Skillman funds improvement teams for Catholic schools
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 25, 2006
School improvement teams will be formed in 10 urban Catholic schools during the 2006-2007 school year, thanks to a $182,000 one-year grant from the Skillman Foundation.
These in-house school improvement teams "empower students, teachers, administrators and parents to create and optimize an educational environment which is responsive to the unique learning needs of culturally diverse students in an urban setting," said Sr. Mary Gehringer, OSM, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The archdiocese has 10 elementary schools in Detroit, with student populations predominantly from low socio-economic backgrounds. There are also two high schools in the city.
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Photo by Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Reviewing the school improvement teams program are (from left) Servite Sr. Mary Gehringer, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Detroit, and Bernadette Sugrue, the assistant superintendent chosen as project director. | Sr. Gehringer said research has shown that when instruction is patterned on how children learn in their unique environment, rather than on teaching models based upon a different socio-economic background, achievement improves significantly.
"The school improvement teams will help us improve academic achievement and continue professional development for our teachers in the urban elementary schools, providing a platform for children to escape the cycle of poverty," she added.
Together with each participating elementary school principal, an archdiocesan project director and school resource team will form and train school improvement teams to assess the current learning environment, develop a curriculum that best meets the needs of the students, foster better collaboration with parents, increase teacher competency, and promote student leadership.
"We are very grateful to the Skillman Foundation for their generosity of support for this program," Sr. Gehringer said.
Bernadette Sugrue, associate superintendent, who will serve as project director for the program, said it is important to continually monitor such efforts to make sure the students are actually learning.
"When students are actively engaged, they enjoy the learning process, they're actively involved, they're much more satisfied, and you can see them really blossom in the classroom," Sugrue said.
Parents, too, are more satisfied, "and it's sort of a cycle of success," she added.
Sr. Gehringer said she expects each participating school will be eligible for the Skillman Foundation's "Good School" designation. Sugrue explained that the designation makes a school eligible for up to $100,000 in grants for improvement projects.
Two of the schools already have the designation – Christ the King Elementary and St. Scholastica Elementary, both in northwest Detroit.
The other Detroit Catholic elementary schools are Eastside Vicariate, Gesu, Holy Redeemer, Most Holy Trinity, Our Lady of Guadalupe Middle School, St. Bartholomew, St. Cecilia and St. Mary of Redford.
The Skillman Foundation works to improve the lives of children in metropolitan Detroit by applying its resources to foster positive relationships between children and adults, support high quality learning opportunities, and strengthen healthy, safe, and supportive homes and communities.
Under a previous Skillman grant, funding was provided to pay the salaries of assistant principals at several Detroit Catholic schools.
The foundation was founded in December 1960 by Rose P. Skillman, widow of Robert H. Skillman, vice president and director of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, and has an annual grant-making budget of $19 million.
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