New Report: Values-Based Approach Accounts for Catholic Education’s Long-Term Success

Real education reform needs to look beyond just test scores

NEW YORK, NY — As traditional public and charter schools wrestle with how they can translate test-score increases into college persistence and post-graduate success, a new Manhattan Institute report explores what they can learn from their Catholic counterparts. The author, Kathleen Porter-Magee, superintendent of Partnership Schools NYC, an innovative network of urban Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx, argues that by taking a holistic, values-centered approach to education, Catholic schools produce consistently positive, Iong-term results. While reform leaders have long pointed to the easy-to-replicate characteristics of Catholic schools— discipline, safety, and academic rigor—they have missed the important lessons that go far deeper. Porter-Magee contends that it’s these values, beliefs, and culture that drive Iong-term student success.

Catholic schools’ historic success is grounded in the strength of a culture that is steeped in values and supported by rigorous, content-driven curriculum, according to Porter-Magee. And that culture supports students as they develop the habits of virtue and the strength of character they need to thrive long after college graduation.

Based on her experience turning around six struggling Catholic schools in the Partnership Schools network, Porter-Magee shows that the values- and character-driven approach of Catholic schools has provided the foundation needed to drive remarkable improvements among her students. Six years ago, prior to the Partnership’s management, barely 20% of its schools’ students passed the state tests. Today, student achievement routinely beats state, city, and charter averages, and Partnership graduates now earn more than $2.5 million a year in scholarships to attend the most rigorous high schools in New York City.

Click here to read the full report.