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A Catholic school dilemma: Adopt Common Core State Standards?

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A Catholic school dilemma: Adopt Common Core State Standards?

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Content Running head: A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 1

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA: ADOPT COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS?

by

Anthony A. Winicki

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2017

Copyright 2017 Anthony A. Winicki

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 2
Acknowledgements
This dissertation is dedicated to the greatest proponent of Catholic education I have ever
known, my wife Christine. She has worked tirelessly to ensure our children as well as many
others had access to a quality education in a religious setting of our choosing. Through her
dedication, concern and enthusiasm, she has shown that such a school choice has great value to
people of all faiths, but especially members of the Catholic community.
I am also grateful to my fellow USC cohort members and professors for providing a non-
educator a comfortable and challenging educational setting. This was clearly the greatest
classroom experience of my life, and I am very grateful to my wife for suggesting this program,
to my family for enduring my time away, and to Dr. Alan Green for his exceptional advice and
review.
Finally, the data and analysis contained herein could not have been possible without the
educators of three Catholic schools in San Diego county. I am extremely grateful for their time,
their excellent responses to my questions and their unyielding dedication to the right of private
education in this country. I was truly inspired by their stories and passion for education.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 3
Table of Contents
List of Tables 5
List of Figures 6
Abstract 7
Chapter One: Overview of the Study 8
Problem Statement 11
Statement of Purpose 13
Key Concepts Revealed by the Literature Review 13
Research Questions 15
Overview of Methodology 15
Rationale and Significance 16
Assumptions, Delimitations and Limitations 17
Definition of Terms 19
Chapter Two: Literature Review 20
Organization of the Chapter 21
Catholic Schooling in America 22
Why Private Religious Schools? 23
Private Religious School Graduate Success 25
What Then is the Value of Catholic Schools? 26
An Overview of Common Core State Standards 27
Seeking Consistency and Relevancy 27
Societal Benefit: Equity in Education 30
The Drivers of Common Core State Standards 31
Federal Incentives 31
State Drivers 32
Professional Development 35
Catholic Education and Common Core State Standards 36
Views from the Top on CCSS 37
Counter Views on CCSS in Catholic Schools 38
Progressive Opinions and the Diocese of San Diego Strategy 40
Existing Theory and Theoretical Framework 41
Inconsistencies in the Literature 42
Summary 43
Chapter Three: Methodology 46
Research Approach 48
Research Setting and Context 49
Research Sample and Data Sources 50
Data Collection Methods 51
Data Analysis and Synthesis 52
Ethical Considerations 53
Issues of Trustworthiness 54
Limitations and Delimitations 54
Summary 55
Chapter Four: Results 57
Setting and Participants 58
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 4
Results for Research Question One 63
Theme One: A Need to Raise Standards 65
Theme Two: Change Causes Tension 67
Theme Three: Change Requires a Cultural Shift and Dialogue 69
Summary of Results for Research Question One 72
Results for Research Question Two 72
Theme One: Changing Evaluation System and Testing is Critical 75
Theme Two: Seeking Mastery, Not Just Grades 79
Summary of Results for Research Question Two 83
Results for Research Question Three 84
Theme One: CCSS Does Not Diminish Catholicism 85
Theme Two: The Diocese Needed as a Champion of Change 88
Theme Three: Catholic Schools Have to be Competitive 90
Summary of Result for Research Question Three 92
Conclusion 93
Chapter Five: Conclusion 97
Statement of the Problem 98
Statement of Purpose 100
Methodology 100
Limitations and Delimitations 101
Summary of Results 104
Results for Research Question One 105
Results for Research Question Two 108
Results for Research Question Three 110
Implications 111
Recommendations for Practice 120
Recommendations for Future Research 123
Conclusion 124
References 127
Appendix A: Research Design Matrix 133
Appendix B: Certified Recruitment Tool 136
Appendix C: Certified Information Sheet 137
Appendix D: Interview Protocol and Table 139

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 5
List of Tables
Table 1 San Diego Unified School District, Common Core State Standards Spending Plan
for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 Fiscal Years 35

Table 2 Summary Data of the Three Participating Catholic Elementary/Middle Schools 59
Table 3 Interview Participants From Three Participating Catholic Elementary/Middle Schools 59
Table 4 Interview Questions 62

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 6
List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework used to develop a grounded theory ....................................... 103
Figure 2. Factors of CCSS core categories and properties ......................................................... 113
Figure 3. Catholic model core category and properties. ............................................................. 115
Figure 4. Accountability and enduring is core category and the properties ............................... 119

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 7
Abstract
This study considered the impact of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on private, Catholic
elementary schools in San Diego County, California. The focus of the study was a limited
population of three Parish-affiliated elementary schools that participated in a pilot study
experimenting with the integration of CCSS by means of changing the student evaluation process
(report cards). The rationale for this study was a gap in published literature examining the
impact of CCSS on private schools and whether the integration of CCSS could be done within
the context of a religious institution that traditionally did not follow public school trends. The
objective of the study was to understand how changing a school culture to aligned with CCSS
impacted the administrators and faculty at these Catholic elementary schools. Also noted were
thoughts on the evolving role of Catholic education and accountability. The methodology was
interviews with administrators and a random sample of faculty; no children were interviewed.
Also, the study featured limited classroom passive observation and follow up discussions with
teachers. The study outcomes were data analysis, the development of develop categories and a
proposed a grounded theory on how Catholic schools can incorporate CCSS successfully.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 8
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
The Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, CSB (2006) clearly articulated the Vatican’s pre-
Pope Francis view on Catholic Education, stating that schools representing the faith were to be
inspired by a supernatural vision, founded on Christian anthropology, animated by communion
and community, imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout its curriculum and sustained by
the gospels. The Archbishop continued to define the Catholic educational experience as an
inspiration for students to seek the fullest development of all that is human, as we have become
masters of this world by the Creator (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, 2006). What Catholic
schools are not, was a “…factory for the learning of various skills and competencies designed to
fill the echelons of business and industry” (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, 2006). This section
ended with the argument that education was not a commodity, even as Catholic schools can in
the course of study “…equip their graduates with enviable skills” (Archbishop J. Michael Miller,
2006).
Herein lies the dilemma for the Pope Francis Church: while the philosophical goal is to
bring children closer to a sense of spiritual self and Catholic doctrine, the concept of the Catholic
school as a viable educational option has lost appeal and support by many. In 1965, 5.5 million
students were enrolled in Catholic schools in the United States; in 2004, the number was down to
1.78 million, even as the Catholic population in the country had tripled during the same
timeframe (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, 2006). There are a number of factors related to this
decline, but one germane to this research effort was the evolution and improvement of public
school education in this country. The advent of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and its
acceptance by virtually every state in the U.S. had clearly changed the views of many regarding
the quality and intention of a public school education.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 9
In California, the California State Board of Education adopted the CCSS in 2010 based
upon the premise supported by the Obama-era U.S. Department of Education that having the
same standards in public schools helped all students receive an equitable education, regardless of
where they started or finished their schooling (California Department of Education, 2015). New
standardized testing of children began in the 2014-15 school year, and educators argued to take
advantage of funding opportunities to provide staff and faculty professional development,
upgrade technology and prepare students, faculty and parents for this new era in educational
assessment (Forgione, 2012). College testing services announced changes to universally
accepted tests such as the SAT and ACT, thereby impacting most children who desired to attend
colleges and universities (Adams & Herold, 2014). Moreover, many university administrators
voiced optimism about the objectives of CCSS, as some felt it will support consistency in
admission, decrease the number of remedial classes needed at the institutions of higher learning
and showed how our public educational system can be aligned from K to 12 (Jones & King,
2012).
Fully a half million (523,088) California students are enrolled in 3,479 private schools,
which according to the California Department of Education (CDE) are not regulated by the state
nor do they receive any public funding (California Department of Education, 2015). To these
schools, CCSS is a choice and still under a great deal of discussion among members of the state’s
Catholic Diocese, administrators, teachers and parents. Some Catholic superintendents (lay
members primarily) have publicly articulated support of standards in the classroom; Church
leaders, like the U.S. Council of Bishops are far less overt in their support. Accordingly, with
little dust settled on the issue of CCSS in Catholic schools, there is limited data on the direct
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 10
impact of standards on these private educational institutions, thereby inviting a qualitative
research effort such as this one.
What the literature did show is that CCSS was not merely a passing fad in education.
There are arguments on both sides of the issue of CCSS and evidence that some Catholics realize
the Church was at a crossroads in adopting standards. To many Americans, CCSS was an
extremely important and long-awaited change in the way schools can educate a populace who
will eventually have to compete in a highly competitive, global marketplace. To those tied to the
concept of religiously-based schools in this country, the feelings appeared mixed and complex;
some suggested that Catholic schools had the principle duty of allowing parents to express their
religious freedom by placing their children in a classroom where the dogma taught in the home
and church was supported by a traditional liberal arts curriculum, taught by like-minded faculty
and administrators. Others argued that without some modernization and adoption of standards,
the same cherished religious freedom will invariably fall victim to basic economics, when
schools fail to attract sufficient children and are forced to close. In short, the efficacy of
religious education is under scrutiny, as is the accountability of the Church to provide its young
members with an educational experience that prepares them to sustain themselves, their eventual
families and become active members of local Churches and Parishes.
The purpose of this study was to understand how Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
changed the attitudes of some Catholic school administrators who felt a need to prevent the
further erosion of the Catholic school student baseline population. In order to limit the scope of
this study to a reasonable area of consideration, the focus was on the attitudes and actions taken
by private Catholic school educators in San Diego County in relation to CCSS implementation in
California public schools. Within this population of educators, there were a select few Catholic
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 11
elementary schools that have embraced CCSS and a CCSS-based evaluation system (report
cards) while maintaining what they believe are the essential ingredients of a Catholic education,
as articulated above by the Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, CSB. This process of CCSS
implementation was important to study because it filled gaps in the literature on the subject,
revealed the lesson learned from schools that faced the challenge of CCSS and provided Church
leaders and Catholic parents an opportunity to look anew at Catholic schools as a way to
introduce them to the faith while preparing them for adulthood and a highly dynamic and
competitive world.
Problem Statement
The need for this study was to better understand the condition of Catholic schools as
CCSS provided public school children with an educational experience that was supported
nationally by political, industrial and educational institutions. The problem addressed in this
study was the fact that CCSS will affect a significant population of school age children in
California who attended private elementary schools, matriculated into public high schools or
private Catholic schools that have not adopted CCSS, and as a result, may be less prepared for
CCSS-oriented curriculum and testing. This latter population of incoming private school
students, well versed in traditional advanced math and language arts classes, were typically high
achieving, college bound, and carry this performance level to public high schools, contributing
positively to the school environment. Proponents of CCSS, coming from industry, education and
government tended to unite on these three main outputs of standards-based curriculum: economic
security, equity and alignment for all school children (Doyle, 2012). If private school children
were not exposed to CCSS prior to their transition, this population of students logically would
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 12
have less of an opportunity to share in the realization of these goals because of the choices that
their parents made in sending them to legally run private schools.
The literature showed that there has been a strong push over the past several decades for
public school educators to improve education and in turn, the lives of American youth. Various
initiatives such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Strengthening America’s Schools Act
and the Student Success Act were not been universally accepted, but each was created with the
intention of improving the quality of public schools and standardization of curriculum for the
purposes of accountability and the meeting of current and future national interests (Harkin,
2013). With legislation and encouragement from the Federal level (during previous Presidential
administrations), secondary and tertiary effects included millions of dollars for textbooks, new
standardized testing, professional development, upgrades in technology, as well as consulting
services in order to prepare students, faculty and parents for a new era in classroom activities and
assessment (Forgione, 2012). The state of California had developed a funding mechanism, Local
Control Funding Formula (LCFF), to specifically support the implementation of CCSS and
sustain those districts that can justify the need for additional funding due to demographics or
other factors that have been neglected in the past (California Department of Education, 2015).
Many university administrators around the country were optimistic about these new standards, as
some felt it would support consistency in admission, decrease the number of remedial classes
needed at the institutions of higher learning and showed how our public educational system
could modernized at all levels (Jones & King, 2012). In sum, there was overwhelming evidence
to support the statement that CCSS was a viable long term solution to an American educational
system that was once said to be eroding by a “…rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very
future as a Nation and a people” (The National Commission on Excellence in Education., 1983).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 13
Accordingly, it was valuable to consider the impacts of this national trend on those
organizations, like Catholic schools, that sought to provide a worthwhile educational experience,
while also supporting a faith practiced by millions in this country and around the world.
Statement of Purpose
The rationale for this study was a recognized gap in published literature examining the
impact of CCSS on private schools and whether the integration of CCSS could improve the
quality of learning in this context. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to understand
how CCSS had impacted the administrators and faculty at three Catholic elementary schools in
San Diego County. The secondary purpose of the study was to capture thoughts and ideas about
integrating CCSS with Catholic values and understand any changes to the concept of
accountability from the perspective of Catholic school leaders.
Key Concepts Revealed by the Literature Review
Looking at the literature in retrospect and broadly, the key concepts that informed the
narrowing of this study to the impacts of CCSS on Catholic schools were religious freedom,
educational equity through standardization, and economic realism. The characteristics of
religious freedom were based upon a belief that the ability to choose a religion freely was a
foundational right of every American since the founding of the nation. Moreover, the individual
can not only choose a religious institution, but participate in its services, events and experiences,
to include attending schools that are supported by the religion for the purpose of exposing
children and adults to the tenants of that religion. This right to choose a Catholic school is
dependent upon the physical existence of these schools; not that laws will be created banning
parochial institutions, but they cannot function without generating sufficient revenue. The
concept of educational equity through standardization referred to the right of all children to have
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 14
the opportunity to an educational experience that was of a consistent level of quality and
usefulness, without regard of the child’s personal characteristics, economic status or regional
home of record. The idea of economic realism in the context of this discussion pertained to
Catholic schools being able to exist with no state funding or diocesan support, other than in
terms of policy. These schools must present enough of a value to the consumer, worthy of the
cost of tuition.
The relationships between these key concepts were truly at the heart of the research
questions. What Catholic schools have tried to accomplish over the centuries was balancing
academic rigor and religious expression, and given the numbers cited above of students attending
Catholic schools nationwide, this strategy was seen as successful. While the literature does not
show that CCSS in and of itself, secular public school leadership, the testing services and higher
public education were part of a movement to challenge the right of private schools to exist as
non-profit and thereby non-taxed institutions, by the fact that the national educational structure
was so tied to publicly funded education, CCSS forced the Church to readdress and defend its
traditional system of religious primary and secondary schools. Also, academic equity, as
promoted by CCSS advocates, was difficult to argue against, as the followers of Christ believed
that social justice was an imperative to a meaningful life, and that education was not a
commodity, but a link to knowing God through his words and acting upon those words. Finally,
the Church must confront the issue of educational viability, as many of its members were
economically challenged and the academic preparation should not fall short of that offered by
public schools, or this private option becomes unrealistic for the parents of the students. The
literature did show how parents willingly sacrificed from family budgets to send children to
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 15
Catholic schools if they recognized the benefits of such a decision, but will make hard choices
along the educational continuum if those benefits become less obvious.
Research Questions
Given the changes acknowledged in California due to CCSS, what was important to
better understand is how Catholic schools were addressing CCSS-inspired trends, especially as
they contended with a declining customer base and the highly competitive college admission
process (California Department of Education, 2015).
The research questions were:
1. To what do Catholic school employees attribute a sense of tension about the goals and
implementation of CCSS by some faculty, administrators or members of the clergy?
2. How have Catholic elementary school administrators and teachers addressed the idea that
many of their students may either face CCSS in public secondary schools or standardized
testing influenced by CCSS required for college admissions?
3. How has CCSS impacted the definition of accountability held by Catholic elementary
school administrators?
Overview of Methodology
This qualitative study utilized both interviews and observations with selected Catholic
elementary school administrators and teachers in order to better understand how the school and
its faculty were addressing CCSS-influenced trends in education. One of the first key concepts
that informed this inquiry was how private school employees felt about the essential goals of
CCSS: college or career readiness, as well as educational equity among all students regardless of
demographics or socioeconomics. A second key concept was how the private school could
continue to effectively prepare students for secondary school and college, without some
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 16
consideration given to CCSS. This issue led to addressing the concept of accountability. It may
be said that all educators are accountable to someone or something; but in the context of a
religious school facing pressure by secular institutions to change, the question was really whether
the concept of accountability to either God, the Church or stakeholders was affected by CCSS.
After the conclusion of the interviews and observations, the researcher used data to seek
meaning and build a grounded theory. The data collection was guided by sampling within the
Diocese of San Diego, and analyzed using the constant comparative method, which consisted of
comparing one segment of data with another to find similarities and differences (Merriam, 2009).
From this point, the data was grouped together into categories, then further evaluated to show
patterns and relationships; these gave way to a main conceptual element, or core category, from
which all categories are properties were connected (Merriam, 2009). It was the core categories
identified by the study which developed a theory on how Catholic schools can respond to the
impacts of CCSS without losing those theological characteristics that made these schools unique
and desirable to many Americans.
Rationale and Significance
The concept of educational equity across the country was one of the main reasons why
CCSS was endorsed by the prior Administration and was a policy priority of the U.S.
Department of Education, as well as most state educational leaders. At the time of this writing, it
is unknown how a change in Administration will affect CCSS; however, there is little indication
that many states, especially California, will abandon the changes made in classrooms in the past
decade. The reason being that CCSS implementation in the public school classroom and the
subsequent testing was still regarded by many educators to be beneficial to everyone along this
specific educational continuum: from the public school students who were being taught to think
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 17
in a new way, to the parents of these students and school administrators who could evaluate
relative student success based upon new standardized tests, and finally to the colleges and
universities who use the CCSS assessments to select candidates more equitably from every
corner of this country (Jones & King, 2012). The long term objective of this movement was to
ensure that the United States continued to be competitive in the global marketplace, and that its
citizens had more than minimal capacity to learn and adapt to a rapidly changing world.
But as noted previously, not all schools in the United States have implemented CCSS or
see a means to do so. Thus, the rationale for studying the impact of CCSS on Catholic schools
was that some schools were still undecided and searching for a way to stay relevant and open for
future generations. While Catholic schools do undergo accreditation, comply with laws
regarding criminal activity on campus and must justify their non-profit status, they operate
autonomously and have the flexibility to change classroom pedagogy. Therefore, while the
change required to integrate CCSS does require the organization to shift its focus, Catholic
schools have the flexibility to take the best of CCSS and keep those aspects of a traditional
parochial education in place. It is hoped that some schools looking hard at CCSS
implementation will find the theory presented in this research effort beneficial.
Assumptions, Delimitations and Limitations
The main assumption that the researcher made when conducting this study was that the
opinions, beliefs and comments made by the interviewees were their own, spontaneous opinions
and could be used as the basis for analysis and conclusions. The interviewees were not familiar
with the researcher or this work prior to each meeting and their comments were recorded and
transcribed without scripting. Second, based upon the literature review, it was assumed that a
study of this kind was an important part of the dialogue between proponents and opponents of
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 18
CCSS in Catholic schools. As suggested in the literature review, passion fuels the opinions of
both the educational traditionalists and the supporters of modernization in the form of standards,
primarily because both sides care about the state of the Church and the lives of the children
involved. Accordingly, a final assumption made was that the changes proposed by the
implementation of CCSS would cause some to feel anxiety over the state of Catholic education.
What the research questions attempted to do was capture any concerns by those interviewed, and
then determine if this factor influenced the behavior of administrators or faculty as schools
grappling with a changed educational environment. In short, recognizing the raw emotions,
opinions and choice of words by interviewees to describe the organizational change they
experienced when turning to CCSS as a model for the future of their schools was a fundamental
part of this qualitative research process.
The delimitation of this study was the geographical area that was near my home and
work, so that I could reasonably travel and meet with educators personally. What was fortunate
is that San Diego county had a sufficient number of Catholic elementary schools (46) and a
diverse student body, so any conclusions drawn from this research would be based upon a
representative sample of a large population of schools (Diocese of San Diego, 2016). Finally,
the limitation on the study was that the researcher could not possibly interview each
administrator and faculty member of all of the Diocese of San Diego’s schools. Because the
focus during the field work was to understand the issues surrounding CCSS and what some
Catholic schools were actively doing about this trend in education, it was reasonable to say that
the comments expressed by employees of three of the five San Diego county schools that had
implemented CCSS was a legitimate sample of opinion. Ultimately, this study endeavored to
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 19
create a theory on how CCSS could improve a school without losing its core function of
promoting the faith, thereby helping those schools that had not adopted to CCSS, but desire to.
Definition of Terms
• “Catholic Church” and “Church” are used interchangeably in this study to refer to the
Roman Catholic Church, the largest Christian Church in the world.
• “Catholic Schools” refer to those privately funded and operated primary and secondary
schools that have some affiliation with the Catholic Church.
• “Common Core State Standards” will be referred to as “CCSS” throughout this study.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 20
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
When California joined the majority of the United States in adopting CCSS in 2010, the
decision was based largely on having a system that helped all students receive an equitable,
career or college-ready public education, regardless of where they start or finish their schooling
(California Department of Education, 2015). However, like in much of the country, not all
California school children attended public elementary and secondary schools, and these private
schools were not required to comply with CCSS. Data show that in 2014, 523,088 California
students were enrolled in 3,479 private schools in this state (California Department of Education,
2015). What is important to understand through this literature review are the fundamental
challenges facing private Catholic schools brought on by the implementation of CCSS and why
this issue is worthy of further consideration. A pivotal comment on this topic came from the
U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and offers more questions than answers:
The CCSS should be neither adopted nor rejected without review, study, consultation,
discussion and caution. Catholic schools must take into consideration the horizon of the
local, state and national education landscape and the influence and application of the
CCSS. To ignore this would place our students at a significant disadvantage for their
post-secondary education, which is not an acceptable option for our families (U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014).
As the guiding influence on Catholic policy in America, the U.S. Council of Bishop’s
view suggested to the researcher that the discussion about CCSS in Catholic schools was really
at an early stage. As such, CCSS will cause Catholic school leaders to reexamine traditional
curriculum, professional development and most importantly, the school’s accountability to not
only the Church and families of students, but the children themselves.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 21
Organization of the Chapter
At the time of this writing, there had been scarce research conducted on the impacts of
CCSS on California Catholic schools, especially at the elementary level. Part of the reason was
that CCSS was only within the past couple of years integrated fully within the core curriculum of
California public schools. Accordingly, the strategy for this literature review was to first begin
with a historical perspective and validation of Catholic education as an alternative to public
education in America. This educational choice has not been limited to a narrow sector of society
for a short duration of our nation’s history; rather, Catholic education has mainstream appeal,
resources, and historically has educated citizens, of various religious beliefs, to be productive
members of society. In this part of the discourse, we can consider the relative quality and
validity of the Catholic educational experience, with data demonstrating how well Catholic
school graduates have done in the past in matriculating from primary schools to high schools and
beyond. Next, it was valuable to understand why parents from various parts of this country, even
with free public education available, have chosen to send their children to Catholic schools. In
this analysis, we review the assumptions made by these parents on the long-term effects of this
schooling on the moral and intellectual framework of their children.
From this point, the literature review moves past the “whys” of Catholic education, to
showing how CCSS presented a significant impact to the efficacy of Catholic schools.
Especially in California, there is a great deal of literature capturing the history of this initiative,
the arguments made for it by educators at all levels, the state’s plans for implementation, and the
funding being made available to support each district’s curriculum development, textbooks,
electronic devices and professional development of faculty and administrators.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 22
Against this backdrop, is the Catholic church, led by one of the most progressive and
socially-minded pontiffs in modern times. The pontiff is fond of arguing for greater
transparency as well as equity and justice, especially in terms of access to education. One can
assume then, that the Church was heading toward a full embrace of CCSS. However, research
finds that the Church is conflicted between the desire to support followers, support modern
methods of instruction like CCSS, how to deal with the secular objectives of schools as
preparation for eventual labor vice a place of moral development and part of each person’s
relationship with God. Rounding out the literature review was the need for the Church to
respond to a consistent decrease in the recent enrollment in parochial schools and the economics
of keeping the doors open by containing operating costs, most especially in this researcher’s area
of interest, San Diego County.
Catholic Schooling in America
According to Catholic historians, the first parochial school in the United States was St.
Mary’s in Philadelphia, founded in 1789 (Catholic Schools, 2009). From this bedrock, private
schools sprang up behind an expanding Catholic population that ranged from eastern cities
westward to Catholic friendly California. While these private schools still undergo accreditation,
and comply with laws regarding criminal activity on campus, they are largely autonomous,
private business or nonprofit entity that offers or conducts full-time instruction with a full
complement of subjects at the elementary, middle, or high school level (California Department
of Education, 2015). Private Catholic schools function outside the jurisdiction of the California
Department of Education (CDE) and most state education regulations, as well as do not
participate in California’s educational accountability system and are directly accountable to
students and their parents or guardians, based on the terms of the private school enrollment
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 23
contract (California Department of Education, 2015). Nevertheless, Catholic schools are
difficult to ignore during the national dialogue on improvements in education, especially
Common Core State Standards. Statistically, children (especially those from minority families)
who graduate from private Catholic schools are more likely to complete high school, continue
onto higher education and presumably, make an impact on American society, both economically
and politically (Altonji, Elder, & Taber, 2000)
Why Private Religious Schools?
What the literature reveals is that private, religiously associated schools appear to fill a
gap in education that is important to a significant number of American parents, who make the
choice of private schools even as free public education is readily available. According to the
Digest of Educational Statistics, the most recent data capturing both private and public school
attendance in the United States was completed in 2011, showing an estimated 116,240 K-12
schools currently operating under both public and private control in the United States (Bitterman,
Goldring, & Gray, 2013). Breaking down that total number, roughly 22 percent or 26,230, are
privately run and over 95 percent of these aligned to the Catholic Church (Bitterman, Goldring,
& Gray, 2013). More recent data in 2013 shows In terms of racial and ethnic composition,
private school children are mostly white (72 percent) with the next closest races being Hispanic
(10 percent), Black (10 percent) and Asian (5 percent), and Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander
and of two or more races filling in the rest of totals (Bitterman, Goldring, & Gray, 2013). This
can be compared with public schools being 54 percent White, 22 percent Hispanic and 15
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 24
percent Black, 5 percent Asian and the rest being Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and of a
mixed race (Bitterman, Goldring, & Gray, 2013).
1

In terms of relative success, 91 percent of private school children graduated from high
schools and 64 percent went to a 4-year college (Bitterman, Goldring, & Gray, 2013). This can
be compared to a high school graduation rate of 89 percent for public schools and a 40 percent
rate of college bound seniors. What this data comparing private and public schools seems to
suggest that while the private schools do not receive any public funding in order to provide a
free, quality education to all, the citizens who support private school education have an
expectation of success of their children throughout the educational experience, from pre-school
to higher education (Yang & Kayaardi, 2004). This parental expectation is tied to at least two
factors: socioeconomic status and religious beliefs (Yang & Kayaardi, 2004). In general, parents
who opt for private education have the means to afford this education and see this as a worthy
investment (Yang & Kayaardi, 2004). These adults, typically well-educated themselves, see
value in exercising their freedom of choice by supporting schools that balance education with
chosen moral or religious beliefs that are aligned with the church (Yang & Kayaardi, 2004).
Another reason some parents choose a private, religiously affiliated school is because of
what can be perceived as an ethical framework established in these classrooms, beginning at the
earliest grades (MacMullen, 2004). MacMullen (2004) argues that religious elementary schools

1
One point that can be made about the demographics is that race has not been a determining factor in who attends
private religious schools (Yang & Kayaardi, 2004). As will be discussed below, socioeconomic status and religious
affiliation are predominate factors.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 25
are instruments of education for long term moral autonomy because the experience harmonizes
and reinforces the ethical and religious messages being received at home. There may be a
concern held by these parents that a secular educational experience could actively or passively
undermine the principles espoused and practiced in the home which are typically also reinforced
by services at the family’s parish (MacMullen, 2004). Gilles (1996) argues that some religious
parents fear that sending their child from their faith-influenced home to a secular environment
can sow confusion and disorientation at the time of the child’s life when they are forming a sense
of self and framework for ethical decision making. In short, before children have the cognitive
capacity to engage in autonomous reflection, some will argue that religious schools complement
home life of religious parents and lay the foundations for ethical autonomy (MacMullen, 2004).
A third point offered in support of a parent’s choice for a private religious school
education is the perception of a higher quality classroom experience (Reyes & Pounder, 1993).
Some citizens find that the teachers of these organizations are typically more satisfied with their
jobs and provide more individual attention to younger and pre-adolescent children, impacting
their performance (Reyes & Pounder, 1993). Therefore, as our citizenry have the option to
follow any faith they choose, many will argue that their children should experience these beliefs
in a school setting, so that there is continuity between what is taught in the home and in the
schools (Reyes & Pounder, 1993).
Private Religious School Graduate Success
Researchers have considered the effect of Catholic schools on the relative performance of
students as they continue through the educational spectrum from pre-school to higher education
(Sander W. , 1999). Sander (1999) acknowledges that a number of studies claim to show that
Catholic schools have a positive effect on academic achievement. He also notes the data on a
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 26
smaller dropout rate amongst Catholic school children of all races (Sander W. , 1999). However,
when considering standardized test scores, there is less variance between the scores of private
high school students and public high school students who are White (Sander W. , 1999). On the
other hand, there has shown to be a positive effect on some scores of the private school children
of ethnic minorities (Sander W. , 1999).
What Then is the Value of Catholic Schools?
If the argument can be made that while the data show some benefits to society from
private religiously affiliated schools (lower dropout rates for one), is there really a societal
benefit to the existence of these non-taxed institutions? Aside from the points raised earlier by
researchers studying parental choice for their children’s education, there is also the argument that
education influenced by faith has the purpose of encouraging moral vision in our national leaders
(Fowler, 2004). Fowler (2004) argues that the influence of Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development has found strong acceptance in many Catholic schools across the nation because it
is consistent with the Catholic teachings of the power of reason, informed by faith, to help
discipline and offset the temptations of sin (Fowler, 2004). Catholic educators saw how
Kohlberg’s work on moral reasoning could provide a map for children that would extend beyond
the school into the adulthood, thereby enabling faithful contributions to not only the church, but
local communities (Fowler, 2004). The potential contribution of Catholic schools then, is not as
much the immediate academic success of its graduates, but the manner in which those graduates
participate in the sustainment of a viable Earth, primarily because of how such religious
philosophy shuns interest-driven, short term policies and heralds the sanctity of all human life
(Fowler, 2004).

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 27
An Overview of Common Core State Standards
Politicians, business leaders and academics across the country have weighed in and
argued that a transformation of the nation’s public schools under the structure of CCSS is
fundamental to our nation’s future competitiveness and resiliency in light of the economic
impact of globalization (Sloan, 2010). The standards are designed to identify the most essential
skills and knowledge students need, but not how they acquire them (Williams, 2012). Many
educators feel that CCSS intersects with current efforts to improve education in the nation
through more effective testing, professional development of faculty, expectations of a better
learning environment and better accountability of our schools (Hess & McShane, 2013). Drew
(2013) notes that acceptance of CCSS has been substantial; within the past 10 years, 45 states
have adopted the standards and of those, 22 have received $700 million in Federal funding to
reform existing standards. Higher education administrators are optimistic about these new
standards, as some feel it will support consistency in admission, decrease the number of remedial
classes needed at the institutions of higher learning and show how our public educational system
can be aligned from K to 12 (Jones & King, 2012). The following discussion will seek to better
understand through the literature the enthusiastic response some have expressed for CCSS by
considering its main objectives: consistency in classrooms regardless of regional or
socioeconomic factors, relevancy to national objectives of educating the future workforce and
equity in public education that seeks to unify a highly diverse American population.
Seeking Consistency and Relevancy
The problem of consistency in national elementary and secondary school systems has
been addressed by the institution of the CCSS initiative. In 2009, the National Governors
Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers agreed to collaborate and develop
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 28
core academic standards in English language arts and mathematics (Williams, 2012). Since this
starting point at the national level, there has been ongoing discussion in California with teachers,
administrators, social scientists and other stakeholders on the objectives of CCSS and best ways
to implement it at all school districts within the state (Williams, 2012). In August, 2010, the
California Board of Education adopted CCSS and articulated a path forward. The timeline to full
implementation included policy statements to guide students, families and educators in 2011,
mathematics and language arts frameworks for the classrooms in 2014 and operational
summative assessments of the CCSS by 2015 (California Department of Education, 2013).
The development CCSS throughout this time period has been informed by the best state
standards already in existence, the experience of teachers and content experts and feedback from
the public (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2016). This process focuses on two
categories: what students are expected to know and understand by the time they graduate from
school, and secondly, the expectations for a child at each grade who progresses from K-12
(Council of Chief State School Officers, 2016). In terms of a broad language arts goal, the
standards are meant to establish what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century,
by teaching students to closely read fiction and non-fiction in the context of an exploding print
and digital world (California Department of Education, 2013) . The goal for mathematics
learning is to deal with real-world situation, using quantitative methods to solve problems, as
well as develop a habit of thinking whereby the individual becomes more adept at achieving
precision in responses both in higher education and the workplace (California Department of
Education, 2014).
More specifically regarding language arts and literacy in history, social sciences, science
and technical subjects, the goals are to enable students who have successfully matriculated
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 29
through the K-12 system to demonstrate independence, build strong content knowledge, respond
to demands of audience, task, purpose and discipline, comprehend as well as critique, value
evidence, use technology effectively and come to understand other perspectives and cultures
(California Department of Education, 2013). The key strategies for K-5 is to learn to read,
capture key ideas and details, begin to craft text with appropriate structure and attempt to
integrate knowledge and ideas (California Department of Education, 2013). For grades 6-12,
again the strategy is to focus on the identification of key ideas and details, be able to craft more
complex text, read to understand and evaluate and write in a way where the student can integrate
appropriately more complex knowledge and ideas as they progress through school (California
Department of Education, 2013). Texts to be read are both fiction and non-fiction, with the
emphasis placed on exposing children to a wide variety of material so to meet the objectives of
encouraging close reading so all may have the chance to productively struggle with complex
texts (Brown & Kappes, 2012).
The principle objective of the mathematics program with CCSS is to develop overarching
habits of mind of a productive mathematical thinker (California Department of Education, 2014).
The strategies to achieve this end state is to expose children from K-12 to learning that
encourages them to make sense of problems in a grade-appropriate text and persevere in solving
them; reason abstractly and quantitatively so to explain; model with mathematics and use
appropriate tools strategically; and, identify structure in the problem solving process and look for
ways to reason in a consistent manner (California Department of Education, 2014). Similar to
the language arts strategy on implementing these standards, there are expectations of what
students should be able to do for a given grade, (K-8 and 9-12) but do not dictate curriculum or
pedagogy (California Department of Education, 2014).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 30
Societal Benefit: Equity in Education
The concept of educational equity across the country is one of the main reasons why
CCSS was endorsed by the previous Obama Administration and was a policy priority of the U.S.
Department of Education. Following this political appeal came Federal resources, as the
government was committed to augment state expenditures in support of state integration efforts
(Drew, 2013). This funding enabled training programs for faculty and policy advisement to
districts so to tailor the state standards to meet their needs. A key distinction about Federal
support of CCSS is the flexibility afforded to local districts. The requirement was to follow the
content of CCSS, but not adhere to a specific implementation process (Drew, 2013).
The desire to set educational standards that are measureable regardless of the differences
in cultures, languages and regional variances that exist in the classrooms of this nation extends
beyond secondary schools. Higher education administrators feel that CCSS will enable more
children to enter into colleges and universities and do better once there (Jones & King, 2012).
One reason is that CCSS schools follow similar educational objectives: encourage students to be
critical thinkers and close readers of complex material, regardless of their socioeconomic status,
race or gender (Williams, 2012). Another reason is that when CCSS testing is implemented,
school districts will naturally focus on student success on these exams, in a way similar to how
many states provide incentives to schools to show high passing rates on Advanced Placement
(AP) tests (Jeong, 2009). Jones and King suggest that institutions of higher learning will also
take heed of the “new standards and assessments to advance their own objective for learning,
student success, productivity, and economic development” (Jones & King, 2012). In short,
CCSS implementation in the public school classroom and the subsequent testing is projected to
be beneficial to everyone along this specific educational continuum: from the public school
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 31
students who are being taught to think in a new way, to the parents of these students and school
administrators who can evaluate relative student success based upon new standardized tests, and
finally, to the colleges and universities who can now use the CCSS assessments to select
candidates more equitably from every corner of this country (Jones & King, 2012).
The Drivers of Common Core State Standards
The most obvious difference between a reform initiative that is merely a passing concept
and one that will have broad and meaningful impact on the nation’s public educational system is
the existence of change agents, or drivers. In the case of CCSS, these drivers were State laws as
well as state and Federal funding during the previous administration, and an implementation plan
that included money for supplies, technology and professional development. Starting from the
national level, the following will consider how the Race to the Top legislation of the Obama
Administration spurred governors of states to collaborate and propose reform to the nation’s K-
12 schools. Even though the Trump Administration has thus far not been supportive of CCSS,
California continues to back standards. Accordingly, the following discussion will focus on the
implementation of CCSS in California, from legislation mandating standards based instruction to
funding managed by the Brown Administration to the opportunities afforded districts to provide
easily accessible professional development to public school administrators and teachers.
Federal Incentives
In November of 2009, President Obama announced that it was “…time to make education
America’s national mission” (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). A few months after this
declaration, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which
was designed to stimulate the economy, support job growth and invest in critical sectors, like
educational reform (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Under this legislation, $4.35 billion
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 32
was provided for the Race to the Top Fund, which is a competitive grant program with the
objective of encouraging States to create conditions for educational innovation and reform (U.S.
Department of Education, 2009). These conditions could be met by adopting standards and
assessments that prepared students to succeed in college, the workplace and in the global
economy (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). While the Race to the Top Fund was not
intended to suggest that the Federal government created CCSS or mandated states to implement
it, the availability of Federal dollars was clearly fuel for a process begun in 2007 by a group of
governors and state education chiefs to develop a new set of learning standards aligned with the
demands of the real world (Duncan, 2013). Specifically, through a competitive process that
required the identification of a commitment to developing and adopting common standards,
states could earn 40 points out of 500 (Duncan, 2013). These points equated to Federal monies,
and as an example, these points yielded awards in Phase 1 and 2 of the competition to states in
2010 that ranged in value from $75 million to $700 million (U.S. Department of Education,
2015). At the time of this writing, it is unknown if all Federal opportunities for CCSS-related
implementation will cease to exist, so this discussion will focus more on state drivers.
State Drivers
In May 2009, the California State Board of Education (SBE) President, the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Governor agreed to participate in the CCSS
development process headed by the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices
(California Department of Education, 2015). By January 2010, the California Senate amended
the California Education Code to provide for the adoption of CCSS (California Department of
Education, 2015). From this point forward, the state government established the Academic
Content Standards Commission (ACSC) which became responsible for making
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 33
recommendations to the SBE regarding the implementation and necessary funding and other
support for the successful implementation of CCSS throughout the state (California Department
of Education, 2015). Once the final version of the California CCSS initiative was released for
public view and implementation approved by the SBE in August 2010, this dramatic change in
the way the state would conduct public education was set within the political and educational
enterprise of California, awaiting funding by the legislature and execution of the plan (California
Department of Education, 2015).
The first significant piece of state legislation passed in support of CCSS was AB 250,
“The Curriculum Support and Reform Act of 2011,” which contained a number of elements
meant to reform standards and instructional materials in California (California Department of
Education, 2015). This legislation required the State Board of Education to adopt revised
curriculum frameworks and instructional materials aligned to the new common core standards
for math and language arts by 2013 and 2014 respectively (California Department of Education,
2015). Two years later in 2013, AB 86, Section 48 provided a sum of $1.3 billion appropriated
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction with the intent of supporting the integration of
academic content standards in instruction as per the previous changes to the Education Code for
kindergarten to grades 12 for the purpose of establishing high quality instructional programs in
the state for all pupils (California Department of Education, 2014). The funds were to be
apportioned to districts, county offices of education, charter schools and state special schools
using an equal rate per pupil for the purposes of professional development for teachers and other
employees, instructional materials aligned to academic content standards, and the integration of
these standards through the use of technology-based instruction (California Department of
Education, 2014).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 34
How the districts would get the money is through the Local Control Funding Formula
(LCFF). An invention of the Brown administration, the intent of this program was to target more
money to districts that serve high-needs students (Edsource, 2015). The method to achieve this
vision was by giving local school districts more authority to decide how to spend education
dollars, and hold them accountable for getting results (Edsource, 2015). As opposed to sending
money to specific schools, the distribution of the funds was to go to the districts and for those
that have some of the greatest challenges, like a higher percentage of ELL students, they would
get a fair share of resources to meet these needs (Edsource, 2015).
The accountability of these funds was intended to be met by districts showing
improvement in critical areas. These areas were: student achievement, student engagement,
parental involvement, course access, implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS),
basic services, school climate and other student outcomes (California Legislative Analyst, 2013).
The districts were required to specify what actions were being taken to achieve these goals and
solicit input from various stakeholders in developing a plan of action (California Legislative
Analyst, 2013).
As one example of how state funding is impacting public schools implementing CCSS,
for fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, the San Diego Unified School District produced a
spending plan based upon the one time funds provided by California Assembly Bill 86 (San
Diego Unified School District, 2015) for $21,575,582 (see Table 1). The requirement for the
funds is to support professional development, instructional materials and technological support,
in order to equip teachers, leaders and staff with the knowledge, skills and resources needed to
provide quality instruction so students can succeed in a CCSS-oriented classroom, at any school
in the district (San Diego Unified School District, 2015).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 35
Table 1

San Diego Unified School District, Common Core State Standards Spending Plan for the 2013-
14 and 2014-15 Fiscal Years

Funding Area Budgeted Amount 2013-15 Per Student Average
Professional Development and
Assessment
$14,085,582 $107
Instructional Materials $5,790,000 $44
Technology Support $1,700,000 $13
Total Cost $21,575,582 $165

Note. This table was provided by the San Diego School District website for the purpose of
budget discussions (San Diego Unified School District, 2015).
Professional Development
The passage of AB 250 and following legislation required the development of
Professional Learning Modules to provide critical information and strategies as the CCSS are
implemented (California Department of Education, 2014). The objective of these modules were
to deepen educators’ understanding of CCSS by focusing on the following criteria: instructional
strategies to support the learning of all pupils regardless of English proficiency or disabilities or
other learning challenges; strategies that promote creativity, innovation, critical thinking,
problem solving, collaboration, communication and related skill sets at all grade levels; the
integration of subject content knowledge; and, instructional leadership strategies for teachers and
administrators (California Department of Education, 2014). The modules were to be housed on a
Digital Chalkboard Web site, available at no cost, and could be used by educators independently
or as part of a face-to-face presentation (California Department of Education, 2014).
The support of professional development by the state also spurred some districts to not only
provide on-line courses, but on-line collaboration. One strategy that has been adopted by the
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 36
Anaheim City School District (ACSD) is using a cloud-based computing environment to create
online training modules, share and edit documents and institute knowledge sharing blogs that are
accessible to all teachers in the district (Robertson, 2013). What this technique revealed was that
teachers needed to have a clear understanding of how the CCSS are organized and what the
standards require of students (Robertson, 2013). The way this objective was met was through a
collaborative online activity where a problem, such as a particular standard that was to be
achieved by fourth grade language arts students, could be dissected by a collection of fourth
grade teachers and techniques shared as to how to implement this standard in the classroom.
Catholic Education and Common Core State Standards
As Sander (2000) notes a decade before the era of Common Core State Standards
(CCSS), the popularity of Catholic schools amongst parents were based upon a greater focus on a
core curriculum, the communal nature of Catholic education, less bureaucracy, a decentralized
approach whereby schools functioned independently of one another and an emphasis on
advanced or challenging coursework. When CCSS spread across the nation via 45 states that
adopted it by 2010, a dilemma faced Catholic educators who recognized declining enrollment
and school closures: should they also adopt the standards and thereby become more centralized,
more tied to bureaucratic methods in assessment and curriculum development and compete not
only with large public schools, but small charter schools and home school organizations that
have adopted CCSS (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014)? This battle for the future direction of
Catholic education in this country has included Pope Francis, the influential Council for U.S.
Bishops, conservative Catholic organizations and those educators at the state level who desire a
more progressive approach to private school education. This latter issue is especially germane to
San Diego county where the current state of Catholic schools has required the Diocese of San
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 37
Diego to create a strategic plan to save the Catholic schools in this area before economics forces
the hand of the Church and removes this option from the educational landscape (Franey, Horsley,
& Robinson, 2014).
Views from the Top on CCSS
During his September 2015 tour of the United States, Pope Francis stirred the controversy
over the adoption of CCSS in Catholic schools by visiting Our Lady Queen of Angels school in
East Harlem, New York (Felton, 2015). The significance of this visit is that the school,
supporting a racially and economically diverse student population, not only has adopted CCSS,
but also the tests aligned to them (Felton, 2015). While the Pope did not overtly endorse CCSS,
his support of equity and economic justice makes the selection of this school a key talking point
in the debate within the Church over standards and the future of Catholic primary and secondary
education in United States. It was during this same week that the Archdiocese of New York
distributed to media a press release indicating that students in Staten Catholic schools had a
higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding 2015 proficiency standards in math and
English than borough public schools, thus suggesting that a Common Core based curriculum
could be integrated within a Catholic school setting (Lore, 2015).
A year prior in 2014, the endorsement of CCSS by Catholic leadership in this country
was far less obvious. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) addressed the
spread of CCSS by first saying that these standards have been seen by many Catholics as hastily
adopted and may not support the long-held objective of Catholic education to form the human
person in the pursuit of a moral life and his ultimate end which is eternity with God (U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014). Therefore, the USCCB adopted a policy for Catholic
educators that,
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 38
Catholic schools must consider standards that support the mission and purpose of the
school as a Catholic institution. Attempts to compartmentalize the religious and the
secular in Catholic schools reflect a relativistic perspective by suggesting that faith is
merely a private matter and does not have a significant bearing on how reality as a whole
should be understood. Such attempts are at odds with the integral approach to education
that is a hallmark of Catholic schools. Standards that support an appropriate integration
should be encouraged. (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014).
The significance of this policy is that the question of having a system of standards for
achievement in schools is not what is troubling about CCSS, as the bishops recognize the need
for schools to prepare students for achievement in higher education and the workforce (U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014). Rather, the issue is adopting a system of standards that
restricts the Catholic school’s ability to exercise great latitude at the local level related to
curriculum, textbooks, teaching methods and implementation of standards that support the
ultimate objective of instructing children to be proficient at academic subjects as well as
informed about their faith (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014). This guidance also
allows flexibility for each district in the U.S. to determine for themselves the path they will take
with regard to the implementation of CCSS.
Counter Views on CCSS in Catholic Schools
One of the byproducts of the flexible Catholic strategy on the adoption of CCSS in
religious schools is strife for families and teachers, as prominent Catholic groups have
campaigned vociferously against its adoption (Thompson, 2015). While about half of the
nation’s 195 dioceses have initially adopted CCSS, how the standards are tied to public, secular
education, the publishing industry and political parties has opened up the debate on the essential
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 39
purpose of Catholic education and allowed conservative organizations to voice their opinions
(Thompson, 2015).
One of the most active is the Cardinal Newman Society, whose mantra is “Promoting and
Defending Faithful Catholic Education” (The Cardinal Newman Society, 2013). The principle
arguments made by this organization is that CCSS relies upon a technologically driven, top down
approach that will drive curricula, texts and the content of standardized tests, thus limiting the
understanding of education to merely preparation for work (The Cardinal Newman Society,
2013). Many followers of this point of view feel that any compromise adopted by schools, such
as infusing CCSS within the context of religious education, misses the point that the Catholic
identity and the faith of the participants is fundamental to what a Catholic schools does (The
Cardinal Newman Society, 2013). The Cardinal Newman Society recommends that concerned
parents and Catholic educators allow the CCSS debate to run its course amongst public school
officials, especially in the area of standardized testing, and refrain from adopting standards that
may be difficult or impossible to undo once embraced (The Cardinal Newman Society, 2013).
The danger of adopting this strategy is that any curriculum that lacks sufficient rigor as
articulated by university readiness standards can put Catholic students at a disadvantage in the
college testing and application process, particularly in the University of California system
(Diocese of San Jose Schools, 2015). As an example of recent trends, between 2009 and 2014,
only three of the nine UC campuses accepted an increased number of California students, while
the number of applicants grows over five percent per year and has tripled since 1994 (University
of California, 2015).

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 40
Progressive Opinions and the Diocese of San Diego Strategy
In California, the attitude among Catholic school superintendents is generally positive
toward CCSS. The Diocese of San Jose has taken a lead in advocating for CCSS and has gained
concurrence from some of the largest Catholic school districts in the state, to include Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Fresno, Monterey, Oakland, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San
Diego, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton (Diocese of San Jose Schools, 2015). This view on
CCSS that has been endorsed by the superintendents of these districts is based upon the findings
of the 2007 Congregation for Catholic Education conference that recommended that Catholic
educators be willing to be open to updating methodologies while remaining equally open to
spiritual and religious formation and sharing (Diocese of San Jose Schools, 2015). The
balancing between pedagogy and Catholic identity is something not new to parochial educators,
as local private schools have long chosen texts that are consistent with church values (Diocese of
San Jose Schools, 2015). The difference with CCSS is the acceptance of externally derived
standards of achievement as well as the risk of not participating and allowing university
readiness standards, especially the UC system, to call into question the value of Catholic High
Schools (Diocese of San Jose Schools, 2015). In effect, not teaching to these new standards will
“put our students, collectively, at a disadvantage in the college testing and application process”
(Diocese of San Jose Schools, 2015).
Another issue that cannot be ignored in California is the declining enrollment of Catholic
schools in the state, most notably in San Diego County. After several closures of diocese
elementary schools, Bishop Flores in 2013 turned to the University of San Diego and
commissioned a Strategic Vision Committee to study the organizational structures, policies and
financial stability of Catholic elementary schools in the diocese (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson,
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 41
2014). What the study found was that there was a lack of a cohesive collection of schools
working in collaboration to educate children of the Diocese, limited professional development
for teachers and administrators, a lack of diocesan-wide school processes, systems programs and
protocols and the fact that the families desired school environments of high quality academics
infused in the faith (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014). This analysis, which included a survey
of parents, found that 72% of all Catholic schools in the Diocese of San Diego had experienced a
decline in enrollment over the past decade; of those families who still had children in Catholic
schools, over 85% were satisfied with the experience and the quality of religious education; and,
81% of the respondents felt that the quality of academics was high (Franey, Horsley, &
Robinson, 2014). Also, of those stakeholders queried who did not choose Catholic schools for
their children, 93% cited the cost of attendance as the main reason for not investing in this
educational option, and of those parents who had once had their children in Catholic schools but
left, 50% were happy with the experience and 26% were open to the possibility of returning if
the conditions were right to do so (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014). What the analysis
conducted by USD revealed to the Diocese as well as other Catholic educators throughout the
country is that the Catholic educational system is at a critical point in its history; while there
remains a strong stream of support from those families who see value in this educational option,
the return on the family investment, in terms of long term benefits for children, must be fully
considered.
Existing Theory and Theoretical Framework
Ultimately, the Church must confront the concept of accountability. In an evaluation of
how Catholic schools should be held accountable to not only Church dogma but the needs of the
faithful, the concept of accounterability is an appropriate vehicle to create an underlying
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 42
structure of this study. Joannides (2007) states that accounterability is the process of resisting
accountability demands while still giving an account. The key in using this theory is identifying
“to whom” one should be held accountable to while not compromising the spiritual guidance of
the Church. One could argue that being held accountable only to God is problematic, in that
actions taken have worldly impact which should not be ignored. Accounterability can be a
mechanism by which unreachable accountability (like that to God only) is transformed into
tangible day-to-day practices that may differ from a notion of ideal conduct, but can make
accountability a possibility that can override its limits and contradictions (Joannides, 2007). In
this sense, the theoretical framework of this study was informed by whether Catholic schools can
be held accountable to both the basic spiritual concepts surrounding Christian thought and the
needs of its faithful, especially those children who are in its schools.
Inconsistencies in the Literature
One important gap in the literature is the impact on secondary school students coming
from Catholic elementary schools that have or have not embraced CCSS. As the literature
showed, the trend in American education, from pre-school to higher education, is the adoption of
standards in every classroom and standards-based testing (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).
This study did not consider specifically how students did after leaving a Catholic middle and
elementary school having become acquainted with CCSS as opposed to those who did not and
went onto a private or public high school. This would be an area for future research.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 43
Another important gap in the literature is the impact that CCSS could have in curriculum,
support materials like textbooks and professional development of private school faculty and
staff. For example, while the investment by the state of California in the training of teachers and
support to districts that are implementing CCSS is well documented in the literature,
2
there is
less public information about those Catholic schools that have chosen to embrace CCSS. A
significant part of this study will focus on the specific actions taken by some Catholic private
schools in the implementation of CCSS. The challenges of acquiring CCSS related materials or
technology without new sources of revenue will influence a number of interview questions to
private school administrators.
A final gap in the literature is any research conducted showing economic impacts to
Catholic schools if they choose stand firm against CCSS and maintain a more traditional, status
quo curriculum, or decide to embrace this initiative. It is not known if parents are drawn to
Catholic schools that have implemented CCSS or repelled and adopted the view of Catholic
counter-CCSS advocates who state that the standards were poorly conceived and are an affront to
Catholic values. In the conduct of field research, one area of interest will be any trends in
enrollment for Catholic schools and projections for the future.
Summary
The literature provided the researcher with a background on Catholic education in
America, the importance this educational option has had on the faithful, and its fundamental
purpose to both educate children and expose them to the tenants of the Catholic Church. Also,

2
See Table 1 as an example of public school investment in CCSS. Such information from private schools is not
publicly available, but will be an area of discussion during the interview process.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 44
the literature showed that educational reform in the way of CCSS is a juggernaut, changing the
conversation about what schools should be doing in support of perceived national objectives, as
our country faces the effects of globalization on the world economy. Further, the state of
California was an important part of this public school reform movement, adopting not only the
standards for all public schools, but backing up the process with laws and funding with the intent
and making it work for the long term. This evidence of real change in education had a direct
impact on Catholic school districts, which the literature showed were given guidance from senior
clerics that adopting CCSS was essentially a Diocese choice, amid a debate between those
Catholics who agreed that CCSS was the right way to learn in elementary and secondary schools,
and those who argued that such standardization was akin to the creation of trade schools for the
benefit of industry vice an exploration of the individual as a creation of God.
Thus, the first conclusion drawn from the literature review was that Catholic schools in
the U.S. were at a strategic crossroads. If trends continue positively for CCSS-driven public
schools, the natural instinct for parents would be to send their children to the best possible
educational experience for their futures. This means the hard choices to be made between a
Catholic school education and a neighborhood public school will at the very least cause many
committed Catholic families to press their private school leaders on what they are doing to
remain competitive. The answer can either be status quo or some variation of a CCSS-embrace;
that is why the issue of CCSS nationally could force the Catholic Church to make a more overt,
strategic policy decision than the one offered by the U.S. Council of Bishops.
Secondly, the literature allowed the researcher to consider the concept of accountability
in a new way. The issue of being accountable was typically framed by a physical entity that is
the one that is doing the accounting. In the case of the Catholic Church, an argument was made
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 45
that it is God and the Gospels that hold Church members accountable, so school curriculum
should support a policy of educating with the purpose of attaining a closer relationship with
Christ and the world He created. The challenge with this assertion is that the actions taken here
on earth have repercussions impacting the future potential of those who are members of schools
and parishes that fall under the Church. Accordingly, a point could be made that there should be
a broader concept of accountability that suggests balancing the exploration of faith with the
development of the student-learner who has the means to gain more knowledge in the modern
world. The importance of this train of thought is that there is value, and in some cases, a moral
imperative to make changes to an organization in order to improve its processes and procedures.
In the case of CCSS, the literature showed that this process had shown legitimacy in terms of
attempting to create a quality, equitable educational experience. Therefore, the original research
conducted herein attempted to understand how selected Catholic schools had embraced CCSS as
a means to improve the educational experience felt by every student at their schools, while
remaining accountable to the Catholic church and the faith of the community.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 46
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
The issue examined was the impact of CCSS implementation in public school districts in
California on private Catholic schools. In order to focus the area of research, this research effort
was limited to schools in San Diego county that engaged in a pilot study to integrate CCSS. This
pilot study, to use a CCSS-related performance evaluation system of students, was intended to
improve the quality of the educational experience and accordingly, cease declines in enrollment
(Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014).
The first research question guiding this research on how CCSS implementation impacted
the schools was: To what do Catholic school employees attribute a sense of tension about the
goals and implementation of CCSS by some faculty, administrators or members of the clergy?
From the literature review, it was determined that CCSS has spurred some deeply held emotions
and even stress from those who in many cases, have devoted their professional lives to Catholic
schools. The reason for this question was to establish a framework from which to develop a
grounded theory (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The grounded theory approach attempted to move
beyond description of how schools are confronting CCSS to lead the researcher to discover a
substantive theory of the process used by study participants to cope with CCSS and its many
implications and repercussions (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The impressions of different
educators reflecting on the same issue of CCSS and Catholic schools, did provide a rich source
of data from which to compare, develop categories and in the end, reveal a main conceptual
element and grounded theory.
The second question was: How have Catholic elementary school administrators and
teachers addressed the idea that many of their students may either face CCSS in public secondary
schools or standardized testing influenced by CCSS required for college admissions? This
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 47
question followed logically from the first in terms of asking participants to move beyond
impressions about CCSS to what actions were taken to address this issue. At this point, the
interview questions focused on the evaluation process and CCSS integration (the pilot study
underway introducing CCSS to schools via a new report card process). Observations of the
changes underway in the schools participating in the pilot program also informed the conclusions
reached in Chapter Five of this text. This second research question also contributed to the
grounded theory method of research by capturing the ways participants have responded to
experiencing the same phenomenon, in this case, CCSS in an elementary Catholic school setting
(Merriam, 2009).
Finally, the third research question was: How has CCSS impacted the definition of
accountability held by Catholic elementary school administrators? The interview questions did
confront the issue of accountability, in terms of who is accountable to whom and why. As CCSS
is a monumental change in pedagogy and a disruptive force on the lives of Catholic school
administrators and teachers, no theory coming from this study would be complete without some
consideration given to changes in attitudes about the nature of the teaching profession in a
Catholic school setting. As such, the learning theory approach that was used to collect and
analyze the data was organizational theory, as this pertains to school reform and restructuring
(Rueda, 2011). Data from the field work (interviews and observations) led to the researcher to
specifically address how the idea of accountability was impacted by actions taken, not taken,
interactions between faculty and staff and social processes within the context of the Catholic
elementary school (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
The structure of this chapter after this introduction will be to discuss the research sample.
This section will describe the population from which the sample is drawn and the sampling
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 48
strategy used as well as the criteria for sample selection (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The next
section will be the overview of information needed. This section will discuss the data sources
that are needed to answer the research questions and what kind of information that will be
gathered. The third section will be a discussion of the research design, which will outline the
methodology, or steps to be taken in carrying out data collection through data analysis
(Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The section following this one will reveal the data collection and
analysis methods. While a literature review has taken place to develop the context from which to
conduct further research, triangulation will be achieved by employing both interviews and
observations. The data collected from these events will be electronically generated through
coding software which will allow for the constant comparative method and the determination of
similarities and differences.
Research Approach
The main reason why a qualitative research methodology yielded the best results is that
this study to an organizational approached and was not concerned with issues such as the
frequency of CCSS use in public or private schools, nor the effectiveness of one CCSS related
curriculum from another using quantitative analysis. Rather, the objective was to approach those
directly engaged—and personally committed--to the private school educational organization and
try to understand the meaning that these educators have adopted about CCSS and its
implementation all around them (Merriam, 2009). This was vitally important to consider
because based upon a preliminary review of the literature, there was a lack of theory to explain
what would likely happen to our national educational system if private schools either did or did
not consider CCSS on their educational curriculum or school philosophy (Merriam, 2009). This
inductive research, through interviewing private school employees and experiencing their
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 49
behavior through classroom observation, not only facilitated the construction of concepts,
hypotheses or theories for the benefit of educational knowledge, but could invite other
researchers to continue the search for greater understanding through their own qualitative or
quantitative studies (Merriam, 2009).
The value of conducting both interviews and observations was the opportunity to identify
unanticipated phenomena and influences (Maxwell, 2013). In the case of the interviews, as
opposed to on-line surveys, the researcher in this case was able to better understand the particular
context that the participants act and what influences their behavior (Maxwell, 2013). What this
specifically meant in terms of this study was that the posing of open-ended questions allowed the
interviewee to compare what they had learned, what they may have heard others say or what they
actually did in the classroom and produced an extraordinarily individual response. Also, the
interviews and the associated observations allowed the researcher to capture, with consideration
given to context, how CCSS played a role (in the case, the x variable) in the curriculum
development and school leadership of a private school (the y variable) because the process that
connects the one variable to the other was a focal point of the inquiry (Maxwell, 2013).
Research Setting and Context
For decades, the private schools of the Diocese of San Diego have offered a viable, but
more traditional educational option for families, and are not funded nor required to comply with
CCSS. The conundrum facing many school principals is how best to respond to current trends in
education while sustaining a decidedly Catholic atmosphere. Accordingly, this is a perfect
opportunity to better understand the attitudes and initiatives taken by Catholic school
administrators and teachers in light of CCSS. The setting was the actual school campus of three
schools that adopted CCSS in each classroom grade. Actually visiting with administrators and
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 50
faculty at their place of work, in addition to observing classroom behavior, was fundamental to
capturing unfiltered data which was vital to the formulation of theory as discussed in Chapter
Five of this study.
Research Sample and Data Sources
As mentioned, the task here was not to evaluate each elementary school within the
Diocese; that effort would be important to gain a thorough understanding of every issue
confronting Catholic schools and could be worthwhile in future research. Rather, the sample
here was combined elementary and middle schools (K-8) in San Diego county that endeavored to
improve the educational experience at Catholic schools by adopting CCSS. Fully realizing that
there was active debate over the adoption of these “secular” standards, the participants of the
pilot program suggested that many of the essential ingredients of Catholic education such as
religion classes, more traditional forms of literature and conversations about morality and ethics
would not be abandoned, but the evaluation of student performance was to be based upon a
CCSS model. Many of these Catholic schools did use text books that were approved by the state
of California for the purpose of teaching subjects within the CCSS framework. The argument
made by proponents of the pilot study was that Catholic schools should take the benefits of
CCSS and modify the pedagogy to agree with the principles of a religious educational
experience. The strategy was to begin with an “end-state” in mind, meaning a CCSS related
report card, and advise faculty that in order for such a reporting mechanism to function as
intended, they must adopt standards in each classroom.
The size of the research sample was three elementary/middle schools that participated in
the pilot study. From these three schools, each principal and/or curriculum development
director was interviewed. As allowed to by the administration, I observed classroom behavior
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 51
and interviewed a sampling of teachers about their experience in adopting a standards-based
curriculum and how they evaluated their students in accordance with the new report card. This
population provided sufficient background information on the current state of Catholic schools in
San Diego county, and afforded a rich collection of data from which to build theory.
Data Collection Methods
The role of the researcher in this quantitative study was to interview, observe and assess.
The interviews conducted were semi structured because this gave the researcher the best way to
capture the respondent’s definition of CCSS and its impacts on their world (Merriam, 2009).
This line of questioning--using hypothetical, Devil’s Advocate or ideal position questioning
techniques-- gave the respondents the opportunity to speak to the same question but interpreted
each freely, yielding the most meaningful research data. A highly structured or standardized
interview would not allow flexibility in the voice of the speakers who must evaluate how their
educational philosophy is impacted by the changes coming to the public school system. Also, at
the other end of the spectrum, an unstructured or informal interview strategy would not be
appropriate in this case because such an interview would hamper data analysis and comparison
because the responses would vary widely and become merely a collection of interesting and
unconnected ideas. The method of collecting interview data was by recording each session with
the permission of the interviewee[s].
The rationale for my observation protocol was to align the observations and the
information provided by the respondents to the research questions. Because my research
questions were primarily aimed to understand the impressions of administrators and teachers
about the implementation of CCSS in a Catholic classroom, the observations were brief and
informal. The objective was not to critique classroom tactics, but reinforce the ideas garnered
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 52
during the interviews about how standards change learning. At one school, I accompanied the
Principal to three different classroom settings and observed lessons being taught by both lower
grade and middle school teachers. From this observation, what was important to capture was the
condition of the school and classrooms, the overt signs of Catholicism, sense of discipline and
attitude of the employees. Why this was important to note is that many Catholic schools are
indeed self-sustaining organizations, with limited funding for capital improvements and other
upgrades to infrastructure. Embarking on a new curriculum model is a risk that may displace
funding that could be used for other purposes. Accordingly, the physical appearance of the
school coupled with the apparent motivation of faculty reinforced the comments made about how
well standards were adopted by the organization overall.
Data Analysis and Synthesis
The data analysis conducted in this study was based upon a process of bringing order,
structure, and meaning to the masses of data collected in the interviews and observations
(Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The first step in this process was to have the interviews transcribed
soon after the meeting, assigning identification codes to each transcript. In order to ensure that
the transcriptions are captured verbatim, the voice recordings will be submitted to a transcription
service which pulled from the electronic storage device and created Microsoft Word documents.
For the observations, hand written notes were created at the time of the visit and completed soon
afterwards. Photography was not used and not necessary to analyze the data.
Because the analytic approach was grounded theory, the first step was that categories of
information was generated (open coding) (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). One of the categories
was selected and positioned within a theoretical model (axial coding), and then a narrative was
be created when the interconnection of the categories is observed (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 53
This coding and categorizing involved the use of a “constant comparison” method that was a
fundamental part of the research effort (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). The commitment to the
comparison of data as well as categorizing similarities and differences between sections of the
transcriptions allowed major categories to emerge and supported the development of theory as
discussed fully in Chapter Five of this text.
Ethical Considerations
The primary ethical obligation that the researcher has in this endeavor was to understand
how the participants from these Catholic schools perceived my actions and responded to these
(Maxwell, 2013). It was important to put myself in the respondent’s position, and consider how
I would feel if I were the one being interviewed. My role therefore was to understand and
capture what I heard and saw while subjecting myself to self-examination so to thwart the
influence of any unexamined stereotypes. My goal was to develop a useful and ethically
appropriate relationship with all whom I spoke to or observed, so that in the end, my conclusions
and theories would accurately reflect the current state of thought at each school and stand up to
scrutiny (Maxwell, 2013).
Admittedly, this researcher had a bias in this study in that not only am I a graduate of the
Catholic educational system, from elementary school, through high school and college, but my
four children have all had experience in Catholic elementary schools. Also, my two eldest sons
have experienced public high schools and universities, and so I have first-hand knowledge of the
transition from elementary school to high school, the impact of standardized testing and the
challenges of being competitive for the very selective University of California admission
process. Regardless of my history with the subject, there was no incentive for this researcher to
manipulate the data in such a way that the findings could either benefit me personally or
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 54
purposely injure those who participated in the study. The fundamental purpose of this effort was
to understand how a process was affecting an educational option for many families in the state of
California and throughout this nation. Any benefit that I received was limited to the satisfaction
of allowing some educators who are responding to the stress and pressure created by increased
competition in education, to voice their opinions and contribute to the body of knowledge on this
subject.
Issues of Trustworthiness
There was three methods used to increase the credibility of findings for this research
effort. The first was the use of triangulation, which consisted of comparing multiple methods of
data collection in order to compare comments made during the interview to what was observed
during the classroom visit (Merriam, 2009). The second method for ensuring credibility or
trustworthiness was by conducting a member check, or respondent validation (Merriam, 2009).
This means soliciting feedback from those who were interviewed via email or phone calls at
follow up sessions. Finally, the extensive review of the literature provided excellent support to
the data collected during the interviews, as my knowledge of public school implementation of
CCSS allowed comparison of approaches taken by private administrators and teachers and their
public school counterparts.
Limitations and Delimitations
For this effort, the main limitation was one semester for the entire process to be
completed, so what was important to my trustworthiness as a researcher was to recognize and try
to limit any personal bias, dispositions or assumptions regarding the research being undertaken
(Merriam, 2009). Another limitation to the study was inherent with any qualitative research:
randomness of participants when the sample population is extremely limited. I asked Principals
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 55
to provide names of teachers who were willing to participate in this study and encouraged a
random sampling. It was not my position to select these individuals, but could only use those
provided by the school administration.
The main delimitation on this study was the population interviewed and the context
observed. Because it was important to understand the impressions of a specific group of people
who were all involved in solving the issue of CCSS in Catholic schools, the interviews were
limited to those in the San Diego county pilot study discussed in this chapter. If other schools
not participating in CCSS integration were interviewed, the research questions could not have
been answered. With this condition or parameter imposed on the study by the researcher, the
conclusions can be transferred to those schools who have not adopted CCSS, but seek this
change to their curriculum (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
Summary
As discussed, this qualitative study utilized both interviews and observations with
selected Catholic elementary school administrators and teachers that engaged in using a CCSS-
related student evaluation system. This was in order to better understand how the school and its
faculty were addressing CCSS-influenced trends in education. One of the first key concepts that
informed this inquiry was how private school employees felt about changes in education that had
direct impact on their daily lives as private school educators. A second key concept was how
best can the private school prepare students for secondary school and college. This issue led to
addressing the concept of accountability. It may be said that all educators are accountable to
someone or something; in the context of a religious school facing pressure by secular institutions
to change, the question became more profound. This study revealed the strong sense of
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 56
commitment educators had to the Church, but felt a new sense of accountability to provide each
child with the best chance to succeed well beyond their eighth grade year.
Also noted in this chapter, one goal of this effort was to build a grounded theory. The
data collection was guided by sampling within the county of San Diego, and analyzed using the
constant comparative method, which consisted of comparing one segment of data with another to
find similarities and differences (Merriam, 2009). From this point, the data was grouped
together into categories, then further evaluated to show patterns and relationships, giving way to
core category, from which all categories are properties were connected (Merriam, 2009). From
this point, a theory emerged on how Catholic schools can integrate CCSS without losing time-
honored and sacred Catholic beliefs, desirable to many American families.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 57
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
This study considered the impact of CCSS on private, religiously based elementary
schools in San Diego County, California. The focus of the study was on a limited population (3)
of private elementary schools (K-8) that adopted CCSS after participating in a pilot study using a
CCSS-oriented student evaluation process (report cards) as a way to introduce standards to the
Catholic school setting. The concept behind this pilot study was to see if the use of such an
evaluation system (considered a “top down” approach vice “bottom up”) would facilitate a better
transition of the school curriculum and pedagogy to the adoption of CCSS at every grade level.
It was reasoned that the employees of these schools would have both the experience and
knowledge of CCSS to best answer the research questions proposed herein.
The rationale for this study was a recognized gap in published literature examining the
impact of CCSS on private schools and whether the integration of CCSS could improve the
quality of learning in this context. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to understand
how CCSS had impacted the administrators and faculty at these Catholic elementary schools.
The methodology was based upon extensive interviews with administrators and a random sample
of faculty; no children were interviewed, nor was any of the children’s work considered. The
reason for this strategy was that the main focus of this research effort was to understand the
thoughts and opinions of educators using CCSS as an organizational change agent, and not
evaluate specific classroom activities. Consequently, classroom observation was limited as was
follow up discussions with participants; these techniques, while important to the triangulation of
data collection, primarily were used to add some context to the thoughts captured in the
interviews. The study outcomes were the result of categories mined from analysis of the data
and enabled the creation of a grounded theory discussed in Chapter 5 of this text. The method
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 58
used to reveal these categories was open coding followed by the creation of a theoretical model
(axial coding) (Merriam, 2009). The commitment to the comparison of data as well as
categorizing similarities and differences between sections of the transcriptions, did allow major
categories to emerge and support the development of theory. The following narrative is the
result of the synthesis of the data.
Setting and Participants
The three elementary schools selected for this study represented a cross section of
Catholic elementary schools in San Diego county. One school that was chosen was located in
one of the most affluent areas of San Diego county, one selected in a suburban, middle to upper
middle class area and one that was surrounded by businesses in an urban setting as well as
ethnically diverse, middle to lower middle income residents. The researcher endeavored to see
if demographic variety would yield responses about CCSS implementation that were not
influenced by a narrow selection of socioeconomic factors. What was deemed more important to
this study was understanding how the act of instituting organizational change necessary for
implementing CCSS at each school directly affected the views of leadership and the teachers at
the ground level of curriculum execution. Also, race or the religious make up of these schools
was not considered, as the researcher assumed that the implementation of CCSS in Catholic
schools was not tailored to a particular race (or gender) and it was reasoned that in a Catholic
school, most participants would be followers of that faith.
What each school did have in common was relative size and structure of the grades. This
enabled the researcher to compare similarly sized and organized schools, which allowed for
equitable comparison of leadership or personnel challenges, breadth of implementation across
the organization and complexity in communication with employees, parents and other
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 59
stakeholders. Two of the three schools had a single section per grade, of between 20 and 30
students, K-8. One of the schools did have two sections per grade with the same number of
students in each. Schools generally had between 200 and 350 students, 12 to 20 faculty members
and the administration consisting of a single Principal, Vice Principal and in some cases, a
Curriculum Director. A breakdown of the participating schools is captured in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Summary Data of the Three Participating Catholic Elementary/Middle Schools
School Location Diversity Sections Per Grade Population
A Affluent Low 1 200
B Upper middle class Moderate 2 350
C Urban, working class High 1 200

The faculty for this study were selected to meet a desirable spread of experiences over
different age groups: two from middle school grades, two from grade 3 and one from
kindergarten. The breakdown of interview participants (A for administrator, T for teacher) is
found in Table 3 below.
Table 3
Interview Participants From Three Participating Catholic Elementary/Middle Schools
Participants Years in
Education
First Experience with Common Core State
Standards
Current Position
A1 23 Standards Based report card in 2009 Principal
A2 20 As Vice Principal at same school, 2013 Principal
A3 15 Through professional development as a teacher,
2010
Principal
A4 11 From the Diocese (professional development),
2010
Vice Principal

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 60
Table 3, conyinued
A5 10 While working in the public school system, 2010 Curriculum Director
A6 23 While working current school, 2010 (estimate) Curriculum Director
T1 10+ At previous school, around 2010 Middle School
Teacher
T2 2 MA credential program, 2013 Middle School
Teacher
T3 30 Professional development, 2009 3
rd
Grade Teacher
T4 14 At current school, 2013 3
rd
Grade Teacher
T5 20+ While at LA Archdiocese school, 2010 (estimate) Kindergarten
Teacher
Note. These interviews were conducted between December 1, 2016 and February 27, 2017 and
consisted of reading the same questions to each interviewee. The conversations were taped and
each lasted between 25 and 61 minutes each.

The reason why both administrators and teachers were selected to participate in the
interview process was to determine if there were gaps in opinion about CCSS between those who
look at the organization more strategically, vice those who were at the tactical level of
implementation of this policy. It is not unusual to find that organizational change is viewed
differently “from where you sit,” so to best answer the research questions, it was important to
address all levels of the organization. Also, the method of interview was purposely varied
between speaking to individuals alone, in pairs and in a group of three. The idea here is that if
there was a difference between the nature of the opinions shared by participants alone versus in a
pair or a group, the data would potentially show such discrepancies and this would impact the
analysis.
The teachers also revealed a broad range of experience and education. As seen from
Table 3, time in the classroom ranged from two years to one over thirty; most had taught various
grades within the elementary school continuum, one with high school experience. Like the
administrators, they were evenly split between those who accumulated graduate degrees in
education or other liberal arts disciplines and those with a bachelor’s degree and professional
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 61
development. Each teacher indicated that their exposure to CCSS was heightened by their
current schools, as administrators highly encouraged off-site seminars, training events at the
school and collaboration between faculty members on the implementation of CCSS at each
targeted grade level. One teacher had experience with CCSS from another Catholic diocese, and
was able to compare the progress she experienced at this previous job with her current position.
The value of this line of questioning was that the researcher quickly determined that each
participant had sufficient knowledge and experience not only with CCSS, but with the teaching
profession and could articulate from a position of being both a teacher and a student of the
standards.
The interview questions are captured in Table 4 below. The opening question in the
recorded portion of the interview process allowed each participant to provide their educational
background and first experience with CCSS. Using table 3 above as a reference point, it can be
seen that the administrators range in experience from one to over two decades of experience in
education, all beginning as classroom teachers than moving into administrative jobs in what
would be a typical fashion, from curriculum director to vice principal to principal. Most have
had no other careers than in education, with the one exception being a principal who transitioned
from the business world to education. Their educational experiences were also evenly split
between work in public as well as private schools. Most also noted graduate degrees and
professional development to include seminars provided by the Diocese of San Diego, classes
taken in conjunction with local public school districts and their own reading and research. The
main take away from this part of the discussion with the administrators was that each could be
considered a thoughtful professional, versed in classroom teaching, experienced in various levels
of school management and informed by professional development in CCSS that could be seen as
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 62
even exceeding that experienced by public school educators in California (McLaughlin, Glaab, &
Carrasco, 2014).
Table 4
Interview Questions
Interview Questions Research
Question
1. What is your background and how were you introduced to Common Core State
Standards?
1
2. If I can, let me share with you a commonly held argument on the need for
CCSS (this is taken from the US Dept of Education’s website):
a. “It's critical that, collectively, we raise the bar so that every student in
this country—regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or geographic
location—is held to high learning standards that will ensure students
have the skills to compete in today's global, knowledge-based
economy.”
b. What do they mean by “raising the bar”?
c. Some educators think that a phrase like “raising the bar” and including
words and phrases like “compete” or “global economy” can cause those
involved in Catholic education to feel uncomfortable; some may infer
that what they have been doing in the past is now deemed inadequate in
preparing children. Others are OK with this challenge. What are your
thoughts?
d. Do you sense any tension amongst Catholic school faculty over the idea
that performance in the elementary school classroom can be tied to a
student’s eventual success in getting into college or having good jobs?
Are there different “camps” or groups of people in your school who
hold conflicting thoughts about the purpose of elementary education?

1
3. If there are differences of opinion about the goals of CCSS, have any of the
changes in secondary and higher education impacted the conversation at your
school? I mean, how do faculty feel about preparing children to be either ready
to join public high schools or compete for limited college opportunities?
a. Has there been discussions about the new CCSS-influenced
standardized testing that is underway not only in public high schools
but the SAT and ACT?
b. What is the nature of the impressions about these tests and how they
may impact Catholic school children?

2
4. Looking specifically now at the assessment of students using a CCSS-oriented
report card currently being used at your school, can you describe how you
implemented this new process?
a. How do you feel this adaption of CCSS has influenced the opinions of
administrators, faculty or parents about CCSS in a Catholic school?
b. What is a measure of success of this change to the curriculum?

2

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 63
Table 4, continued
5. Finally, do you feel that CCSS in a way you have described could be
implemented by other Catholic schools?
a. What would be needed for widespread implementation? A change in
school culture or a change in the goals of the Diocese?
b. Could you see a link between this new student evaluation process and a
new definition of accountability by the Diocese? Do you see a way
where the Diocese of San Diego would see it as important for Catholic
schools to balance standards-based education with religious education?
c. Do you believe that if schools can balance CCSS without losing the
presence of Catholicism in the classroom, the schools will become a
more viable option for Catholic families who otherwise send their
children to public schools?
d. Can CCSS save Catholic schools from further declines in enrollment
and school closure?

3
Note. These questions were provided in advance to supervisors and were read during each
interview. However, as conversations evolved, there were spontaneous follow up questions that
were captured in the transcripts and used in the analysis of the data.

Results for Research Question One
Here again, the first research question was: To what do Catholic school employees
attribute a sense of tension about the goals and implementation of CCSS by some faculty,
administrators or members of the clergy? The purpose of the first research question was to get
to the heart of the controversy surrounding the implementation of CCSS in Catholic schools. As
discussed in the literature review, there remains a lack of definitive policy coming from Catholic
leadership regarding any American diocese embracing CCSS; rather, Church leaders stipulate
that whatever changes to pedagogy are to take place in the classrooms, the schools must retain a
Catholic identity and support the Church mission. Referring back to the seminal opinion of the
U.S. Council of Bishops on CCSS, the opening sentence is important to revisit here: “Catholic
schools must consider standards that support the mission and purpose of the school as a Catholic
institution” (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014). The difficulty educators find with this
was determining which standards used to teach subject matter were deemed to support the
Catholic identity and which may not. This lack of clarity, as discussed during the literature
review, created different factions within the Catholic school body of educators, parents and
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 64
clergy members. These factions view the role of Catholic education from different lenses; some
see these schools in direct competition with other educational venues and thereby need to adopt
more secular goals for Catholic educational institutions such as career readiness. Other Catholics
can only envision the traditional Catholic school, in direct support of the parish community and
guiding students towards a deeper understanding of their faith. It is reasonable to suggest that
these different factions, occupying different ends of a philosophical spectrum, could promote
tension amongst the population as they face the unambiguous competition of improved public
and charter schools and the downward trend of Catholic school enrollment.
To better identify and discuss this potential tension at the school-level, the first series of
interview questions began with a brief review of the goals and implementation of CCSS. The
method used to begin this conversation was by providing each interviewee with a quote that
neatly encapsulates the Obama administration’s argument for CCSS: “It’s critical that,
collectively, we raise the bar so that every student in this country—regardless of socioeconomic
status, race, or geographic location—is held to high learning standards that will ensure students
have the skills to compete in today’s global, knowledge-based economy” (U.S. Department of
Education, 2016).
The interview strategy at this point was to offer an interpretive question that focused on
the educator’s understanding of the central metaphor in the quote, the objective of “raising the
bar” (Merriam, 2009). Essentially, the researcher was trying to determine if this objective was
meaningful from an educator’s perspective, or did it ring hollow? From this point in the
conversation, the interviewees were asked to further consider the terms “compete,” and “global
economy” in the context of raising standards in education. The reason for this line of
questioning was to determine if a shift from traditional Catholic education to accepting the
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 65
secular goals of providing education for the sole purpose of improving the capabilities of the
citizenry was a responsible thing for a Catholic educator to do. Closely following the discussion
of the terms, the interview questions more directly asked if there was any sense of tension
amongst the employees at the current school over the strategy of using CCSS to not just improve
the learning at the school, but do so while still maintaining a strong Catholic environment.
Finally, the closing inquiries associated with this research question focused on resistance to
change in an organization and how best to implement a new process such as CCSS from the
perspective of both administrators and faculty members.
Theme One: A Need to Raise Standards
All of the administrators and the majority of the teachers recognized the CCSS “raising
the bar” metaphor was a universal goal calling for more rigor to the educational experience of
every child in the United States, especially those who attend Catholic schools. A link exists
between being an educated person and becoming an informed Catholic, as well as an opportunity
for schools to remain competitive and innovative. However, the goals of a CCSS-oriented
curriculum could be oversimplified or misinterpreted. It is not only about academic achievement
in traditional subjects. Educator A1 noted that, the job of the Catholic school is to “…raise
critically compassionate individuals who can read the world and who can make a difference in
the world.” In order to achieve this objective, the child must possess skills that when applied,
facilitate impacting the “whole” person. As such, the school, as educator A3 suggested,
introduces “Spiritual development, service to others. Being a lifelong learner that can compete
in the global workforce and the global higher education community.” In summary, this educator
noted that this framework of nurturing academics and spirituality was what “responsible” schools
attempt to achieve.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 66
A final administrator (A6) responded to this “bar” metaphor and how it could potentially
cause some tension amongst Catholics, by suggesting that the need is not necessarily to raise
standards, but that because of the dramatic change in today’s culture and continued globalization,
schools should “move the bar.” The technological advances in our lives question the need for
traditional capabilities that were acquired in traditional Catholic school settings. This educator
questioned the need for rote memorization of text given the internet while promoting the need for
new forms of communication that may be a combination of voice, text and video. Finally, part
of the new curriculum must be skills in mining information from the internet and gaining
information that previous generators could never have fathomed. In sum, “raising the bar” to
this educator was about a new way of learning and using modern sources of information.
Teachers voiced similar interpretations of the metaphor, but also added some thoughts
that could foretell tension amongst those who are going to be directly impacted by the change
necessitated by CCSS in the Catholic school setting. One middle school teacher (T1) focused on
the term “compete” as having a negative connotation to Catholics who are encouraged to live a
more benevolent life, following the teachings of Christ:
People hear "compete" and they think of it as a negative connotation and then they have
this idea that in order to compete, you have to push somebody else down. I think that may
be, in looking at Catholic ideology, that's not necessarily a word we hear a lot as
Catholics. I think that's maybe where people are a little hesitant to embrace this idea of
globally competing as Catholics.
This comment suggests that as teachers grapple with changes in curriculum, they must also
contend with changes in traditional definitions of academic achievement, the acquisition and
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 67
processing of information and even the concept of competition itself, as it appears the pressures
of the modern age are reaching further down into the classroom.
Another teacher (T3), interpreted the concept of “raising the bar” is to suggest that the
purpose of CCSS was to “level the playing field” to benefit those families who move from one
district to another, but not necessarily to make the school experience unreasonably stressful for
the students. This educator noted that at her school there are high achieving students and they
are “…stressed doing some of the work.” But what this suggested to her was that there was a
need for sufficient “rigor” in the curriculum and that such feelings of pressure were to be
expected in the Catholic school classroom, if the course of study was to adequately prepare the
students for future challenges.
Theme Two: Change Causes Tension
A majority of interviewees noted that one source of potential tension regarding the
implementation of CCSS in a Catholic school setting was a lack of sufficient knowledge about
the use of standards in each classroom. The “push-back”, as two put it, was the result of not
looking at the option of standards from a larger perspective: the improvement of the child’s
ability to learn and acquire skills that should follow them for a lifetime. Some teachers in
particular noted that just because standards were applied to the Catholic school environment, as
well as a focus on future growth, there was not a lack of joy about learning and exploring new
ideas.
One administrator (A1), explained that CCSS taken alone can be conceptually
overwhelming to teachers, parents and members of the community. The best solution was
dialogue and addressing concerns in a manner that indicted no compromise to the quality of
education or the Catholicism in the classroom. When this educator began promoting a change to
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 68
CCSS at her school several years ago, the objective was to calm the concerns about a loss of
traditional literature or methods of learning that many adults recalled from their own schooling.
As A1 clarified,
The push back was more in the not fully seeing the picture, and so once I had the
opportunity to explain that A, we are blessed in the Catholic environment to not have to
incorporate any of the appendices in the standards or skills, very specific about that, the
standards or skills, and B, the state has blessed us with good framework on those skills to
work from, but the appendices are recommendations of content and we don't have to use
that, we can go ahead and use what we have traditionally used.
Simply, the Catholic school educator has the opportunity to pick and choose the best aspects of
traditional education and use the framework of CCSS to improve the process of learning. Once
this concept was articulated, more families became supportive of the curriculum.
Another administrator (A5) continued this theme of the need for good communication
from the school administration by suggesting that the lack of knowledge about CCSS was also a
lack of understanding how the use of these standards ties to becoming Catholic leaders and
lifelong learners. The goal of the Catholic school is to help members of the community to grow
and without effective education, “They're not going to be able to survive when they leave, if they
don't have a strong foundation.” To achieve this foundation, this educator has turned to younger
teachers who grew up in the system incorporating CCSS into lesson plans and came to the
Catholic school without having to be convinced there is a link between being a good learner and
fully experiencing the Catholic faith. Fostering this relationship between the child and the
Church is what this educator sees as the primary mission of the school.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 69
From the perspective of one middle school teacher, (T1), it was hard to pinpoint whether
“tension” actually existed throughout the staff or may be just isolated to a few who lack
sufficient knowledge or training about CCSS. This teacher noted that, “I think there are some
who maybe don't know as much in terms of the expectations that are awaiting our kids in high
school so they don't necessarily see that drive. For me, though, I do because I've seen it
personally and then I worked in that environment.”
One topic that came up during this portion of the interview was whether the use of
standards in the Catholic classroom somehow created such a focus on future development and
objectives that there was lack of joy in simply learning new things and appreciating the
accumulation of knowledge. Two lower grade instructors (T4 and T5), indicated that a balance
could be achieved between preparation for life outside of elementary school and discovery of the
world. First the perspective of the third grade teacher (T4), “We want to prepare the foundation,
get them ready for high school and then you know, and then life. I think that's our job and I think
that we all pretty much feel that way. I think you can do both. I think you can prepare them for
what's to come in a fun, inviting learning environment.” The key to this statement seems to be
about how the teacher can set the atmosphere for learning. A kindergarten teacher (T5)
supported this assertion by recognizing her role as guiding children to explore the world while
“keeping it joyful and fun but at the same time teach them good learning habits so that when they
start to proceed through the grades that those are already in place.”
Theme Three: Change Requires a Cultural Shift and Dialogue
The overt message coming from administrators was that in order to implement CCSS in
the Catholic classroom, there must be a kind of cultural shift, deliberately moving away from
traditional curriculum that was less standardized from school to school to a more top-down
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 70
driven set of classroom standards. This process change required compliance in every classroom
in order to support the school’s new mission. Resistance to change by teachers was difficult to
reconcile, and to abandon traditional methods created anxiety. To administrators and instructors,
the change needed for CCSS could drive a wedge between the younger teachers and those who
are more experienced with traditional methods.
One administrator (A2), captured the majority of management opinions by suggesting
that tension amongst employees is likely resistance to change and that teachers should either be
onboard, or find another place to work. When mature educators looked at the standards, many
felt annoyed that what they had been doing for decades was suddenly seen as inefficient. But
this opinion was seen by this administrator as shortsighted: “Those are the people who have not
really looked at what the standards are and have not decided to change and get with the times.”
What this educator further articulated was the difficulty of humans to suddenly adapt to dramatic
change in what was an established, and conceivably predicable environment. Though everyone
at the school was given the opportunity to continue employment after the integration of CCSS,
many veteran teachers “…pretty much either moved on or have been sent away.” This was a
natural result of change, and administrator A2 looked at it from an organizational-health point of
view: “That is my belief that, if you are in a school, you really have to accept that culture and
what the philosophy and mission statement is. If you are not willing to do that, this is not the
place for you.”
Another administrator (A3) expanded on the topic of tension and suggested that it was
more anxiety because of the inherent threat to the traditional Catholic school environment, which
many had been brought up in personally through their own schooling or professionally after
coming back to religious schools to teach. In other words, where once a teacher was performing
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 71
to what they knew intimately and could reference personal experience, he or she was now with
the new standards-based curriculum finding themselves having to reinvent themselves in the
classroom. What was helpful to calm staff anxiety was a “shared vision”:
I would say I think we have changed our staff tremendously in the past several years and
it was done with purpose in mind. That purpose being to bring in teachers that shared our
vision. Which, we've already related to do that involved blending the ideals of our faith
and service to others with a rigorous academic curriculum based on standards. The lack
of any kind of tension right now has a lot to do with bringing in teachers that share our
vision.
The significance of this comment was that in order to institute organizational change, especially
when there is an emotional connection that some stakeholders have with the past, there is a need
for collaboration and a team approach. This may appear obvious to those who are familiar with
sports teams or the military, but the data above suggest that school environments can be
fragmented, with teachers committed to their own classroom domains and collaboration, unless
forced by the administration, viewed as a threat to another teacher’s “space.” Therefore, the
admission of a “shared vision” above establishes one criteria for the implementation of change
like CCSS in the Catholic classroom.
From a mature teacher’s perspective, the idea of change through CCSS may be a burden
that was not necessarily fostering quality where it did not exist before, as good teachers of the
past seemingly prepared their students well for the future. What this process did more obviously
was encourage early retirements. Educator T3 observed that she had spoken to public school
teachers who when forced to adopt CCSS, chose “early retirement.” But a reason was suggested
by T3 as “…maybe they didn't want to learn a whole new way of teaching, and it's a little bit
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 72
more extensive and there are expectations so.” For this research effort, it was observed that
most educators would agree that standards in the classroom provide an opportunity for children
to extend themselves and reach a “higher bar,”; but what also became clear was that the faculty
had to improve their communicative and teaching abilities in order to adopt these standards,
establish new goals for their students and evaluate each fairly and constructively.
Summary of Results for Research Question One
The interviews conducted by administrators and teachers from three different Catholic
elementary schools in San Diego county identified tension in the implementation of CCSS at
their schools. The root cause of this tension amongst faculty and parent primarily was due to a
lack of understanding on how CCSS would impact the educational experience and the
performance of the teachers and students. Administrators noted that communication and having
a deliberate implementation process were keys to mitigating concerns. Teachers acknowledged
that CCSS required renewed effort in planning and carrying out standards-based pedagogy in the
classrooms. In summary, in order for a school to adopt these standards, there appears to be
consensus among those interviewed that a cultural shift is a necessary component, as anything
short of full commitment by faculty and the support of parents as well as the Diocese and clergy,
would likely doom successful implementation.
Results for Research Question Two
Where the first research question sought to find out what is “in and on someone else’s
mind” through a series of opinion related questions, the second research question provided an
opportunity for the educators to speak from experience (Merriam, 2009). The question was:
How have Catholic elementary school administrators and teachers addressed the idea that many
of their students may either face CCSS in public secondary schools or standardized testing
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 73
influenced by CCSS required for college admission? The strategy for acquiring data needed to
answer this question was to bring up a common thread between all of the Catholic schools
participating in this research, the use of CCSS-oriented report cards and standardized testing. As
mentioned previously, in 2015, schools in the Diocese of San Diego formed a pilot study on
integrating standards within the elementary school setting through the use of a performance
evaluation process that required teachers to use standards in the classroom. The schools in this
study collaborated on a standards-based report card which could be viewed as a potential model
for other schools to follow. This process was complex and according to one interviewee (A6), a
story all its own. In order to stay focused on the theme of how some Catholic school educators
have responded to CCSS in San Diego county, this research did not delve into the details of this
pilot study beyond the impressions of the interviewees, nor did it explore the opinions of those
who did not participate in this pilot study. These remain topics suitable for future research and
can join other ideas noted in the recommendations section in next chapter of this text.
Regarding the use of standardized testing in the Catholic elementary school context,
many schools have adopted the California Standardized Testing and Reporting program (STAR)
that is based upon CCSS (California Department of Education, 2015). This testing has been
replaced in public schools by the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress
(CAASPP), but those private schools in this research effort continue to use STAR (California
Department of Education, 2015). The value of raising this issue was that any standards-based
testing done in the modern classroom does challenge each student individually regardless if the
testing process is CAASPP or STAR. The point is that teachers in the private schools are aware
their students will face such evaluations of their capacity for knowledge an learning and need to
prepare them for these challenges after the Catholic elementary school experience.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 74
After exploring the use of a CCSS-oriented report card process and questions about
standardized testing at each of the subject schools, the interviewees were asked for an evaluation
of how the change in approach to education was implemented, as well as their personal
experiences. These questions allowed each educator to share concrete examples, vignettes or
opinions based upon factual evidence. The purpose of this line of questioning was to sense the
level of commitment to CCSS expressed by each interviewee. If the educators boiled over with
enthusiasm and examples or how they are preparing children for the future, analysis could have
shown that they had firm commitment to the process and saw it as a needed change. Conversely,
if respondents dismissed the change borne by CCSS as inconsequential or could think of no
specific details from its implementation, then data analysis might have shown no connection
between what the educators were doing in the classroom and the potential impacts on students in
the future.
Another objective of this part of the interview was to see if data would reveal a changing
school culture as a result of adopting CCSS. As Rueda (2011) notes, culture typically found in
organizations is the result of a dynamic process that is jointly created by individuals in the course
of negotiating everyday life. Fundamental change, such as the use of new classroom pedagogy
and professional development clearly require a change in normal activities. It is argued that in
order to fully answer the research questions, interviewees needed to be given the opportunity to
reflect on their role as a member of the school culture, preferably before and after the transition
to standards based instruction. Without this discussion, the implementation of CCSS could be
minimized as a procedural or administrative change rather than what the data shows: a dynamic
and evolutionary movement affecting the whole educational organization.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 75
Theme One: Changing Evaluation System and Testing is Critical
The use of CCSS-oriented report cards and STAR testing have been seen as successful
strategies to align teachers, students and parents to standards-based education, thereby preparing
students and their families for similar academic assessment and standardized testing beyond
elementary school. Opinions are that any process change must be deliberate and the need for
“buy in” by stakeholders cannot be underestimated. Also, it was noted that most interest on how
well the students would do once leaving the K-8 school was by middle school teachers as
opposed to those teaching the lower grades. However, one of observations of a lower grade
teacher brought to light how the use of standards in the classroom more effectively determined
those who needed specific help on skills while also showed others that they had potential with
subject matter beyond the current grade.
One administrator (A2) described the process of implementing CCSS techniques as one
that required time, patience and determination from administrators and teachers. Like paddling a
boat, everyone on board has to be using their oars at the same tempo and direction for the vessel
to make optimum headway. The integration of the report card process was described as a “long
process,” which demanded buy-in from teachers to make sure it was the right thing to do as
discussed previously with the overall concept roll-out of CCSS. As for the specific steps taken,
this administrator described it this way: “We first had to had the buy-in from the teachers to
make sure that this was the right way to do, because, first we had to get them familiar with the
standards. Once they know the standards, it was hard not to do the standards-based way, because
here are the standards.” Thus, from a leadership and organizational standpoint, the
implementation consisted of establishing a base of knowledge for all members of faculty;
without such equilibrium in the understanding of CCSS, invariably the organization would have
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 76
to at some point during implementation reassess and provide this training. Getting ahead of
problems is what this educator saw as crucial to successful CCSS implementation.
Another administrator (A3) stated that the change to standards in the classroom was best
done in phases, starting at the lowest grades (K-2) and was supported by professional
development as well as targeted communication with parents and teachers. This educator
decided to roll out the program starting from the lower grades first. This was determined
through consensus building and communication: “After talking to our parent population and the
rest of the staff, it seemed like that would be a really good place to start. I don't know that
everybody was ready for it yet. Trying to force something that may not be there when we have a
system that's perfectly fine right now.” The value of the process articulated here was the use of
community involvement to solve a challenge once everyone has agreed that CCSS was right for
the school. In sum, once the policy is determined, the execution of that policy can be worked
through lower levels of the organization, thereby encouraging involvement from stakeholders,
using good, “grass roots” ideas and cementing the concept that change can happen through
teamwork.
Middle school teachers tended to be more aware of what their children would be facing
once graduated from 8
th
grade, so the respondents to these questions reflected more broadly on
their efforts to do effective classroom planning and outreach to local high schools in order to
understand changes in education beyond their doors. One teacher (T1) noted that following a
standards based curriculum did take extra effort but the use of the corresponding report cards at
her school helped change the focus from grade achievement to knowledge achievement. In this
educator’s words,
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 77
I would say in terms of standards, in terms of the graduates when they leave here, I would
say that we have kids that are, and that word comes up, competitive. I think when they go
to high school that the transition is smooth for them. That's how I gage things in terms of
... Yeah, you can look at a report card and say, "Oh they got all A's" or "They got all Ps",
but the reality is you can get that on paper, but are they actually implementing it long
term? For me, I look at that.
What this comment suggests is that the use of standards by this instructor was actually a way of
shifting the concept of middle school education and preparation for secondary school away from
simply achieving a letter grade to student learning and capabilities for gaining knowledge. As
noted throughout this text, a standards-based curriculum seeks to nurture critical thinking skills
that stay with the person beyond the confines of the school and not focus on the attainment of
letter grades.
For the lower grade teachers, the point made by teachers was that standards based
curriculum and report cards were valuable in helping manage classroom work to accomplish
very specific goals. As explained by T4, “I mean, before it was not as specific and so we
couldn't look and see, you know "this person is really struggling in complex compound
sentences." When we do see that we pull, we pull small groups and we work on these strategies
together.” What this comment may mean is that in a pre-CCSS classroom, there was actually
more chance for a child with very specific deficiencies to catch the attention of the teacher.
Once standards for each subject are instituted, classroom learning is actually supported by a
quantitative means of measurement vice a qualitative sense of a child’s performance. In sum,
standards clarify gaps in learning across the student population that can prompt remedial
instruction before a lesson plan can move forward.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 78
Continuing with the evaluative aspects of standards, the CCSS-based report card helped
one teacher (T5) more easily differentiate from those who were not only at grade level or below,
but those clearly above. This interview revealed that standards created a means by which a
teacher can rapidly assess what specific skills the child has mastered and what activities can be
provided to further challenge the student: “One thing I do like about it is it helps me find those
children that are surging ahead, because in kindergarten it's a such a diverse, it's a very large
spectrum of kids. I still have a couple kids that don't have the simple sounds on their alphabet
yet. We're still working there. And then I have kids that are reading on instead a second grade
level.” Looking at this from an organizational lens, if each teacher in all grades can tailor studies
to meet the ultimate capabilities of the individual student, what that may encourage is a more
competitive learning environment less hampered by the boredom or disruption of those students
underutilized, and more focused on increasing learning capacity in each class.
Regarding standardized testing that had been in use in public schools to align classroom
activities to CCSS, many Catholic schools in San Diego county elected to use the STAR
electronic testing program as one way to prepare students for high school testing as well as the
versions of the SAT and ACT. One administrator (A1) noted that the testing not only helped the
school employees consider the effectiveness of its standards-based curriculum and instructional
competency, but how the school may be judged overall in relation to other schools, public or
private. For the school to gauge how students are doing success-wise by a standardized level and
in comparison to students of other schools, there has to be common framework. Otherwise, the
data only reflects the relative success of the individual school and an evaluation of strengths and
weaknesses would be nearly impossible. The significant point made here is that the use of
standards-based testing has implications that extend beyond the achievement or the preparation
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 79
of the individual student. In fact, for the organization to continue to be a viable educational
option for families, leadership should ensure that the results of the testing influences curriculum
and professional development for each grade.
From the perspective of teachers, the use of standards-based testing in the classroom has
benefits for the student in terms of preparation for future studies, but also for the middle school
teacher who may view the STAR test as feedback on student competency and what areas need
more work. As described by one instructor (T2), while testing does not drive the curriculum,
“…what I'm teaching them regularly, whether there was a test or not, is preparing them for what
is going to be on a test. And as far as the STAR testing, they have a cool thing where you can
view the results, and it will take the Common Core Standards that maybe need to be taught, or
need to be taught to certain kids.” This perspective counters some concerns about “teaching to
the test” for the potential benefit of the school’s stature and instead suggests that in a standards-
based environment, achievement really becomes preparation through the acquisition of
knowledge vice mastering test-taking techniques. The importance of this concept is that students
are not being exposed to CCSS for the purpose of passing a particular standardized test that may
at some time become obsolete; rather, teachers are preparing students to be accomplished
learners.
Theme Two: Seeking Mastery, Not Just Grades
One indication of changes to school culture due to CCSS was the opinion of
administrators that the use of the report card introduced students and families to the concept of
“mastery” of a standard, rather than the assignment of grades, which may not fully capture the
capabilities and the deficiencies of a student. By using this term, administrators believed that
students were more prepared for higher levels of education and would not feel out of place in
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 80
both public or private schools. The opinion of teachers both reflected the view of administrators,
while also voicing caution about the value of this change in grading.
First, one administrator (A1) noted that students seem to be motivated more by the goal
of mastery vice a letter grade and this process has opened up a level of dialogue that did not exist
previously. This administrator introduced a connection between a “rewarding” classroom
experience and “learning targets,” which suggests that standards, when thoughtfully applied
through an evaluation system that highlights specific skills, spurs enthusiasm for learning and
intellectual growth in the child and potentially a better high school student:
Knowing well that student's engagement is strengthened by their involvement in their
success, and being able to have students talk about mastery of a concept versus an A in an
overall grade. It's much more rewarding for them. It gives them a better concept of who
they are as a learner, and so we all agreed upon that framework and then we worked
together to create learning targets or articulated targets for the report card based on
groupings of the common core to be able to articulate to the student, to the parent and to
the public should they need to, their progress towards that end, and in the dialogue with
the secondary schools that have received them in the last two years, they love more
information.
Another administrator (A2), observed that the use of a standards-based report card
enabled teachers to have detailed conversations with parents and take a much more focused
approach to learning. In particular, standards seemed to add clarity to an area often seen as
subjectively evaluated, language arts: “Saying that you have an A in something called language
arts to me defines very little about what the students actual skills are. Now we're able to have
conversations with parents that specifically hone in on these are areas that your child has
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mastered, these are areas where there is improvement that's still needed.” While many aspects
of language arts are by their very nature subjective, like a “meaning” of a poem, the use of
standards attempts to define skills to interpret that work of fiction that may be evaluated and
more properly addressed with lessons, exercises and other classroom activities. From these skill-
sets can facilitate a deeper understanding of a text.
Finally, from the view of an administrator (A4), it was noted that standardization of terms
like mastery and movement away from simply assigning letter grades prepared them better for
high school assessments. This administrator reflected on professional development sponsored by
the Diocese attempted to clarify what “mastery looks like” and to use these benchmarks in all
grading so to present a consistent assessment of each student, at each elementary school. This
topic was in response to the criticism of secondary school administrators:
I think one of the complaints from the high school was, was that we had all these
different versions of the report card. What an A in science at [school name] looks like
and an A in science at [school name] looks like could be totally different and it gave them
no information. If it was based on the standard then you could say, ‘Yes. I mastered the
standard.’
From the perspective of a teacher (T1), the use of standards-based report cards not only
allowed the educator to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of every student, but
opened up a dialogue with high school teachers, using similar terms and referring to common
standards. This interaction between the elementary and secondary school teachers enabled
process refinement at the lower grades so to better prepare the students for what they would
likely face in a high school classroom:
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I talk to a lot of high school teachers that our kids are going into and I ask them what
they're lacking. I'll specifically say, "The [omitted] graduates, when they go into your
class, how do they range? How are they coming in? Are they prepared?" A lot of them
are like, "Oh." They'll tell me. That, I'll bring it back to our team, we'll talk about it, and
we'll figure out if gaps are there, what we need to do to improve them.
From the lens of a organizational leader, this comment made by a faculty member is extremely
important to the changes proposed to the school culture as a result of adopting CCSS. What this
suggests is that the integration of standards at the elementary school level is really only as strong
as the capabilities of the graduates; if children are struggling with a standards-based curriculum
in high school, then alignment needs to take place between the two levels of education. Such
reconciliation between a middle school teacher and a secondary school counterpart allows an
adjustment in classroom pedagogy at each grade, as the system of standards is not restricted to
one classroom, but an entire elementary/middle school curriculum.
However, one experienced teacher did note that the transition from the use of letter
grades to a term like “mastery” seemed to require better definitions of what is to be expected of
the child, regardless of grade or subject matter. One part of the conversation focused on how a
teacher using standards in the classroom could effectively evaluate each student when the skills
being taught were of a more qualitative nature vice quantitative. This teacher (T3) raised the
need for better definitions of mastery if the standards are going to be effective tools for student
achievement: “We were like, what does master mean? Does that mean 100 percent? Does that
mean they're in the next grade level? Writing's tricky, math is a little bit more cut and dry.”
Again, as indicated above in the comments made by an administrator and middle school teacher,
by defining a skill set that can be employed to better understand a fiction or non-fiction text, the
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child can be more fairly evaluated in the use of those skills. This process requires a definition of
mastery that is used consistently, effort from the teachers and classroom activities that enable
each student to understand the standards and do their very best to achieve them. Clearly, these
skills do not supersede an appreciation for the nuances of a poem or similar literature that is not
easily attainable; the point is that a method can be taught that every student can use to gain a
better appreciation for the language arts.
Summary of Results for Research Question Two
The way Catholic school administrators and teachers addressed the idea that many of
their students will face CCSS either in high school or other forms of higher education was by
using a standards-based student evaluation system (report cards) and the use of the STAR testing
program. This strategy enabled students and their parents to become familiar with CCSS
because the only way a child can be given an evaluation is if the standards are fully in place in
the classroom and the work being completed. The use of standardized tests (e.g., STAR) that
were aligned with CCSS enabled students to prepare for more advanced testing once in high
school and college entrance tests like the SAT and ACT. Another way that these schools had
prepared students for the future was by setting a goal of mastery of a subject rather than merely
receiving a letter grade. Though it may be difficult for teachers to define mastery of some
subject definitively, some guidance had been provided by the Diocese. Fundamentally, the idea
of using a term such as “mastery” was to move students away from simply doing enough to pass
an exam and more towards a comprehensive understanding of subject matter and techniques in
learning that will carry with them after their transition from elementary and middle school.

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Results for Research Question Three
At this point in the interviews, the researcher gave participants an opportunity to discuss
CCSS as a new process (RQ1) and for RQ2, concluded a very practical discussion about how
CCSS impacted the daily activities of administrators and teachers at these schools and reflected
on how these actions on their parts prepared students for education beyond middle school. In
order to answer the third research question, the conversation needed to move in a more
philosophical direction by taking on the fundamental question of accountability in the Catholic
school setting: How has CCSS impacted the definition of accountability held by Catholic
elementary school administrators? Who was responsible to whom remains a challenging aspect
of religious-affiliated schools as discussed during the literature review, where opinions ranged
from Catholic schools being accountable to God and the faith primarily (and the acquisition of
practical or “earthy” knowledge secondary) to those who believed that in order to fully do God’s
works and grasp the nuances of the faith, one must be sufficiently educated. Again from the
literature review, Joannides (2007) stated that accounterability is the process of resisting
accountability demands while still giving an account. The key to accounterability and important
to the research conducted here was identifying the “to whom” school employees felt they were
accountable to as they participated in a form of CCSS that data showed was tailored to fit the
Catholic school environment. This research found evidence that a school can continue to support
the Church and the objective of a closer relationship with God for each student while still being
accountable to the educational achievement of these students and their future academic needs.
In order to arrive at the answer to this research question, the interviewer first attempted to
draw a link between the use of the CCSS-aligned report card system and the other changes that
had taken place in the classrooms and the idea that this process had invited a new definition of
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accountability from the Diocese or the schools. Then, a follow up question questioned whether
schools could balance standards in the secular model of CCSS with religious education, thus
making them a more viable option for Catholic families. Finally, the conversation closed with
the opinion question of whether the use of CCSS in Catholic schools could be seen as one way to
save these organizations from further decline or closure. In sum, these questions enabled
participants to reveal a solid commitment to accountability while voicing hope for Catholic
schools that they will gain from the use of CCSS vice lose any of the qualities families have seen
in this educational option for decades.
Theme One: CCSS Does Not Diminish Catholicism
To Catholic school employees, a link existed between living the faith on a daily basis and
the pedagogy found in classrooms. As MacMullen (2004) articulated, Catholic schools have
traditionally formed part of the triad that reinforced the fundamental tenants of the religion. This
triad consisted of home, church and the Catholic school, whereby the theological message was
theoretically consistent throughout this structure. Maintaining this congruence was clearly
important to the educators interviewed for this study, but what was also apparent was their sense
of responsibility to each child. In particular, the theme of the discussions was that all students
left the school with the requisite quantitative and qualitative skills, were able to address
conceptually difficult issues and recognize the role in faith in one’s life. For this to occur, it was
critical that students were held to standards that were not arbitrary, but framed by a CCSS
curriculum, that they experienced a school culture that valued individual achievement and was
legitimized by an accreditation process. In this sense, the schools were accountable and
sustaining the “triad” noted above by educating the “whole person” through a strategy that
blended science, math and liberal studies with religion. One administrator (A1) answered the
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question of whether Catholic schools can balance a secular invention like CCSS with faith by
saying that with the right approach, they can go “hand in hand.” This approach incorporates the
way the Church and its schools have traditionally viewed each child:
I believe that we exist to educate children first and foremost, and again it's the whole
person, so you have your faith formation which goes inline with and has its own
standards that they have adopted. They have adopted a similar curriculum to that of
Portland, Oregon in terms of its religion skills and standards. And the academic standards
are no different, so I think they are kind of hand in hand, and I do believe they should be
infused, and I do believe the accountability is in our accreditation and it's pretty clear
when each and every school has to stand before that after self-studying, and say, ‘Do we
have a curriculum? Is it based on standards that are up to date and realistic? And based
on that, how are our kids doing?’
The “whole” person is the student who is part of the community of the faithful as defined by the
Catholic Church. The point that the educator made here was that the use of standards in the
classroom, and the holding of the school accountable, was actually supporting the idea that the
religious education of each child is not a personal matter but part of the school experience and as
such, was in concert with guidance provided by Church leadership (U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2014).
Another administrator (A5) suggested that the adoption of standards in the classroom
cannot be a threat to a Catholic’s faith, or make teaching religion in the classroom difficult
because CCSS was a method for learning material in a consistent, measurable way and did not
run counter to religious beliefs. The school and its faculty were accountable to its constituents
by exposing the students to the world as it was and reinforced the importance of Catholic faith,
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 87
two activities that can complement one another: “In fact, I don't even really understand why the
Common Core State Standards and our Catholic identity, our religious standards, if you will, our
religion standards or our faith can be married to any academics. This is the world we live in and
our faith is integral to that.” What this educator stressed was that any sense of mutual exclusivity
between CCSS and a person’s faith is not automatic or inherent. Families, students and faculty
do have the capacity to see how an educational process like CCSS does not challenge belief or
loyalty to religious practices, and remains consistent with the guidance provided by the U.S.
leaders of the Church regarding CCSS (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2014).
For teachers, the dominant trend the data show was that most chose to teach in a Catholic
school because of their personal beliefs and so any method of instruction was to be consistent
with Catholic principles. One instructor (T2) responded to the question of personal
accountability by saying she felt bound to integrate God into what she was teaching and did not
from engaging in critical thinking:
But I always infuse God in to what I'm teaching. I never let go of teaching them about
Catholicism and social studies. I teach ancient civilization, and we go over how does that
compare to Catholicism or what are the differences? What do we believe in and so that
never ... I never lose sight of being in a Catholic school and I always ... It's always part of
my lessons.
Another common perception of teachers was the fact that the standards in the Catholic
classroom did not force a secular method of learning on the teachers; or more simply, there was
not a “Catholic way” of teaching English for example, as opposed to a “secular way.” The
concept of accountability reflected upon here is that the teachers were providing education that
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prepared the students for whatever future may be in store for them. One middle school teacher
(T1), explained it this way:
People ask me, "Do you feel that you're losing your Catholic identity because you're
teaching standards?" For me, as a writing teacher and a literature teacher, I don't
necessarily feel that way. Part of the reason why is because, for me, when I looked at the
standards, they are essentially writing. It's just writing.
The point to be highlighted from this comment is that the standard requires a level of
competency in a skill, which in this case is writing. What the standards do not do is limit what
should be the subject of the writing, thereby giving the Catholic school teachers the opportunity
to use skills based upon a standard, but for a religiously-oriented assignment.
Theme Two: The Diocese Needed as a Champion of Change
Thus far in the discussion about accountability, the respondents focused entirely on their
own role in being accountable as Catholic administrators and teachers to their students, families
and the Church. In trying to understand how the use of CCSS could improve the overall health
of Catholic schools in San Diego county, the researcher brought up the role of the Diocese and
its affect on the definition of accountability. Administrators who experienced the
implementation of CCSS in their schools were uniformly supportive of more direct guidance and
support from the Catholic hierarchy. Part of the reason was that any process change would
invariably be difficult. There would be detractors and the need for resources that may be outside
of the norm for a small school reliant upon tuition to cover most costs. The theme here was the
need for a “one team, one fight” approach, from the top of the organizational ladder to the
ground floor, in order for effective implementation of CCSS. One administrator (A5) made it
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clear that the Diocese leadership should embrace that team approach if system-wide change is to
ever happen:
I think the diocese has to reach out to the schools that have adopted the common core
state standards. Create a team. That team maybe goes to the other schools. They're really
trying. Throughout the diocese to get everyone on board. There are a lot of administrators
that are set in their ways with how things were done. I'm not trying to say in a negative
way. This is the way things were done for 20 years and it's okay. They're not embracing
the future. They're not embracing what these students are going to be out in the real world
and you're not preparing them for what they're going to be faced with.
Looking at this comment from an organizational perspective, any educational system is both a
purveyor and processer of culture and in order to meet goals, must put into place the means by
which these objectives can be achieved (Wilson & Wolf-Wendel, 2005). In this sense, what is
required first and foremost is the structure of a team of school officials who can develop a
process by which CCSS can be adopted and sustained. By creating this team, the Diocese can
set a course for the future that sustains the Catholic identity, prepares children for a modern
learning environment and encourages families and other community stakeholders to support
these institutions.
From a teacher’s view, clarity from the top would provide much appreciated guidance
and the resources to make change happen at the lowest levels. One teacher (T5) reflected on
experiences from another Catholic school district in California that had taken a very top-down
approach to the implementation of CCSS. From this teacher’s viewpoint, the other Catholic
school district recognized that their responsibility was to provide a competitive alternative to
public schools, which in a large urban area can vary widely from academically challenged to
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 90
superior in quality, from large institutions to charters. Therefore, the sense was to fully embrace
CCSS as a way to improve the educational experience and not get bogged down by the argument
that process somehow marginalizes Catholicism in the classroom. In this educator’s words, “The
Diocese there is very hands-on. They have it streamlined. They have Superintendents, you know,
it's Boom! Boom! Boom! And they have demanded that their schools go to common core. So
there's that perspective and coming to San Diego it was a little bit different.”
Theme Three: Catholic Schools Have to be Competitive
A final consideration of accountability carries over from the previous discussion of the
importance of Diocese impact on the change to Catholic schools: Can the Church expect those
who have previously supported Catholic schools continue to do so even as there are other, and
perhaps better educational options for their children? What stood out as a theme in the closing
moments of each interview was the importance speakers gave to schools needing to make a case
for the value of Catholic schools by creating a process of continuous academic improvement and
providing a rigorous, spiritually infused curriculum that in the end, was a blend of the best of
secular and Catholic education. Administrators in particular saw this needed change in the
Catholic schools as a strategic step toward the survival of the educational system and the
teachers recognized the importance of looking at children in a new way, being more cognizant of
individual strengths and weaknesses academically and the importance of their role in helping the
next generation prevail.
First, in response to the responsibility of schools to improve, one administrator (A5) went
back to the “raising the bar” metaphor and acknowledged that the public schools have raised
standards and put new pressure on Catholic schools to make those necessary changes without
losing sight of what made these schools desirable to generations of families:
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How we teach kids to learn math doesn't change our mission as disciples of Christ. Yes
and I think that Catholic schools, not only can it, as you say, save Catholic schools, it
must happen. If it doesn't happen, we will lose, because the bar has been raised, the rigor
is up.
Another administrator (A1) noted that Catholics are also consumers and it is unrealistic to
suggest that when given the choice between supporting a school and providing the best for their
children, the latter will come first, as the subject of accountability extends to that sense of
responsibility assumed by the parent. To this administrator, if education becomes “mediocre,”
while the school environment may be safe and easy to child, it ceases being a preparation for the
future and for this reason, the eventual success of each child, families will make the difficult,
individual choice and “…pull and go somewhere else. We have to be in this particular case, all
things to all people in that school, which means a safe place and academically rigorous
challenging curriculum that's based on something substantial.” What the substantial element of
the school referred to here was an academic curriculum that shaped skills that parents recognized
as being both enduring and meaningful for their children.
Taking the theme further of the schools remaining an option for parents that is not only
academically rigorous but meaningful, one administrator (A3) saw the role of school
accountability as marketing the value of the Catholic school as the best way to prepare children
for a life of service and accomplishment:
I think, again, by choice how we have really marketed ourselves over the last several
years has been to focus on how can we do a better job with our students. How can we
make sure that faith and service are at the forefront of what we do? We've really focused
on how can we better prepare our children with the idea that marketing ourselves really is
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 92
a parent word of mouth thing. When push comes to shove, everybody knows or talks
about what the good schools are.
Again, the recognition is that parents are consumers and desire the best for their children as
economics allows. Part of the school being accountable to these parents is reminding them that a
school with a standards-based curriculum is an evolving and self-reflective organization, just as
so much of modern life.
When teachers were asked the question of whether if Catholic schools would be saved
from further decline in enrollment, a theme emerged that recognized how the current diversity in
classrooms and society is in itself a forcing function on schools to change or lose the sense of
being accountable to the most recent generation of Catholics. One instructor (T1), dispelled the
notion that the composition of each class featured “cookie cutter” kids that all came from the
same backgrounds and had roughly the same capabilities. The public schools do not think in
these terms, and neither should Catholic schools if they wish to remain open and accessible to
the next generation of students: “I remember that you had to be a certain way and certain kids, if
you couldn't cut it, they were excluded. For me, I feel like opening the doors and being a bit
more inclusive has allowed Catholic schools on the brink to be more open.” Thus, the definition
of accountability continues to expand to meet the needs of all desiring the Catholic school
experience, which for many, is a radical and perhaps uncomfortable departure from the
traditional view of these schools as discussed in the literature review of this study.
Summary of Result for Research Question Three
This research question considered the concept of accountability and the questions asked
the participants ranged from personal accountability, to the accountability that should be
assumed by the Diocese to finally, the accountability of the school to sustain the faith by
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 93
remaining a viable educational option for Catholic and other families. The main themes were
that educators saw a link between the act of living the faith and what was being taught in the
classrooms, but there was no conflict between the method of instruction, such as the use of
standards, and belief in Church dogma. Secondly, educators acknowledged that the successful
implementation of standards in Catholic schools was best accomplished through a team effort,
consisting of every grade in the school complicit to the goals of CCSS and the Diocese providing
guidance, professional development and the leadership necessary to sustain change and respond
to those who disagree with this process. Finally, educators saw the role of the school as
supporting the faith, but also being realistic to the fact that families had concerns about academic
excellence and the future achievement of their children. For this reason, to remain viable,
schools had to sustain a balance consisting of developing the capabilities in children to succeed
academically in their future endeavors and encourage them to be altruistic human beings, living a
life consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
Conclusion
The interviews conducted with a range of San Diego County Catholic school
administrators, from Principals, Vice Principals to Curriculum Directors, as well as a range of
elementary Catholic school teachers from middle school, mid-grades and kindergarten provided
the data to answer the following research questions:
Research Question One: To what do Catholic school employees attribute a sense of
tension about the goals and implementation of CCSS by some faculty, administrators or members
of the clergy? The ways that Catholic school employees conveyed a sense of tension between
CCSS and a resistance to change by longer standing employees and other stakeholders was by
observing that the goals of a CCSS-oriented curriculum could be oversimplified or
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 94
misinterpreted. In particular, when a commonly held belief by secular education that there was a
need to raise standards in American education (captured here by using a metaphor of “raising the
bar”), the immediate impression of some was that a suggestion is being made here that Catholic
schools were suddenly sub-standard. Or, that Catholic schools should follow a secular path in
education, away from the teachings of the Church. Dialogue between school leadership and
stakeholders tended to mitigate these fears. Educators also noted that another misconception
about CCSS was that standardized curriculum acted as a threat against the joy of learning by
making the focus more on career preparation. What educators pointed to was that the use of
standards sought to improve the Catholic education experience and the would not be allowed to
impact the “Catholicism” of the classroom. Essentially, the sense of tension that some identified
was more an unfounded fear of losing the freedom to embrace religion in a classroom setting, a
quality that many families are willing to pay for since it cannot exist in public schools.
Another source of tension, especially amongst those who have been teaching well before
the advent of CCSS in the late 2000s, was how CCSS in the Catholic school classroom signaled
a cultural shift felt throughout the school. As with any fundamental change in organizational
policy, in order for it to be successful, there cannot be half-measures; policy is published by the
head of the organization and filtered down to each supporting section, implemented at each
individual grade and activity. Any implementation plan short of this causes confusion and
signals a lack of commitment. Consequently, administrators expressed confidence that
employees must either support such an effort or find another place of employment. Faculty were
more sympathetic to the fear or anxiety related to a CCSS-inspired cultural shift, acknowledging
that change is often most acutely felt by those who are actually doing the changing.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 95
Research Question Two: How have Catholic elementary school administrators and
teachers addressed the idea that many of their students may either face CCSS in public
secondary schools or standardized testing influenced by CCSS required for college admission?
The primary strategy used by Catholic school administrators and teachers was incorporating a
different, CCSS-aligned report card system and the use of a previously adopted standards-based
testing system (STAR). The report cards could not be utilized if standards were not fully
integrated into classroom activities, at all levels. The STAR testing, done through a web-based
application, challenged students to perform as per their abilities. This meant that the test
questions became progressively more difficult as the student succeeded in answering the
questions, or easier for those who were struggling with a standard. In the end, this testing
methodology identified those standards that needed additional work and offered a sense to
parents of how their children compared with others. The STAR also enabled students to prepare
for more advanced testing once in high school and college entrance tests like the SAT and ACT.
Another way that these schools have prepared students for the future is by setting a goal
of mastery of a subject rather than merely a letter grade. Though it may be difficult for teachers
to define mastery of some subject definitively, some guidance was provided by the Diocese, such
as a rubric that can be used as a guide for grading. Fundamentally, the idea of using a term such
as “mastery” was to move students away from focusing on less descriptive terms such as a letter
grade or simply doing enough to pass an exam and more towards a deeper understanding of the
subject matter.
Research Question Three: How has CCSS impacted the definition of accountability held
by Catholic elementary school administrators? The definition of accountability was complex
and personal to the participants of this study. Interviewees generally focused on their
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responsibility as educators, the desired accountability that should be assumed by the Diocese to
support standards in the classroom, and finally, the accountability of the school to sustain the
faith by remaining a viable educational option for Catholic and other families. The first
definition of accountability was that educators sought to establish a link between the act of living
the faith and what is being taught in the classrooms. What they felt responsible doing was
supporting the activities of the Church and what Catholics received from the mass at their parish.
They did not see a conflict between the method of instruction, such as the use of standards, and
participation in the Church or living a Catholic life, in fact they were contributing to the “triad”
between the home, church and school. Secondly, educators acknowledged that CCSS in Catholic
schools cannot be done piecemeal, but taken holistically across the campus, and preferably,
across a Diocese. Leadership from the top of the Catholic organization was seen as incredibly
important in this endeavor, as professional development and educational supplies were best
supported by resources beyond what a single school may accommodate. Finally, educators saw
the role of the school as a reliable symbol of the Church in the community, supporting
Catholicism and faith in God, but at the same time, cognizant of competitive forces that could
lead consumers to find better options for their children. Catholic schools are on task to sustain a
balance: develop the capabilities in children to succeed academically in their future endeavors
and encourage them to be altruistic human beings, living a life consistent with the teachings of
Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.

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CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION
For over two hundred years, Catholic elementary and middle school education in the
United States have provided families with a viable alternative to public education. The reasons
why people are willing to pay for education when it is free are varied. Two of the most germane
to this research effort is the desire by parents for their children to learn about God and
Catholicism in the classroom while experiencing an educational experience that best prepares
them for future academic pursuits. What is also considered herein was the modernization of
public school curriculum, most notably through the implementation of CCSS in 2009. As public
schools have improved in quality and accessibility to all children since then, Catholic schools
have seen a decline in enrollment, closures of schools and a dialogue amongst the faithful of
whether Catholic schools should adopt new standards and follow the changes instituted by most
public schools systems in this country. A number of clergy and Catholics have voiced
opposition to changing the more traditional, K-8, liberal arts and theologically infused
curriculum found in these schools, to standards developed by secular educators for the purpose
of raising academic standards throughout the United States and prepare children to better
compete as part of a more global economy. The concern some of these Catholics have is an
assumed loss of focus; that spirituality and Catholicism would take a back seat to training
children for eventual jobs or passing standardized tests. However, a growing body of Catholic
educators have countered this argument with a call for modernization—not to diffuse the role of
God or Catholicism in the classroom, but to standardize classroom pedagogy, prepare children
for CCSS-related standardized tests and prepare them to be critically thinking, engaged and
successful citizens, as well as practicing their faith.
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This study revealed a gap in existing literature about Catholic schools and the integration
of CCSS, leading to a fundamental question: Should these schools adopt CCSS as a means of
organizational improvement with the hope of stemming declines in enrollment? To better
understand this dilemma required reasonable accessibility, so the area of consideration was San
Diego county, CA, where there are 45 Catholic elementary schools functioning under the
auspices of the Diocese of San Diego (Diocese of San Diego, 2016). This area was also chosen
because dwindling enrollment had caused these Catholic schools to face economic reality or
change from a traditional model of Catholic education. With support from the Diocese, this
small handful of schools made a decision amongst themselves to develop a pilot study that
considered how to adopt CCSS and compete with local public schools in order to improve the
educational capabilities of the schools and prepare students for entry into either public or private
high schools. The participant schools of the pilot study centered their strategy around the
introduction of a standards-based report card system. From this assessment tool, both faculty
and students were introduced to the use of standards in the classroom and the impacts on
traditional subjects like math, language arts and science as well as religion. By conducting
eleven interviews and selected observations of three Catholic schools, this study gained an
understanding of the organizational challenges and attitudes needed to change the culture of
these schools and improve student performance while at the same time, sustaining Catholicism in
each classroom.
Statement of the Problem
The importance of this study was to better understand how Catholic schools could
address changes in education, such as CCSS, and not disregard what some would consider to be
a deeply appreciated element of Catholic education, the existence of spirituality in an educational
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setting. The problem addressed in this study was the fact that CCSS did affect a significant
population of school age children in California who attended private elementary schools,
matriculated into public high schools or private Catholic schools that have not adopted CCSS,
and as a result, faced some level of “culture shock” when faced with CCSS-oriented curriculum
and testing. This population of private school students have traditionally been high achieving,
college bound, and had great success in public high schools, so the dilemma for some family
members seeking the best for their children is whether Catholic schools are right for them today.
The literature showed that there has been a strong push over the past several decades for
public school educators to improve education and in turn, the future capabilities of American
youth for the sake of national competitiveness. Various initiatives such as No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) and the Strengthening America’s Schools Act and the Student Success Act have not
been universally accepted, but each was created with the intention of improving the quality of
public schools and standardize curriculum for the purposes of accountability and the meeting of
current and future national interests (Harkin, 2013). With legislation and encouragement from
the Federal level (primarily during the Obama administration), secondary and tertiary effects
have included millions of dollars for textbooks, new standardized testing, professional
development, upgrades in technology, as well as consulting services in order to prepare students,
faculty and parents for a new era in classroom activities and assessment (Forgione, 2012). Many
university administrators around the country condone these new standards, as some feel it will
support consistency in admission, decrease the number of remedial classes needed at the
institutions of higher learning and show how our public educational system can be aligned from
K to 12 (Jones & King, 2012). In sum, there is overwhelming evidence to support the statement
that CCSS was considered as the long-term solution to an American educational system that was
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once floundering in a “rising tide of mediocrity” (National Commission on Excellence in
Education, 1983) . Accordingly, it is valuable to consider the impacts of this national trend on
Catholic schools that have for generations, produced graduates who not only were ready for
more advanced learning, but contributors to the national economy and active members of their
communities.
Statement of Purpose
The rationale for this study was a recognized gap in published literature examining the
impact of CCSS on private schools and whether the integration of CCSS could improve the
quality of learning in this context. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to understand
how CCSS had impacted the administrators and faculty at three Catholic elementary schools in
San Diego County. The secondary purpose of the study was to capture thoughts and ideas about
integrating CCSS with Catholic values and understand any changes to the concept of
accountability from the perspective of Catholic school leaders.
Methodology
Qualitative methods were shown to be the only approach to fully answer the research
questions of this study. As the literature review demonstrated, there was a lack of theory to
explain what would likely happen to our national educational system if private schools either did
or did not consider CCSS on their educational curriculum or school philosophy (Merriam, 2009).
Therefore, by utilizing inductive research, through interviewing private school employees and
experiencing their behavior through classroom observation, the construction of concepts,
hypotheses or theories would not only contribute to the body of educational knowledge, but
invite other researchers to continue the search for greater understanding through their own
qualitative or quantitative studies (Merriam, 2009).
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The research setting and context were the actual school campus of three schools
participating in the pilot study used to introduce CCSS to these campuses by means of a
standards-based student evaluation system (report cards). It was found that person to person
interviews, conducted at the school site, as well as walking the grounds and observing classroom
behavior was the best way to capture unfiltered data vital to the formulation of theory. The
research sample and data sources were employees from these three elementary/middle schools
that integrated CCSS into the culture and curriculum of the schools. From these schools, each
principal, vice principal and or curriculum development director were interviewed separately.
Then, as allowed to by the administration, the researcher spoke to teachers about their experience
in teaching according to a standards-based process and how they evaluated their students in
accordance with the new report card. This population, ranging demographically from the most
affluent to middle income communities will provide sufficient background information on the
current state of Catholic schools in San Diego county. Finally, the data collection methods
consisted of using the same line of questioning (see Appendix D) for each interview and
capturing the answers through the use of a recording device. At the onset of every interview,
participants were told that their identifies would remain anonymous and that the data captured
would not be used for any other purpose than this study. The objective here was to allow the
educators to speak freely and honestly about their experiences with CCSS and as an employee of
a Catholic school under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.
Limitations and Delimitations
For this effort, the main limitations were time and the ability to query each person
associated with Catholics schools in San Diego County. What was important to my
trustworthiness as a researcher was to reveal in my conclusions my own personal bias,
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dispositions or assumptions regarding the research being undertaken (Merriam, 2009). Another
limitation to the study may be inherent to any qualitative research: Subjectivity and bias on the
part of the interviewer and interviewees. The best way to mitigate this bias was by interviewing
a sufficient number of administrators and faculty separately, in pairs or in groups. While it was
impossible to change each question for each interview or else compromise the data, it was
appropriate not to provide interviewees advanced copies of the questions so that the chances of
collaboration, either intentionally or unintentionally became remote.
The main delimitation on this study was the population interviewed and the context
observed. Because it was important to understand the impressions of a specific group of people
who were all involved in solving the issue of CCSS in Catholic schools, the interviews were
limited to those in the San Diego diocese pilot study discussed in this chapter. Without this
condition or parameter imposed on the study by the researcher, it would be difficult for the
findings to apply in similar contexts or settings and meet the objective of transferability
(Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
The conceptual framework used to conduct the analysis of the data was based upon the
hypothesis that inputs to Catholic education could be satisfied by a balance of theology and
secular improvements to learning by adopting CCSS at the elementary and middle school level in
order to create a sustainable Catholic school system. More specifically, the inputs included the
Catholic educational tradition as defined in the Literature Review of this text; also, the cost and
value of education, or in other words, the economic considerations of a private school
experience; and finally, the stakeholders who include the school staff, families, clergy and the
Diocese. Each of these stakeholders are an important element of the Catholic school experience
and vital to school success. The key mechanism that enables an output is if the school can
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balance between the presence of God and Catholicism in the classrooms and the secular goals of
modernizing education. How this can be done is by using CCSS as a structure to improve
education, but not avoid theological themes or discussions of faith. In a sense, this balance
equals a new sense of accountability in the Catholic schools, one that is comfortable with
preparing children for whatever they may find outside of Catholic schools while sustaining faith
in God and religion. The output would be a more viable system for the long term benefits of all
stakeholders. A depiction of this framework used to analyze the data is shown in Figure A
below:

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework used to develop a grounded theory. Inputs were impacted by
theology, secularism and CCSS to create a new sense of accountability. The output was a
grounded theory of a new and sustainable Catholic educational experience.

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Summary of Results
First, the interviews conducted by administrators and teachers from three different
Catholic elementary schools in San Diego county revealed that tension amongst some members
of the faculty and community existed when the decision was made to adopt CCSS. From the
perspective of the administrators, this tension, or anxiety was a result of change in the perception
of the Catholic school and processes. These administrators expressed confidence in CCSS and
felt that communication was the key to reducing this tension. What was important to articulate
was that CCSS would not degrade those aspects of a Catholic education that many attributed to
this privately-funded form of elementary and middle school education. In summary, in order for
a school to adopt these standards, and successfully implement this change in all grades, there
needed to be a cultural shift. Anything short of full commitment by faculty and the support of
parents as well as the Diocese and clergy, would doom CCSS in the Catholic classroom.
Second, Catholic school administrators and teachers addressed the idea that many of their
students will face CCSS either in high school or other forms of higher education by using a
standards-based student evaluation system (report cards) and introducing them to standards-
based testing like the STAR program. This strategy enabled students and their parents to become
familiar with CCSS before more challenging high school classroom work and the need to take
college entrance exams that are based on CCSS objectives. Also, these schools had prepared
students for the future by introducing them to the concept of content mastery, which focused on
achieving superior results when faced with specific standards vice simply working toward a
letter grade.
Finally, the questions on accountability revealed that educators took their responsibilities
seriously, expressed their dedication to the Church and the faithful and acknowledged the value
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of Diocesan support in providing a viable educational option for San Diego county families.
Educators articulated the link between living the faith and education; despite some fears in the
Catholic community, what the educators of this study did not see was a contradiction between
CCSS and Church dogma, or a person’s faith in God. Instead, educators recognized the need for
a community effort to implement CCSS for the good of Catholic schools and sustain this option
in light of the competition from public and charter schools. Through this consolidated effort,
there could be a consistent balance between the strategic objectives of the Diocese to provide a
superior education within a Catholic context and the individual schools in San Diego County
creating a positive environment in each classroom and preparing children for productive lives
and acts of service.
Results for Research Question One
The objective of this research question was to determine if a connection existed between
the inputs as identified in the conceptual framework. By revealing the impressions of CCSS on
staff and teachers, exploring areas of tension felt by stakeholders and coming to terms with some
of the competitive forces that challenge Catholic schools, this research question confirmed the
relationship between the tradition of Catholic education, the impact of economics on the schools
and the stakeholders who are directly involved in the Catholic school classroom. First, data
show that school employees understand CCSS as a positive attempt to improve education in this
country. It does so by establishing not only a level playing field, thus negating socioeconomic
factors that have caused variance in quality from school to school, but relevant and challenging
education that facilitates future life success.
This acknowledgement of the need for educational reform through CCSS was not without
some disagreement or anxiety amongst educators. The reasons for this tension ranged from a
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changed perception of an accepted system that has supported the faithful for decades to fear of
the unknown. Interviews also revealed that some long time faculty hesitated to follow what
seemed to be a secular path in education, based upon objectives outside of the Church.
Movement away from tradition was difficult for those most used to it; younger faculty were less
concerned, perhaps because of experiences outside of tradition-bound Catholic schools. Finally,
interviewees noted how tension also came from the need to fully embrace CCSS at every level of
the school, thereby suggesting a “cultural shift” in the dynamics of the organization.
Administrators in particular noted that change was forced upon these schools due to economic
factors perhaps never felt as acutely as during the current era.
From the data, several themes emerged that served to validate the connection between the
role of traditional Catholic education, economics and stakeholders. One of the themes was that
the current state of education nationwide, both public and private, and expectations about global
economic factors created a demand for a better educational system to be adopted as broadly as
possible. The interviewer used a metaphor from the U.S. Department of Education about the
need to “raise the bar” or increase our expectations for quality education in this country and a
majority of respondents recognized this as not only pertaining to public school children, but all
students. A conclusion reached from the data was that Catholics cannot live separate from the
effects of the global or national economies or political systems. Those interviewed saw that
engagement with the world as it exists today was a fundamental part of being a responsible
citizen and Catholic. There was a strong sense of patriotism in the responses to the interview
questions about the need for reform, suggesting that an educated populace is important to the
health of the nation and in effect, supporting our religious freedoms. Reflecting back on the
literature that argues that Catholic schools should not be merely a way to prepare a workforce of
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the future, the point made by these educators was that preparing the faithful for meaningful
careers and good citizenship in fact helps sustain the Church in more ways than not (The
Cardinal Newman Society, 2013). Accordingly, not preparing children for the workforce of the
future becomes an act of irresponsibility to both the country and the Church.
Another theme that was recognized was a lack of sufficient knowledge about the
overarching goals of CCSS and use of standards in each classroom, thus causing tension from a
number of stakeholders. What the interviews revealed was that all educators saw a role for the
Diocese in providing more direct policy regarding the implementation of CCSS and support to
each school in terms of material needs as well as professional development. Such “top-down”
information and resources would seemingly alleviate some of the tension from those unclear on
CCSS objectives. Reflecting back on the literature, it was noted that when the San Diego county
public school system adopted CCSS, along with it came approximately $165 per student outlay
for professional development, new textbooks and technology to help standards-based curriculum
become a success (San Diego Unified School District, 2015). While educators acknowledged in
interviews that there had been professional development encouraged by the Diocese and that the
pilot study was deemed a worthy cause, it was less clear what specific initiatives had been
funded by the Church leadership or which may be supported in the future. The significance of
this theme to this research effort is that the respondents indicated little support for a status quo
Catholic educational system lead by a silent Church authority; effective change requires a
champion and clear policy.
A third theme that emerged was that in order to implement CCSS in Catholic schools,
there must be a holistic change in each classroom, deliberately moving away from traditional
curriculum that was less standardized from school to school to a more top-down driven set of
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standards, making each grade share common objectives as never before. By its very nature,
such a shift causes friction and tension amongst those most affected by it, primarily because what
the real implications of these actions cannot be known for some time. Reflecting back on the
literature reveiw, one of the most important arguments made by the California Catholic school
superintendents regarding the need for private Catholic schools not become a handicap for future
students. It would be wrong that a Catholic education at any level, held with such regard and
passion by many of the faithful, would in fact become a disadvantage to those students who seek
greater rewards in the form of higher education in California (Diocese of San Jose Schools,
2015). As the interviewees suggested by their answers, it is counter to the notions of
Christianity not to provide the best hope and effort for others in your charge to do well in life. If
this equates to a better way of transferring knowledge from the older to the younger, or problem
solving or using the creative aspects of the mind to innovate, then such a process should be
fundamental to each Catholic school.
Results for Research Question Two
The second research question helped validate the need and feasibility of balance between
the secular structure of CCSS and Catholicism in the classroom. The data show that the best
strategy used by Catholic school administrators and teachers was incorporating a different,
CCSS-aligned report card system and the use of a previously adopted standards-based testing
system (STAR). The report cards were fundamental to the integration of standards in each
classroom, as a student could not be legitimately evaluated if their efforts were not measured
against adopted standards covering all subjects. In terms of STAR testing, this computer-based
process had the unique quality of being aligned with CCSS and offered the student and their
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families a clear indication of the child’s strengths and weaknesses and ability to navigate through
a modern standardized test.
Why this strategy was effective is that the educators had the flexibility to use the best of
CCSS, lessons learned from the public schools and the support of school administrators and the
Diocese to develop a new form of Catholic education. Reflecting on the guidance by the U.S.
Conference of Bishops, the message was for schools to seek improvement in the educational
experience without diluting the existence of Catholicism in the classrooms or in any way
contradicting what is being taught in the Church or at home (2014). The use of standards was a
choice to be made in a transparent fashion, with community involvement and through a
deliberate process. The use of a standard-based report card and supported by standardized
testing proved to meet the criteria established by the Church because this process and the use of
literature of the school’s choosing caused no overt conflict with theological principles.
What this approach also validated was the ability of Catholic schools to balance a secular
improvement to the educational system with subjects that assume faith and belief in God. A
competitive school was desirable to parents who must make sacrifices, set priorities and save for
the future. As the USD study indicated, a majority of families appreciated both the teaching of
the faith and quality academics in the Catholic classroom, but the economics of supporting this
educational experience was a key factor in whether they stayed or chose the public schools
(Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014). What this suggests is that if the Catholic schools can
achieve standards that by a common measure (in comparison with public schools) are equal to or
better than the public counterparts, and offer families reinforcement of moral and religious
values taught in the home and Church, then they will remain open and a viable option.

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Results for Research Question Three
Accountability, by its very nature, is a complex idea. This research wrestled with the
notion of who was accountable to whom at all levels of Catholic schools, from the Diocese to the
individual teacher. The interview strategy was to provide respondents an opportunity to define
their sense of accountability to the children and families of their schools, to Catholic education in
general and to the Church. The overwhelming response was that educators in Catholic schools
not only can, but must find a balance between establishing standards that can improve learning
and create an educational environment that prepares students for future endeavors and ensures
that the Catholic classroom does not minimize belief in God or marginalize Catholic doctrine.
Looking back at the literature, Joannides coined the term “accounterability” to identify
how one can feel accountable to a deity and belief system while still maintaining day-to-day
practices that may differ from a notion of ideal conduct, but can make accountability a possibility
(2007). What this difficult concept meant to this study is that Catholic educators can support a
student’s life of faith and membership of the Catholic Church if there was measurable learning
and growth in the classroom. Such learning was characterized by maximizing the potential of
each child by acknowledging differences in learning capability and tailoring lessons to meet the
needs of the individual. Children find themselves, at different times or facing different subject
matter either behind the class average or well above it. As revealed by the data, effective
educators used knowledge of standards to adjust goals and prevent a loss of interest by students.
Once a child experiences success by attaining mastery of a standard, the data suggest that this
sensation breeds continued exploration of new ideas as well as confidence in their ability to
reason and solve problems. It is at this point that the Catholic school could use the flexibility
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afforded by CCSS to integrate the Catholicism in each effective learning event, thereby bringing
each new scholar closer to God and the Church.
The importance of this integration was that without it, my analysis of the data suggest
that it will become harder to sustain a Catholic school structure beyond those found in selected
communities. As mentioned, this research took the approach of speaking to educators from
schools representing a range of economic strengths. While the opinions captured were consistent
in their support of CCSS in a Catholic school context, again considering the USD study
conducted on the health of Catholic schools, it was reasonable to conclude that if schools cannot
remain competitive, those in the less affluent neighborhoods may be the most vulnerable to
closure due to a lack of students (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014). The likelihood of
families from middle to lower economic means ceasing to experience Catholic education runs
counter to the notion that Catholicism is a community of the faithful. Having Catholic education
only cater to the affluent does not broaden the community or support equity in educational
quality and opportunity as supported by the current pontiff and suggested by his visit to a CCSS-
oriented school during a previous U.S. visit (Felton, 2015). In summary, my analysis is that the
benefits of mandated use of standards in Catholic education encourage a reassessment of this
educational option by those families who may have to sacrifice to make this investment. The
return on this decision for the Church may be the return of sustainable schools and renewed
diversity and vibrancy of the Catholic community.
Implications
The most significant implication of this study is the development of a grounded theory.
As defined by Glaser and Strauss, a grounded theory consists of categories, properties and
hypotheses that serve as links between and among the categories and properties (Merriam, 2009).
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 112
In this study, the data supporting the research questions did reveal core categories that are
defined by properties as depicted in the below diagrams, allowing for the articulation of a theory
about the effects of CCSS on Catholic elementary schools.
The first category became evident following an analysis of the data supporting the first
research question and is depicted in Figure 2 below. Through coding and subsequent
organization of the data, it was determined that one core category was “factors of CCSS
implementation.” This category was first defined by properties that could be seen evolving from
opinions, both external and internal to the school about CCSS. These opinions, held by clergy,
parents, teachers and administrators ranged widely in terms of value of standards, importance of
Catholic schools providing a modern, quality education and the idea of adopting a secular
concept and applying it to a Catholic school. The lack of cohesive and definitive guidance on the
role of CCSS in Catholic schools and the idea of changing the existing system for something new
and in many cases still evolving as a national educational model like CCSS, allowed for some
tension and anxiety. From this point, communication and dialogue, especially that initiated by
administrators committed to the viability of the Catholic school, became critical components of
further implementation of CCSS and a stabilization of the school culture. This dialogue,
augmented by professional education, phased implementation of the standards-based report card
and commitment to an improved educational experienced caused a reflection of the role of the
Catholic school in today’s world. Is the Catholic school, by adopting CCSS, continuing to
promote Catholicism and reinforce values as defined by the Church? The second core category
attempts to resolve this question.
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Figure 2. Factors of CCSS core categories and properties include external and internal opinions,
tension resulting from organizational change, the value of effective communication and a
reassessment of the role of the school.

What emerged from the data is a second category that may be called the “New Catholic
Educational Model” (Figure 3). The use of the term “new” can be clarified by saying the model
depicted in the figure is novel in the sense that the literature review failed to show how Catholic
schools outside of those examined for this study sought to balance modern methods of learning,
with spiritual discovery with economic sustainability. Therefore, the new Catholic School model
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seeks to establish a school that will use methods, regardless of its secular origins like CCSS, in
order to expand the learning potential of every student and allow them to be more active
members of the community. At the same time, this school treats parents as customers who
deserve a best-value educational experience for their children and want to sustain this
educational option. In short, Catholic schools can help develop the next generation of their
graduates become highly functioning adults and life-long learners, while keeping their doors
open for future generations.

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Figure 3. A New Catholic Model is the core category and properties include the potential of life-
long learning and community involvement, a balance of academics and spirituality, both quality
and equity in each classroom, yielding the potential for economic stability of the Catholic school
enterprise, not merely one or two individual schools.

Properties of the category include a commitment to life-long learning that transcends the
elementary school classroom and community involvement as the student graduate of Catholic
schools matures. The data show in this study that educators felt strongly about teaching critical
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thinking skills that graduates will carry with them through secondary schools of any type, and
then the workplace or college. This dedication to the students could also be interpreted as an
expression of loyalty to the Church as well as the future health of our country. The second
property of the category was the sense expressed by interviewees that a Catholic school must
extoll the virtues of the Catholic faith, while maintaining a rigorous academic program. This
means using standards in the classroom to maximize the learning potential of each child and
encourage an atmosphere of continuous improvement, for both teachers and students. The
teaching of religion and discussions of faith are not separate from this standards-based pedagogy;
educators are convinced all subject matter can be covered adequately and appropriately. From
this structure of learning established in each classroom, one output is a quality-based educational
system, providing children with not only the information necessary to do well in higher
education and life, the skills that enable equity in their lives. One remarkable conclusion that
this study revealed was the fact that the educators interviewed saw the use of CCSS as a way to
set goals for each student, regardless of any factors that may benefit or challenge the student. In
short, CCSS allowed each student, no matter if the school was located in an affluent area or of
moderate income, to progress at a pace based upon their abilities and for each teacher to allow
these students to realize their potential. The final property of this category was that student
success can be a fundamental element of a school’s economic stability. Given the evidence
presented in the literature review about the steady decline in participation in Catholic schools in
San Diego county, families would like to find a reason to support a Catholic school, but must
make choices based upon their own economic means (Franey, Horsley, & Robinson, 2014).
What this study suggests is that a student experiencing a productive learning environment will
create a strong evidence for continued parental support. No doubt that other incentives such as
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tuition aid are important, but no amount of aid is enough if the student is not showing progress or
a joy for learning in the classroom.
The third and final category is called “Accountable and Enduring,” and suggests that the
properties are complementary ideas that when carefully incorporated into a Catholic school
setting, will yield an effect where the school is both living Church values and establishing a
framework for long term survival (Figure 4). The first property is both the acceptance of faith in
the classroom, but the acknowledgement that with faith, comes growth of the person in a positive
way. This idea came from the interviewees who stressed that their role in the classroom was not
only to teach material, but bring students closer to their faith, as they progressed through their
grade and middle school years. The hope of every teacher was the students graduating would be
not merely academically prepared for the next step in their lives, but spiritually prepared for the
greater challenges of being a young adult Catholic in our society, and eventually an adult
member of a community. Part of this preparation, is the recognition that the educational
experience has to recognize that we live in a fast paced age, with generations of technology
evolving faster than human growth and the ability of many to keep up with the pace of change.
Accordingly, the classroom curriculum has to support some flexibility in text and techniques, so
that children retain interest and wonder throughout each succeeding grade. But importantly for
the Church, the rapid pace of innovation in the classroom does not supersede the fundamental
notion of Christian values in the classroom. Such an educational construct that does not provide
a moral compass for each student to follow as they progress through standards cannot be
acceptable, and this thought was echoed by the majority of interview participants.
On the subject of standards, the next property in the model is composed of measurement
and the goal of a quality educational experience. Standards for each grade level simplify the
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relationship between student, teacher and subject matter, by clarifying what is expected, if it was
achieved and whether the pedagogy help facilitate success for each student. This process is far
less consistent without CCSS, but as teachers in this study clarified, attaining concurrence on
what is a reasonable standard is not easy. In fact, one of the greatest impediments to fully
implementation of CCSS at some schools is reaching concurrence on the appropriate, achievable
standards for each subject and how to teach to those standards for student success. But it is only
through the hard work of teachers and administrators making these determinations, through some
trial, error and professional development, will the school truly be accountable to the children,
parents and ultimately the Church.
The final property of this model that supports the category is the realization expressed by
many interviewed that what they were doing at their schools does have implications for the entire
Catholic school enterprise. This means that when a series of schools adopts these changes
attributed to the implementation of CCSS, the impact of mass can have positive consequences in
terms of overall Catholic school strength. Just as an army massed on an objective can
overwhelm pitfalls and barriers that could swamp a smaller or fragmented force, so too is there
value in a diocese-wide implementation of standards-based education. One of the interviewees
had direct knowledge of this concept, as this teacher experienced the impact of a top-down
policy from the Church at another diocese on the need for implementation of CCSS and
compliance with professional educational requirements. Through this consolidated effort,
educators from across this diocese met and refined classroom techniques and responded to
challenges using best practices, learned by peer educators operating under similar goals.
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Figure 4. Accountability and enduring is core category and the properties include the evidence of
faith in each classroom and growth of the individual and the school overall, creating an
institution that is both flexible to new pedagogy but grounded in Catholicism. To sustain this
model, measurement and constant improvement are fundamental, yielding enterprise success.

The results of this study and the analysis presented herein, using the grounded theory
methodology, lead this researcher to conclude that the substantive theory can be articulated in
this way: By addressing the factors of CCSS implementation, to include the need to offset fear
of change with dialogue, Catholic schools can develop a new educational model that achieves the
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basic goals of a modern, quality education while sustaining the more traditional values of this
education, and in turn, remain accountable to the Church, educators and families for the long
term. This substantive theory was the result of comparisons made within and between the
categories, considering the properties and their relationship to one another with the objective of
creating a specific aspect of practice (Merriam, 2009). In each of the interviews, participants
were asked if the model followed at their school could be replicated at other institutions. In all
cases, the caveat to an affirmative answer was if the school leadership and teachers were willing
to embrace change, build something new and sustainable and retain those values and principles
of Catholic education that are both endearing to parents and enduring for the Diocese.
Recommendations for Practice
The data collected during this study revealed a strong sense of commitment by the
educators interviewed to realize the full potential of CCSS in the Catholic school setting.
However, what was also apparent was that no organizational change can be fully implemented or
its benefits fully realized without a champion. The San Diego Diocese must be that champion.
More specifically, for standards to improve the classroom experience at Catholic schools, top-
down driven initiatives are necessary from the director of schools at the Diocese. Therefore, the
first recommendation based upon this study results is that the diocese insist upon a standards-
based report card to be implemented at all schools; second, the diocese should insist that in order
for schools to retain accreditation, they adopt standards for each grade and during the
accreditation review, demonstrate the success of the standards-based curriculum using data; and
finally, there must be accessible and cost-free professional development where private school
teachers and administrators can improve classroom skills and continue to refine the definitions of
standards for each subject at every grade level.
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The first recommendation that came from this study was that the Diocese should take the
lessons learned from the pilot study discussed herein and as a champion of change, set a
framework for implementing a standard-based report card at all Catholic schools in San Diego
county. What the interviewees concluded was that the model used at their schools could
translate to other schools, regardless of the socioeconomic conditions at each school site. What
this means is that the development of standards should not be clouded by the lack of funding or
the proportion of children from English as a second language or disadvantaged backgrounds;
rather, the implementation of standards should be in line with California public schools and
based upon a common means of reporting student achievement. Once all Catholic schools have
the standards-based report card in place, and Diocese wide standards in common subjects, then
important benchmarking can occur. Though the comparison of schools within the San Diego
Diocese using benchmarked data rather than reputation will cause some discomfort with those
with academic deficiencies, though in the end, the data will encourage improvement and
innovation at every level. One interview for this study of a kindergarten teacher was the
inspiration for this recommendation, as this educator saw standards as a new way of reaching the
full potential of each child, even at their early stage of personal and emotional maturity. This
opinion caused some reassessment of my own notions of how much learning is really possible
for those just beginning in a school setting, and how CCSS can change opinion about what is
possible in a classroom setting at every grade.
The second recommendation is based upon the belief that effective curricula are held to
scrutiny and that the accreditation process is a perfect opportunity to objectively review a
school’s efforts to implement standards and provide feedback. All schools, public or private, are
required to comply with accreditation organizations like the Western Association of Schools and
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 122
Colleges (WASC) or the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA) that seeks to
contribute to a school’s cycle of assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and
reassessment based upon student achievement (Accrediting Commission for Schools, 2016). A
recommendation for Diocese is to require each school that complies with Church policy create an
implementation plan for transitioning to a standards-based student evaluation system at a
minimum to retain acceptable accreditation and optimally, show how students are performing
under a CCSS-based curriculum. Factors to be considered are distribution of subject mastery
and adequacy at each grade level, as well as percentage of children who fall below the
benchmark and require remediation. A school should only be able to continue to function if the
administration and teachers have a clear sense of who is doing well, who needs help and what
can be done to achieve a climate of continuous improvement.
The final recommendation based upon the interviews of the teachers in particular was the
need for effective professional development that is supported by school leadership, is given time
and space at the school site, is economical and allows an open discussion about the complexity
of determining standards for each grade. As discussed in the literature review of this study, the
San Diego Unified school district apportioned $14M or $107 per student during 2015 for CCSS
professional development, which is a sum not to be matched by individually funded private
Catholic schools (San Diego Unified School District, 2015). What the Catholic schools can do
is partner with local school districts within San Diego county and take courses, conduct training
online or the Diocese could develop conferences for all Catholic schools to participate in that
takes the concepts of CCSS in the public school system and tailors the curriculum to a parochial
setting. Again, important to this recommendation is the Diocese taking additional steps on
behalf of all schools, for the sake of system-wide improvement. It is through leadership from the
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 123
top down that standards for each subject and grade can be codified after consensus and all school
held to the same set of standards. As interviews revealed, the definition of mastery for each
subject is difficult, but not impossible if the views of educators are facilitated, best practices and
concurrence becomes policy to be implemented by all schools. In the end and based on the data
of this study, the effort to train teachers to be comfortable with standards will decrease anxiety
over CCSS, encourage greater innovation and performance at the schools and support
accountability of the educational system that for years has produced accomplished graduates, but
faces an uncertain future.
Recommendations for Future Research
As discussed briefly in Chapter 2 of this study, there are several gaps in the literature and
in the data collected herein that provide opportunities for future research. One would be a
comparison of recent graduates from Catholic elementary schools after one, two or three years of
high school. It would be important to understand the impact of CCSS introduction at the
elementary school or if these graduates failed to meet their academic expectations because they
did not have CCSS prior to secondary school. Related to this area of potential research is how
recent graduates of CCSS-oriented elementary schools have fared in gaining admittance to public
colleges and universities. Acceptance to private higher education is less of a determining factor
as evaluation criteria varies as opposed to the University of California or the California State
University system which relies upon standardized testing as a key factor in deciding admittance.
Another area for future consideration is the impact of costs related to CCSS professional
development, textbooks and associated material on the budgets of Catholic schools and what
could be done to mitigate these costs. One of the recommendations for action noted earlier is the
San Diego Diocese taking a more active role in providing this important support to schools
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 124
implementing a standards-based curriculum. Data from this research showed that other Diocese
around the state have taken on the challenge of funding CCSS implementation; what would be
beneficial to enterprise-wide CCSS implementation would be to understand how other Diocese
utilized public school resources, used on-line or cloud-based training modules or hired training
specialists to provide administrators and teachers professional development.
Finally, one of the conclusions made at the end of this study was that CCSS could help
sustain Catholic education in this country as a viable option for not only Catholic families, but
those of other beliefs who appreciate the private school setting. Given that these schools are
currently self-funded through tuition and must remain competitive in order to attract families,
what is clearly an unknown is whether the current administration’s push to fund private
education via vouchers will have an impact on Catholic schools. One of the findings of USD’s
study about the health of Catholic schools in San Diego county was that the impact of tuition on
the family budget was a significant reason for a withdrawal from private schools (Franey,
Horsley, & Robinson, 2014). But what if Catholic schools were free? Would a CCSS-oriented
curriculum matter as much? Or, would CCSS have to be sold to these families who suddenly can
afford Catholic education for this children? A study such as this would give Church leadership a
sense of how important a standards-based education is to those in support of private schools and
what truly draws the modern family to the Catholic school concept.
Conclusion
This text began with the traditional Catholic view of its schools as places where students
could first and foremost be inspired by the word of God, experience the Catholic faith, be part of
a living community of similarly minded people and participate in a curriculum that seeks the
fullest development of the person (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, 2006). The Most Reverend J.
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 125
Michael Miller, CSB (2006) went onto to caution that such schools should not take on the
responsibility of merely training the next generation of workers and sacrifice their spiritual
selves. What this study showed is that there does not have to be two separate objectives in the
education of children in a Catholic school. The Catholic school can safely incorporate new
methods of learning such as CCSS and not lose the enthusiasm for the Church, or compromise
dogma, or become a “factory” whereby lessons on morality and faith are sidelined in favor of
quantitative or qualitative skills.
The purpose of this study was to determine if advances in education in the form of CCSS
would impact Catholic schools that have been an option for families in this country for much of
our nation’s history. But, as thoroughly discussed in this text, the current economic health of this
school system is not strong throughout the nation, and most particularly, in San Diego county.
This research attempted to understand how these schools could find a new model that would
again make them viable to those who seek a private school education, but without losing the
essence of why they were created in the first place. Through the conversations of eleven
educators who had first-hand knowledge of CCSS and its impact on the Catholic elementary and
middle schools in different socioeconomic settings, the data show that schools following a model
of adopting standards and sustaining theology and spirituality in each classroom can help
students experience better learning and preparation for life beyond. What is both encouraging to
Catholics and important to our nation, one born on the notion of religious freedom, is that a
downward trend in the number of Catholic schools does not signal impending extinction of this
system. Rather, the challenges to Catholic education have caused a hard internal look at the
fundamental purpose of these schools. And in this self-reflection, what has become apparent is
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 126
that any process of improving learning is just a process, and change will not deter, ignore or
marginalize belief and devotion to God.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 127
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A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 133
Appendix A: Research Design Matrix
What do I need to know? The research questions would be:
1. To what do Catholic school employees attribute a sense of
tension about the goals and implementation of CCSS by some
faculty, administrators or members of the clergy?
2. How have Catholic elementary school administrators and
teachers addressed the idea that many of their students may either
face CCSS in public secondary schools or standardized testing
influenced by CCSS required for college admissions?
3. How has CCSS impacted the definition of accountability held by
Catholic elementary school administrators?
What type(s) of
individuals will be
interviewed/observed?
Private school principals, administrators and teachers of the CCSS
report card pilot study in order to obtain a cross section of opinions
and methodologies.
What type(s) of settings
will I need to observe?
Private elementary school classrooms and administrative spaces.
What is my sampling
strategy?
1. Representative: A private school will be chosen in SD County
that is participating in a pilot study of integrating CCSS in the
Catholic elementary school.
2. Range of variation: Persons interviewed will represent a range
of grades and the administration.
3. “Normalness” of the study participants: the schools selected
will be those that are frequented by SD county residents who are
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 134
supportive of the Catholic faith and its educational tradition.
4. Comparisons: Study will include several schools of roughly the
same size and demographics in order to measure “apples to apples.”
5. Productive relationships: As the researcher is a customer of
private elementary schools and an active member of one in
particular, there is already the social and intellectual ground work in
place for a productive relationship.
Possible people, settings,
events, and processes to
sample.
1. Review the principal’s educational philosophy regarding the
preparation of graduates for secondary school success.
2. Review private school curriculum and compare to public school
coursework and expectations.
3. Consider the student evaluation process being featured in the
pilot study.
4. Ask teachers how they may approach this new CCSS based
evaluation process.
Who are the
gatekeepers? From
whom do I need consent?
Principal for study, observation, and his/her interview, teacher for
observation and interview, pre-school director.

What are my
relationships with
possible informants?
What are the

I have great familiarity with many of the Catholic elementary
schools in San Diego county, having been a member of the board of
one and a participant in accreditation reviews. The implications are
to assist in providing the school with research that may support
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 135
implications of these
relationships?
their curriculum development and support to families who value
this educational option for their children.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 136
Appendix B: Certified Recruitment Tool

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 137
Appendix C: Certified Information Sheet

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 138

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 139
Appendix D: Interview Protocol and Table
I. Introduction:
I would like to thank you for your time today. As you are well aware, we are in a
dynamic period in education with the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
not only here in California, but throughout the nation. What I feel is important is understanding
the thoughts of those who have not been directed to implement CCSS, but who may be impacted
by it. I know that you are currently involved in a pilot study that is using CCSS as a framework
for student evaluations, or report cards. I am very interesting in learning how this study came
about, why you feel it is important for Catholic schools and how it is going so far.
Before asking you any questions, please allow me to provide you some background on
this study and my research goals. First, this is a qualitative study for a Doctoral program in
Education at USC, focusing on the impact of CCSS implementation and testing underway in the
public school system on private elementary schools like yours. This study may be able to
provide you another perspective of the process you are currently undertaking.
I want to assure you that my only focus is on gathering information for a research study
for the fulfillment of my degree and the results will not be distributed beyond this venue. This
research is also not meant to evaluate your knowledge or skills or criticize your educational
approach.
I would like to provide you a final copy of my dissertation if you would like, as it may be
useful when other parents ask similar questions about CCSS. Do you have any questions for me
before getting started? So that I may accurately capture your thoughts, I have brought a
recorder—do I have your permission to use it? After transcribed, the recordings will be erased.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 140
II. Heart of the Interview
1. What is your background and how were you introduced to Common Core State
Standards?
2. If I can, let me share with you a commonly held argument on the need for CCSS (this is
taken from the US Dept of Education’s website):
a. “It's critical that, collectively, we raise the bar so that every student in this
country—regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or geographic location—is
held to high learning standards that will ensure students have the skills to compete
in today's global, knowledge-based economy.”
b. What do they mean by “raising the bar” ?
c. Some educators think that a phrase like “raising the bar” and including words and
phrases like “compete” or “global economy” can cause those involved in Catholic
education to feel uncomfortable; some may infer that what they have been doing
in the past is now deemed inadequate in preparing children. Others are OK with
this challenge. What are your thoughts?
d. Do you sense any tension amongst Catholic school faculty over the idea that
performance in the elementary school classroom can be tied to a student’s
eventual success in getting into college or having good jobs? Are there different
“camps” or groups of people in your school who hold conflicting thoughts about
the purpose of elementary education?
3. If there are differences of opinion about the goals of CCSS, have any of the changes in
secondary and higher education impacted the conversation at your school? I mean, how
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 141
do faculty feel about preparing children to be either ready to join public high schools or
compete for limited college opportunities?
a. Has there been discussions about the new CCSS-influenced standardized testing
that is underway not only in public high schools but the SAT and ACT?
b. What is the nature of the impressions about these tests and how they may impact
Catholic school children?
4. Looking specifically now at the assessment of students using a CCSS-oriented report card
currently being used at your school, can you describe how you implemented this new
process?
a. How do you feel this adaption of CCSS has influenced the opinions of
administrators, faculty or parents about CCSS in a Catholic school?
b. What is a measure of success of this change to your curriculum?
5. Finally, do you feel that CCSS in a way you have described could be implemented by
other Catholic schools?
a. What would be needed for widespread implementation? A change in school
culture or a change in the goals of the Diocese?
b. Could you see a link between this new student evaluation process and a new
definition of accountability by the Diocese? Do you see a way where the Diocese
of San Diego would see it as important for Catholic schools to balance standards-
based education with religious education?
c. Do you believe that if schools can balance CCSS without losing the presence of
Catholicism in the classroom, the schools will become a more viable option for
Catholic families who otherwise send their children to public schools?
A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 142
d. Can CCSS save Catholic schools from further declines in enrollment and school
closure?
III. Closing Question
I have captured a great deal of important information during this session, but if I missed
anything, can you tell me now?
IV. Closing
I want to thank you for your time today and your excellent opinions about this topic. One
of the other requirements for this assignment is conducting an observation. Given what you
know about my research focus, can you recommend some events that I could observe (quietly, so
not to disturb you or the children)? Perhaps during the observation events I could follow up with
you on any other questions or clarifications, or if you would like to contact me, here is my email.
Thank you very much for this visit today.

A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DILEMMA 143
Research and Interview Questions Table
Research Question Interview Question
1. To what do Catholic school employees
attribute a sense of tension about the goals and
implementation of CCSS by some faculty,
administrators or members of the clergy?
Q2,3
2. How have Catholic elementary school
administrators and teachers addressed the idea
that many of their students may either face
CCSS in public secondary schools or
standardized testing influenced by CCSS
required for college admissions?
Q3,4
3. How has CCSS impacted the definition of
accountability held by Catholic elementary
school administrators?
Q5

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study considered the impact of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on private, Catholic elementary schools in San Diego County, California. The focus of the study was a limited population of three Parish-affiliated elementary schools that participated in a pilot study experimenting with the integration of CCSS by means of changing the student evaluation process (report cards). The rationale for this study was a gap in published literature examining the impact of CCSS on private schools and whether the integration of CCSS could be done within the context of a religious institution that traditionally did not follow public school trends. The objective of the study was to understand how changing a school culture to aligned with CCSS impacted the administrators and faculty at these Catholic elementary schools. Also noted were thoughts on the evolving role of Catholic education and accountability. The methodology was interviews with administrators and a random sample of faculty

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Asset Metadata

Creator Winicki, Anthony Alexis (author)

Core Title A Catholic school dilemma: Adopt Common Core State Standards?

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 08/28/2017

Defense Date 08/28/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Catholic schools,Common Core State Standards,Elementary schools,OAI-PMH Harvest,San Diego County

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Green, Alan (committee chair), Garcia-Montano, Guadalupe (committee member), Mora-Flores, Eugenia (committee member)

Creator Email winicki@usc.edu,winickiaa@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-425138

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Legacy Identifier etd-WinickiAnt-5692.pdf

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Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA