artwork and stained glass windows: to avert our eyes from the mud wrestlers, the broken and the profane, and to instead help us contemplate “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.” (Philippians 4:8). 

May our Churches and our schools inspire more artists, and may these artists bring us more fully into the world of the beautiful! Therein is God.

Boards That Help Us

Typically we have some very successful professionals on our Boards who want to help us become a better school. But often, they are quickly disillusioned because “they don’t do anything.” 

Absent meaningful work, meetings can easily become sniper sessions where members become critical of administrative decisions. Toxicity results. Principals often dread Board meetings as a result.

But that’s on us as school leaders. It’s our responsibility to bring forward meaningful work for our Boards, asking them to help us. We either “drive or get driven.” 

So here are tasks we can ask our Boards to assist us with:

—Boards should help us draft a strategic plan for the school, focused on faith, academic programs, building/grounds, student life, and financial/advancement initiatives. Ideas can begin with Board sponsored “listening sessions” with parents, teachers and students.

Strategic plans keep Boards focused in the right direction: the future. It is liberating and exciting to imagine future possibilities. I recommend Boards take two years to finalize a plan.

I also recommend NOT putting an implementation date for each recommendation. With timelines, the plan will be outdated within 2 years, as there will almost certainly be pieces that aren’t done within the hoped for dates. Rather, designate a meeting each year for an “annual review” of the strategic plan: What have we accomplished? Still to be done? Do we still believe X, Y and Z are worthy goals for us? Do we need to delete or revise? If we do this annually, the plan becomes a “living document” that informs future Board discussions.

Here’s an example of our strategic plan, from St. Michael Catholic High.

Other suggestions for productive Board work:

—Create a  policy for wait lists. Who gets in first? Parishioners? Siblings of current families? Good families? Smart kids? Talented kids?

—Recommend budgets, salary increases and tuition, of course. But get some financial folks on the Board to also run 5 year projections with similar assumptions! What does that tell us?

—Rewrite your school mission statement. There’s a good chance it was written in the 1970’s/80’s and is too wordy. No one remembers it! Sharpen it to three key words or phrases!

—Set maximum class sizes per grade. The principal should be the primary as the educational professional, but should bounce ideas off the Board who knows the community. 

—Ask Board members to serve as leaders of the annual fund, to devise new scholarship initiatives for financial aid, to help the school create an endowment fund and to provide gifts to initiate that endowment.

Most importantly, as school leaders, we should continually share our thinking with the board, asking them to listen, ask questions and suggest revisions to our thoughts. I just previewed my “State of School” for parents with them, and they had some good ideas for improvement.

They want us to succeed, but we must “let ‘em in.”

A Magnanimous Life!

A few years back, Pope Francis said this to an audience of elementary and high school students:

“The principle element of school is to learn to be magnanimous. What does it mean? To have a big heart, to have a great spirit; it means to have great ideals, the desire to do great things , to respond to that which God asks of us, and exactly this doing of daily things well, all of the daily acts, obligations, encounters with people; doing everyday small things with a big heart open to God and to others. It is important, therefore, to tend to human formation aimed at magnanimity. School not only expands your intellectual dimension, but also the human dimension.” (Vatican Radio, June 7, 2013)

Great hearts and great minds to do great things for the Lord--what a powerful way to talk about the mission of our Catholic schools!

"Magnanimity" comes from two Latin words, "magna" meaning "great" and "anima" meaning “mind” or “spirit.” Thus magnaminity means literally "great-mindedness." St. Thomas Aquinas defines it as a "stretching forth of the mind to do great things. " 

He contrasts it with "pusillanimity," from "pusil," meaning "small.” A pusillanimous person is a small-minded one, without great aspirations or ideals. It makes sense that pusillanimity is a synonym for cowardice, since those without large vision or ideals are not moved to action and are inclined to "play it safe."

Aquinas believes the reason people tend toward pusillanimity is deep down, they don't believe they have the "qualifications" to be magnanimous. They believe that magnanimity is a virtue for the saints, perhaps, but not for ordinary people, like us. “If we aim low, we won't be disappointed."

And in fact, we live in a culture that consistently aims low for our youth: "We don't really believe you're capable of chastity, so practice safe sex." "We don't really expect you to be committed to scholarship, so we'll inflate your grades." "We don't think you can handle disappointment, so everyone will get a trophy."

But that’s NOT the message of Catholic schools! 

We say: “You are a child of God”, “a temple of the Holy Spirit”, “infused with God's grace to do great things with your life for others!” “You are called to holiness! You are called to become a saint!”

We believe children are hungry, deep down, to be challenged. They are utterly bored and uninspired by an accommodating, "lowest common denominator" approach to life. They want their lives to matter; they want to be challenged by the gospel, to believe that a heroic life is possible, and they are powerfully attracted to people who believe and live that way. 

The culture of optimism and faith in our Catholic schools is contagious! Our children are told, over and over, “(They) can do all things in Christ who strengthens (them)“ (Philippians 4:13). 

Let us never despair of the transformative power of God’s grace, working through our schools, to form magnanimous, happy and holy children!

A Chart is Worth a Thousand Words

Kudos to Mike Juhas, Superintendent of Catholic Schools of Pensacola, Florida, who may have shown us the best possible way to present our test scores to our communities.

He tracked the Iowa test scores of the current 8th graders of his diocese from when they were first graders all the way through to 8th grade, comparing their “grade equivalencies” to the national averages each year (see his chart below). As they matriculate through, his students beat the national averages by wider and wider margins.

In this one easy to understand graph, Mike makes a compelling case for the academic “value proposition” of the schools in his diocese. Brilliant!

So now I am scrambling to put together similar charts for our previous 8th grade classes at Prince of Peace. I’m pleased to find out that the Iowa test folks give us the tools to do this without a lot of expertise required.

It’s my sense that we don’t do this kind of thing enough for our schools. People have neither the expertise or patience to dig through data, but they will stop to look at a chart.

Let’s give ‘em charts, then!

The “Six Commandments” For Effective Boards

The greatest professional blessing of my life is to have been mentored for 12 years by Dr. Tom Doyle—he as president, and me as a young principal of Montgomery Catholic High School.

Among his many gifts, Tom became well known for his work with school boards, and was often asked to host workshops for dioceses around the country. He concluded each session with his “Six Commandments”—brilliant in their simplicity and wisdom:

Boards Decide.

The primary work of the Board is to make decisions—to vote, not to talk. Issues have been raised in previous meetings, they’ve been assigned to committees, committees have reported back to the Board, and now the Board either accepts, rejects or amends. Monthly meetings should take 75 minutes max for this reason.

Committees Work.

Standing committees do the “work” of the Board. The finance committee recommends the increase in salaries, tuition and budget for next year. Building and grounds committees might do annual inspections of the school, taking note of safety issues and where cosmetic improvements can be made. Marketing committees help with recruiting plans for the upcoming year. Each brings their recommendations to the Board for a vote .

The key to successful Boards is active committee work.

Agendas Govern.

The Board meeting is directed by an agenda, and if it’s not on the agenda, it’s not discussed at that meeting. Is there a Board member who is hot-fired on the cause for something and wants to speak out about it? Then the executive committee decides whether his issue goes on the agenda for next month. This helps a Board stay future oriented and keeps it from being dragged into whatever the emotional issue of the day is. It also keeps the principal from being blind-sided at meetings.

Executive Committees Think.

The executive committee of the Board (typically, the president, vice-president, with the president or principal) has two primary functions: To create an agenda for the meeting, deciding on which matters the Board will take up (and which ones it won’t), and to assign tasks to the committees, establishing the parameters of their work and a time-table for presenting interim and final reports to the Board.

Principals Share.

Every board meeting, principals should inform the Board of issues at the school—successes, issues of concern, new faculty, new programs, ideas of the faculty and staff—all those things that help the Board understand the life of the school through the principal’s eyes.

Everyone Writes.

A funny thing about our memories: we all remember differently. That’s why one of the cardinal rules of good board practice is no oral reports. Committees write down their findings. Principals write down how they’re doing. The secretary records the minutes, which are then voted as “acceptable” in the next meeting. What if a committee doesn’t have a written report that month? Their work and all discussion is tabled for the next meeting. 

Improving Elementary School Math Scores

Typically Catholic school students outperform the national averages on normed testing, but our math scores usually lag behind our reading scores.

My theory on that is most of our elementary teachers have more aptitude and interest in ELA than Math. They do their due diligence teaching Math, but their passion and creativity are poured into what they are best at. When was the last time you saw a math problem or project hanging in our hallways?

So as the new head of Pope John Paul II in Nashville in 2008, when I reviewed incoming placement test scores from tiny Sumner Academy in Gallatin, TN and saw their extraordinary math scores, I originally figured it was a statistical quirk. But when they scored just as high the next year, I was really curious, and asked Dr. Bill Hovenden, its head of school, if I could visit.

He was gracious and welcomed me. This is my memory of our conversation:

“What are you doing here in Math?” I asked. “Your scores are incredible.”

He was pleased I noticed. “Well, I’ve done something here for 20 years most of my colleagues consider heresy. I departmentalize teachers, all the way down to kindergarten. I group our school into three units: K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. For each group I hire three teachers: a math/science teacher, an ELA teacher and a third teacher for everything else, depending on the age. Each teacher works with our kids for three years.”

“You mean you ring a bell and have kids change classes, like we do in high school? I asked.

“Not quite,” he said. “Teachers change classrooms. Kids stay put in K-5. They change rooms in 6-8.”

“Why does it work?”

“Because most people with good minds in math are terrified to teach English and vice-versa. If I offer teacher candidates the chance to teach only math and science, they jump at the chance! So in my school, I have three really bright math and science people who bring a lot of energy and knowledge to those classes. What you see as they enter your high school is the 9-year impact of that.”

“Four other good things about the model,” he wanted me to know.

“Because a teacher is with the same students for three years, he or she really knows their academic strengths and weaknesses to begin the year. That saves a lot of time.”

“Second, the bonds here become very strong, between teachers and students, and between teachers and parents, most of the time.”

“Third, vertical integration of the curriculum is better. We only have to coordinate 3 people for each discipline.”

“Finally, there is good collaboration among the teachers in each unit. I make sure they have the same free period. They teach the same kids, after all, so they can talk about what works for each one. And when one teacher gets sick or goes on maternity leave, it’s much easier to induct the substitute into the school. I ask the other two teachers to look after him or her.”

It works. Sumner Academy does good work with its kids.