Chapter 5: What Dooms Catholic Schools and How to Counteract It: A Research-and-Action Agenda¹

Catholic schools are perishing all over. They are perishing for reasons long evident—like the virtual disappearance of high-quality, low-cost staff members provided by religious orders; and like the migration of many Catholics from central cities (where Catholic schools are often plentiful) to suburbs (where Catholic schools are usually rare or nonexistent) (Erickson, 1971). More recently, Catholic schools may be dying primarily because citizens in general, as well as many Catholic parents, have been misled by two very questionable tendencies in educational research, and thus do not realize how effective Catholic schools are. I am fearful that Catholic schools will be damaged further if, down the road a little, they obtain booby-trapped tax support.