On Top of the News
Facing Decline, Catholic Schools Form a Charter-Like Network
7/20/15 | Capital New York

Behind the Headline
Faith, Hope, and Hard Work: Reflections on Year One of Partnership Schools
7/15/2015 | Education Next blog

Six Catholic schools in East Harlem and the South Bronx have banded together into a network managed by a new group called the Partnership for Inner City Education, which signed an 11-year contract with the Archdiocese of New York to run the schools. As Eliza Shapiro explains in an article in Capital

 A central part of the plan to push back the decline of Catholic education is to treat the city’s successful charter school sector as a model, rather than a competitor, although charter schools have been contributing to the Catholic sector’s population drain by attracting low-income families who choose a free charter over a tuition-based parochial school.

She notes

The Partnership’s turnaround plan combines some of the central components of Catholic schools—strict discipline, a focus on character development—with a new infusion of charter-inspired efficiency and academic rigor.

Pope Francis will visit one of the schools during his trip to the U.S. in September.

Kathleen Porter-Magee, the Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer at the Partnership, wrote about this past year in “Faith, Hope, and Hard Work: Reflections on Year One of Partnership Schools,” which was recently published on the Ed Next blog.

– Education Next