Fresh data from the US Government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress has demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 on schooling, but with some encouraging news for America’s Catholic schools.
As reported by Kevin Clarke for America magazine – with some material from the Associated Press – while nationwide educational attainment dropped, Catholic schools either held steady or declined by less than public (government-run) and charter schools.
In terms of eighth-grade (13-14 years old) reading scores, Catholic schools managed a one-point improvement while public and charter schools lost three points.
NAEP found that Catholic school eighth-graders scored five points lower in mathematics in 2022 than in 2019, compared to eight points lower for public school students and nine points lower for students at charter schools.
According to the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), Catholic school students’ average scores were fifteen points higher than the average scores of eighth-grade public school students.
According to the NCEA, the report showed that Catholic schools are also near the top in learning outcomes for students receiving free and reduced-price lunch. Overall, there are 5,938 Catholic schools in the United States, compared with more than 11,000 in 1970.
It is perhaps unsurprising given the latest data that enrolment at US Catholic schools has rebounded. According to a report by the Associated Press, enrolment rose 3.8 per cent in 2021-22 after from a sharp drop caused by the Covid 19 pandemic.
The NCEA said enrolment increased by 62,000 to about 1.68 million, marking the first increase in two decades and the largest jump recorded in at least five decades, having seen a decline of 6.4 per cent from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021.
Pre-kindergarten programs had seen a drop of 26.6 per cent, while elementary and middle schools enrolment declined 8.1 per cent, and secondary schools by 2.5 per cent.
As of early 2022 however, pre-kindergarten enrolment had increased by 33.5 per cent, with Catholic elementary schools seeing a 5.8 per cent increase, and secondary schools only a slight fall of 0.4 per cent.
Catholic schools in the US appear to be educating more of the youngest students, hopefully setting up a path for future growth.
Latest data from the US in terms of educational attainment for Catholic schools also confirms similar data from the UK.
According to the Education Policy Institute, as of 2016, when it comes to Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11), 83 per cent of students in Church of England schools and 85 per cent in Roman Catholic schools achieved level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics, compared to 81 per cent in non-faith schools.
When it comes to Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16), 60.6 per cent of students in Church of England schools, and 63.2 per cent in Roman Catholic schools, achieved five good GCSEs, including English and mathematics, compared to 57.4 per cent of students in non-faith secondary schools.
That said, EPI found that faith schools have proportionately fewer students with challenging needs compared to non-faith schools, while educating a lower proportion of disadvantaged children, and students with special educational needs, and also enrolling a larger proportion of high attaining students.
Nevertheless, data from both sides of the Atlantic makes for encouraging reading for those choosing a Catholic education.
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