NCEA Convention

Mother Theodore Catholic Academies vital to center-city education

Ruth Tinsley, principal of St. Andrew & St. Rita Catholic Academy and Central Catholic School in Indianapolis, helps pre-kindergarten student Chya Jennings with her classroom work in this 2006 file photo. Both schools are part of the Mother Theodore Catholic Academies. (File photo by Sean Gallagher)

“We carry out the mission of educating center-city school children not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.” —Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein. O.S.B.

Special to The Criterion

As Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein’s words resonate, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis has long realized the vital importance of the ministry of Catholic education in the center-city.

In 2004, Archbishop Buechlein formed a consortium of center-city schools that were not economically viable to remain operating on their own. The result is the now-named Mother Theodore Catholic Academies (MTCA).

This consortium approach assists the schools in operating more efficiently by consolidating and coordinating such areas as finance, maintenance, school improvement, Catholic identity and marketing. (Get information on the March 28 Symposium on Catholic Urban Elementary Education)

“It’s not just [a sharing of] financial resources, but human resources,” said Tony Watt, MTCA chairman of the board.

One of the goals of the MTCA is to extract the principal from non-academic tasks. There is now a team of three principals for the six schools with campus directors at each site. This change in governance has brought about great efficiencies, good stewardship of resources and the empowerment of educators to do what they do best.

The Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, named for Indiana’s first saint, St. Theodora Guérin, are Holy Angels Catholic School, Holy Cross Central School, Central Catholic School, St. Andrew & St. Rita Catholic Academy, St. Anthony Catholic School and St. Philip Neri School, all in Indianapolis.

St. Theodora was known for her dedication and selflessness in administering to the needs of others. Mother Theodore Catholic Academies are open to children of all religions, ethnicities and economic backgrounds. Our schools remain anchors to the neighborhoods they serve.

The Mother Theodore Catholic Academies are committed to closing the achievement gap for low-income and minority students. Our focus is to provide rigorous academic programs that will lead students to secondary and post-secondary education.

Our programs provide the foundation for ongoing academic achievement to students of diverse backgrounds:

• One-third of our families have annual household incomes below $13,000.
• 75 percent of our students are of minority culture.
• 72 percent of our students are low-income and qualify for the school lunch program.
• 47 percent of our students are non-Catholic.

Although our center-city schools have widened the gap in long-term performance growth compared to their public school counterparts, the archdiocese is committed to value-added assessment to bring even higher levels of accountability and performance into the academies. This method measures both achievement and the child’s growth from one year to the next.

Several programs have been added to the MTCA’s educational model to ensure the best education for our students.

• The Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) provides our schools with a systematic approach to professional staff restructuring and evaluates the impact of instruction on student achievement. (See the story on Teacher Impact on Student Proficiency and Growth on page 4B.)
• WIC-R Strategies (grades 3–8) enables students to become competitive academically through learning activities that build mastery in writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading.
• Reading Mastery teaches literacy skills to students in pre-school through grade 2.
• Crecer class addresses non-English speaking students, grades 3–8, who are new to the U.S.
• Latino Support Services are available at three of our schools.
• 21st Century Community Learning Grant (Project RELATES) with focus on reading, enrichment in after-school and summer programs for the MTCA Schools.
• GATTE (Gaining Access to Tomorrow’s Education).
  • Provides tutoring and development of organizational skills.
  • Helps middle school families and students transition to high school.
  • Offers high school and post-secondary education site tours.
  • Provides information regarding post-secondary education and career opportunities.

“Our approach is about providing a high-quality education with a strong moral base, which will lead students of all faiths and economic levels to secondary and post-secondary education,” explained Connie Zittnan, director of MTCA.

“We want our students to be leaders in the community and role models for those who come after them.”

Financial support for the MTCA schools has come from the archdiocese through the generous contributions of corporations, foundations and individuals.

(For more information about Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, please call Heidi Nightingale at 317-592-4067 or 800-382-9836, ext. 4067. E-mail her at hnightingale@archindy.org.)†