With a little help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) is implementing the Common Core State Standards in schools that are affiliated with the Association. An example of that effort has been especially fruitful in Louisville, Ky., where the city's archdiocese has been implementing the standards on a step-by-step basis.
Louisville Archdiocese moving forward with CCSS
Some Catholic groups in the U.S. have expressed concern that the Standards will take away from religious-centered education in the Church's schools. But in Louisville, Catholic school officials have countered that argument by pointing out that the Standards are being interwoven with their religious curriculum and mission.
"We have the ability to make those decisions and so we kept those portions of our framework that we thought were working for us," Leisa Schulz, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Louisville, told local NPR affiliate WFPL News, 89.3. "I feel very confident about the process that we have used."
Kentucky was the first state in the U.S. to implement the CCSS, back in 2010 – currently, 45 of the 50 states have done so – and Schulz noted that Louisville Catholic school leaders often take into account any standards and practices of the state.
In some cases, she says, the Catholic school requirements are actually more stringent. In kindergarten, for instance, the CCSS dictates that children should recognize "many" letters, while the city's archdiocese requires that they understand and write "all" letters.
NCEA stands behind Standards, grant
The NCEA is taking the same approach to its defense of the Standards, as well as its recent grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Brother Robert R. Bimonte, FSC, president of the NCEA, recently wrote an email to his constituents explaining the organization's decision to accept the grant and implement the Standards in its schools.
Not only did Bimonte point out that other Catholic institutions had received funding from the Gates Foundation, he also pointed out how the funds would be used to defray the cost of summer workshops for teachers and administrators, while highlighting the fact that the foundation has no control over the content or processes of those educational conferences.
Both Bimonte and Schulz have used their platform to advocate for the usefulness of the Standards in Catholic schools, arguing that they will be able to retain flexibility and religious programming while also raising the education level in their academic institutions.
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