Catholic Curriculum Standards

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Explanation of the Standards
Introduction
English/Language Arts Grades K-6
English/Language Arts Grades 7-12
History Grades K-6
History Grades 7-12
Scientific Topics Grades K-6
Scientific Topics Grades 7-12
Mathematics Grades K-6
Mathematics Grades 7-12
Appendix A: Educating to Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
Appendix B: Assessing Non-Cognitive Standards
Appendix C: ELA Resources & Reading List
Appendix D: History Resources
Appendix E: Science Resources
Appendix F: Mathematics Resources
Appendix G: Consultants & Contributors
References
Reference Tables for Standards
Church Documents for School Teachers: Annotated Bibliography
Teacher Formation Readings: Comprehension and Discussion Questions

Explanation of the Catholic Curriculum Standards

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Catholic Education released a document in 2014 to guide Catholic schools in their approach to educational standards. It had been longstanding practice in Catholic education to rely heavily upon state standards for public schools, but this became increasingly controversial when many states shifted to the Common Core State Standards. The Committee advised:

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.

Such standards are critical to Catholic education. The Church and the Catholic intellectual tradition it inspired have thought deeply and explicitly about these things for centuries; the challenge is to place them into a contemporary K-12 standards format without losing these deep spiritual and philosophical insights. Standards reflecting the Catholic intellectual tradition might then form the foundation of a school’s measures of success, or they might complement a school’s carefully selected academic standards that are already in use.

The scope and nature of this project entails research and inquiry into two areas: “What does the Church expect of its schools?” and “What sort of academic standards in each discipline might guide a school’s curriculum toward this end?” The Cardinal Newman Society undertook the first inquiry with its Principles of Catholic Identity in Education project. The second inquiry resulted in these Catholic Curriculum Standards.

Research from the first inquiry resulted in the synthesis of key Church teachings into five principles of Catholic identity. They are:

Inspired by Divine Mission,
Models Christian Communion and Identity,
Encounters Christ in Prayer, Scripture, and Sacrament,
Integrally Forms the Human Person, and
Imparts a Christian View for Humanity.

Principles 1, 4, and 5 most directly guide the scope and of the Catholic Curriculum Standards.

The Catholic Curriculum Standards take into account guidance from Church documents which emphasize that Catholic education:

Involves the integral formation of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, in light of his or her ultimate end and the good of society.
Seeks to know and understand objective reality, including transcendent Truth, which is knowable by reason and faith and finds its origin, unity, and end in God.
Promotes human virtues and the dignity of the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God and modeled on the person of Jesus Christ.
Encourages a synthesis of faith, life, and culture.
Develops a Catholic worldview and enables a deeper incorporation of the student into the heart of the Catholic Church.

This framework guides the second part of the inquiry, “What sort of academic standards might serve to guide a school’s curriculum toward this end?”

The initial development of the standards was influenced by multiple sources, including Church documents, scholarly works related to Catholic education and the Catholic intellectual tradition, and books articulating the nature of liberal arts and classical education. The standards also reflect the educational philosophies of several faithful Catholic colleges in The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.

A series of meetings, focus groups, and contacts with academic subject area experts helped further refine the scope and nature of each discipline’s Catholic tradition and the complete standards; these experts represent Aquinas College (Nashville), Ave Maria University, Catholic University of America, Christendom College, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Thomas Aquinas College, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, University of St. Thomas (Houston), and others. Cardinal Newman Society authors then structured the standards into conventional standards-based language and format. Further input and review was provided by national standards expert, Dr. Sandra Stotsky, who oversaw the writing of the highly regarded Massachusetts academic standards and was a final validation team member by the developers of the Common Core before resigning in disagreement. Finally, the standards were reviewed by superintendents, teachers, and curriculum experts in three Catholic dioceses for clarity, applicability, and structure.

Each academic discipline’s standards are broadly grouped into two sets focusing on grades K-6 and 7-12, with general, intellectual, and dispositional standards for each academic discipline. The general standards are tied to the five critical elements listed above. Intellectual standards are cognitive standards and are primarily content and performance based. The dispositional standards involve the formation of character, beliefs, attitudes, values, interpersonal skills. Each standard is given a unique identifier for ease of location within the document and identification in teacher lesson plans. The following are examples of standards for English language arts, math, science, and history:

CS	ELA.712(English Language Arts 7-12)	GS3	Analyze works of fiction and non-fiction to uncover authentic Truth.
CS	H.K6(History K-6)	IS11	Identify the motivating values that have informed particular societies and how they correlate with Catholic teaching.
CS	S.K6(Scientific Topics K-6)	IS8	Explain how science properly limits its focus to “how” things physically exist and is not designed to answer issues of meaning, the value of things, or the mysteries of the human person.
CS	M.K6(Math K-6)	DS2	Respond to the beauty, harmony, proportion, radiance, and wholeness present in mathematics.

In addition to the standards, the document contains a number of appendices to assist implementation. To help orient instructional efforts, the document provides guidance on educating to truth, beauty, and goodness. The appendices also contain best practice information, a recommended reading list for Catholic schools, and a brief discussion on the assessment of dispositional standards.

The Catholic Curriculum Standards are intended primarily as a general resource for Catholic school curriculum developers, superintendents, and others familiar with creating curriculum and standards. However, anyone with an interest in Catholic education may find them useful. Those who interact with the standards are encouraged to select some or all of the standards that they believe might solidify and enhance the Catholic identity of their curriculum and integrate them into their larger educational efforts.

The Standards can be viewed and downloaded from the K-12 section of The Cardinal Newman Society’s website (www.newmansociety.org). Questions and comments can be sent to Denise Donohue (ddonohue@cardinalnewmansociety.org) or Dan Guernsey (dguernsey@cardinalnewmansociety.org).

Introduction

The mission and goals of Catholic education are significantly different from the college and career goals that guide public schools. Because the mission of a school should guide its choice of standards, the unique and broader mission of Catholic education requires additional and foundational standards that include specific Catholic modes of intellectual reasoning as well as accompanying dispositions.

A discussion of standards in use in a Catholic school should therefore begin with a discussion of the mission of Catholic education. There is no shortage of guidance from the Church on this topic. Building on insights from Vatican II’s Gravissimum Educationis (1965), these documents echo the fact that Catholic education has a primarily evangelical mission. It is to foster in students an awareness of the God-given gift of faith and to nurture their development into mature adults who will bear witness to the Mystical Body of Christ; respect the dignity of the human person; lead virtuous, prayerful, apostolic lives; serve the common good; and build the Kingdom of God.¹

Through Catholic education, students encounter God’s transforming love and truth.² With Jesus as its foundation,³ Catholic education integrally forms all aspects of students’ physical, moral, spiritual, and intellectual development, teaching them responsibility and the right use of freedom and preparing them to fulfill God’s calling in this world so as to attain the eternal kingdom in the next.⁴

To guide students toward this goal, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) created the Curriculum Framework⁵ for high school religion classes. But the mission of Catholic education is not limited to religion classes, nor is it separate from the intellectual formation of the students.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman observed that because of the divine origin and the destiny of all reality:

All branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject-matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself, as being the acts and the work of the Creator. Hence it is that the Sciences, into which our knowledge may be said to be cast, have multiplied bearings one on another, and an internal sympathy, and admit, or rather demand, comparison and adjustment. They complete, correct, [and] balance each other.⁶

This is a critical addition to the academic approach common in secular schools. Like these schools, Catholic educators lead students to know and appreciate reality using the best and most appropriate methods for the subject at hand and delve deeply into each specific academic discipline on its own terms, but Catholic education is also specifically and distinctly open to transcendent truths and an objective reality which surpasses and integrates the disciplines.

When illumined by the light of faith, all knowledge becomes living, conscious, and active.⁷ Because students have access to reason, revelation, and the guidance of the Catholic Church, Catholic education is uniquely positioned to offer guidance on issues of values and morality as well as to provide life-giving and definitive answers related to questions of human purpose, human dignity, and human flourishing. These questions arise quite naturally in academic practice and inquiry.

The Catholic educational project, to bring human wisdom into an encounter with divine wisdom,⁸ cultivates in students not only the intellectual but also the creative and aesthetic faculties of the human person. It develops the ability to make correct use of judgment, promotes a sense of values, encourages just attitudes and prudent behavior, introduces a cultural heritage, and prepares students to take on the responsibilities to serve society and the Church.⁹ It prepares students to work for the evangelization of culture and the common good.¹⁰ In the light of faith, Catholic education critically and systematically transmits the civic and religious cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations, especially that which makes a person more human.¹¹ Both educator and student participate in a dialogue with culture and pursue the integration of culture with faith and faith with living.¹²

In Catholic education, there is no separation between learning and formation. The atmosphere is characterized by discovery and awareness that enkindles a love for truth, a desire to know the universe as God’s creation, and an awakening of a critical sense of examination which impels the mind to learn with order and precision.¹³ Catholic education, imbued with the light of faith, instills a sense of responsibility and encourages strength and perseverance in the quest for knowledge.¹⁴ Catholic intellectual efforts and formation are significantly more rich and profound given this broader understanding of reality, access to transcendent truths, support from a cultural heritage, and the efficacy of God’s grace poured forth from the Sacraments and guided by the Holy Spirit. Catholic academic standards must take all this and more into account, and, drawing from guidance in Church documents, should ensure these key components are addressed. Therefore,

Catholic education:

1. Involves the integral formation of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, in light of his or her ultimate end and the good of society.¹⁵
2. Seeks to know and understand objective reality, including transcendent Truth, which is knowable by reason and faith and finds its origin, unity, and end in God.
3. Promotes human virtues and the dignity of the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God and modeled on the person of Jesus Christ.¹⁶
4. Encourages a synthesis of faith, life, and culture.¹⁷
5. Develops a Catholic worldview and enables a deeper incorporation of the student into the heart of the Catholic Church.¹⁸

Operational Guidance

This resource guide is not a complete set of standards for any particular subject, but it is designed to complement a broader set of primarily content driven academic standards. Not all of the standards in this guide need be implemented.

There are many other possible articulations of standards that might address the intellectual and dispositional needs of Catholic education.¹⁹ The intent here is to start a conversation and invite further consideration as Catholic educators develop their own standards and curriculum guides based on their unique mission, which extends to the formation of their students in a rich Catholic intellectual heritage.

These standards reflect insights gathered from Church documents on education; books and articles on Catholic education, liberal arts education, and classical education; the educational philosophies of Catholic colleges in The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College; and the Cardinal Newman Society’s Principles of Catholic Identity in Education. A list of contributors and consultants is available in the Appendix. Reference tables at the end of the document link most standards with books, articles, or websites for further exploration of the topic.

The standards include the following designations:

GS = General Standards that articulate the above five premises.
IS = Intellectual Standards that articulate cognitive learning standards grouped by content for ease of use.
WS = Writing Standards involve formation of proper and logical thinking.
DS = Dispositional Standards involve the formation of character, beliefs, attitudes, and values, or other non-cognitive standards.

They are grouped into two sets, grades K-6 and 7-12, with general, intellectual, and affective dispositions for most subjects. Users are encouraged to select some or all of the standards that they believe might solidify and enhance the Catholic identity of their curriculum. This guide is intended primarily as a general resource for Catholic school curriculum developers, superintendents, and others familiar with creating standards and curriculum. Additional resources are available on the Cardinal Newman Society’s K-12 Catholic Curriculum Standards website at www.newmansociety.org.

English/Language Arts K-6

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

IN ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS K-6²⁰

Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance to the life of the Church. They strive to make known the proper nature of man, his problems and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing man’s place in history and in the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the needs and strengths of man and with foreshadowing a better life for him. Thus they are able to elevate human life, expressed in multifold forms according to various times and regions.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, #62

			General Standards
CS	ELA.K6	GS1	Analyze literature that reflects the transmission of a Catholic culture and worldview.
CS	ELA.K6	GS2	Analyze works of fiction and non-fiction to uncover authentic Truth.
CS	ELA.K6	GS3	Analyze carefully chosen selections to uncover the proper nature of man, his problems, and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world.
CS	ELA.K6	GS4	Share how literature can contribute to strengthening one’s moral character.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	ELA.K6	IS1	Demonstrate how literature is used to develop a religious, moral, and social sense.
CS	ELA.K6	IS2	Articulate how spiritual knowledge and enduring truths are represented and communicated through fairy tales, fables, myths, parables, and stories.
CS	ELA.K6	IS3	Recognize Christian and Western symbols and symbolism.
CS	ELA.K6	IS4	Explain how Christian and Western symbols and symbolism communicate the battle between good and evil and make reality visible.
CS	ELA.K6	IS5	Recite poems of substance that inform the human soul and encourage a striving for virtue and goodness.
CS	ELA.K6	IS6	Identify examples of noble characteristics in stories of virtuous heroes and heroines.
CS	ELA.K6	IS7	Identify the causes underlying why people do the things they do.
CS	ELA.K6	IS8	Identify how literature develops the faculty of personal judgment.
CS	ELA.K6	IS9	Analyze how literature assists in the ability to make judgments about what is true and what is false and to make choices based on these judgments.
CS	ELA.K6	IS10	Analyze literature to identify, interpret, and assimilate the cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations.
CS	ELA.K6	IS11	Summarize how literature can reflect the historical and sociological culture of the time period in which it was written to help us better understand ourselves and other cultures and times.
CS	ELA.K6	IS12	Use imagination to create dialogue between the readers and the characters in a story.
CS	ELA.K6	IS13	Determine how literature cultivates the human intellectual faculties of contemplation, intuition, and creativity.
CS	ELA.K6	IS14	Analyze the author’s reasoning and discover the author’s intent.
			Writing Standards
CS	ELA.K6	WS1	Use language as a bridge for communication with one’s fellow man for the betterment of all involved.
CS	ELA.K6	WS2	Write in various ways to naturally order thoughts, align them with truth, and accurately express intent, knowledge, and feelings.
CS	ELA.K6	WS3	Use grammar as a means of signifying concepts and the relationship to reason.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	ELA.K6	DS1	Accept and value how literature aids one to live harmoniously with others.
CS	ELA.K6	DS2	Accept and value how literature can assist in interpreting and evaluating all things in a truly Christian spirit.
CS	ELA.K6	DS3	Share how literature cultivates the aesthetic faculties within the human person.
CS	ELA.K6	DS4	Share beautifully told and well-crafted works, especially those with elements of unity, harmony, and radiance of form.
CS	ELA.K6	DS5	Share how literature ignites the creative imagination in healthy ways.
CS	ELA.K6	DS6	Share how literature assists in identifying, interpreting, and assimilating the cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations.
CS	ELA.K6	DS7	Delight and wonder through the reading of creative, sound, and healthy stories, poems, and plays.
CS	ELA.K6	DS8	Recognize literary characters possessing virtue and begin to exhibit these virtuous behaviors, values, and attitudes.
CS	ELA.K6	DS9	Share how the beauty and cadence of poetry impacts human sensibilities and forms the soul.

English/Language Arts 7-12

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

IN ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS 7-12²¹

Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance to the life of the Church. They strive to make known the proper nature of man, his problems and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing man’s place in history and in the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the needs and strengths of man and with foreshadowing a better life for him. Thus they are able to elevate human life, expressed in multifold forms according to various times and regions.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, #62

			General Standards
CS	ELA.712	GS1	Analyze literature that reflects the transmission of a Catholic culture and worldview.
CS	ELA.712	GS2	Analyze works of fiction and non-fiction to uncover authentic Truth.
CS	ELA.712	GS3	Analyze carefully chosen selections to uncover the proper nature of man, his problems, and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world.
CS	ELA.712	GS4	Share how literature can contribute to strengthening one’s moral character.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	ELA.712	IS1	Identify how literature interprets the human condition, human behaviors, and human actions in its redeemed and unredeemed state.
CS	ELA.712	IS2	Describe how the rich spiritual knowledge communicated through fairy tales, fables, myths, parables, and other stories is a reflection on the truth and development of a moral imagination and the mystery, danger, and wonder of human experience.
CS	ELA.712	IS3	Describe the importance of thinking with images informed by classic Christian and Western symbols and archetypes, including their important role in understanding the battle between good and evil and their role in making visible realities that are complex, invisible, and spiritual.
CS	ELA.712	IS4	Explain from a Catholic perspective how literature addresses critical questions related to man, such as: How ought men live in community with each other? What are an individual’s rights, duties, freedoms, and restraints? What are a society’s? What is the relationship between man and God? Between man and the physical world? What is the nature of human dignity and the human spirit? What is love? What is the good life?
CS	ELA.712	IS5	Describe how poets and writers use language to convey truths that are universal and transcendent.
CS	ELA.712	IS6	Analyze critical values presented in literature and the degree to which they are in accord or discord with Catholic norms.
CS	ELA.712	IS7	Use imagination to create dialogue between the reader and fictional characters by entering into the lives of the characters and uncovering deeper meanings, inferences, and relationships between the characters, nature, and God.
CS	ELA.712	IS8	Explain how literature assists in transcending the limited horizon of human reality.
CS	ELA.712	IS9	Evaluate complex literary selections for all that is implied in the concept of “person”²² as defined from a Catholic perspective.
CS	ELA.712	IS10	Analyze how literature helps identify, interpret, and assimilate the cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations.
CS	ELA.712	IS11	Summarize how literature can reflect the historical and sociological culture of the time period in which it was written and help better understand ourselves and other cultures and times.
CS	ELA.712	IS12	Demonstrate cultural literacy and familiarity with the great works and authors of the world and in particular the Western canon.
CS	ELA.712	IS13	Explain how the powerful role of poetic knowledge, the moral imagination, connotative language, and artistic creativity explore difficult and unwieldy elements of the human condition, which is not always explainable with technical linguistic analysis or scientific rationalism.
CS	ELA.712	IS14	Analyze the author’s reasoning and discover the author’s intent.
CS	ELA.712	IS15	Describe how the gratuitousness of literary and artistic creation reflects the divine prerogative. Explain the role of man as “maker”—as artist, poet, and creator—and how the use of language to create is reflective of our being made in the image and likeness of God.
			Writing Standards
CS	ELA.712	WS1	Explain how language can be used as a bridge for communion with others for the betterment of all involved.
CS	ELA.712	WS2	Write in various ways to naturally order thoughts to the truth with an accurate expression of intent, knowledge, and feelings.
CS	ELA.712	WS3	Use grammar as a means of signifying concepts and the relationship to reason.
CS	ELA.712	WS4	Demonstrate the use of effective rhetorical skills in the service and pursuit of truth.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	ELA.712	DS1	Share how literature fosters both prudence and sound judgment in the human person.
CS	ELA.712	DS2	Develop empathy, care, and compassion for a character’s crisis or choice in order to transcend oneself, build virtue, and better understand one’s own disposition and humanity.
CS	ELA.712	DS3	Display the virtues and values evident within stories that involve an ideal and take a stand for love, faith, courage, fidelity, truth, beauty, goodness, and all virtues.
CS	ELA.712	DS4	Identify with beautifully told and well-crafted works, especially those with elements of unity, harmony, and radiance of form.
CS	ELA.712	DS5	Share how literature ignites the creative imagination by presenting in rich context amazing lives and situations told by humanity’s best storytellers and most alive intellects.
CS	ELA.712	DS6	Display a sense of the “good” by examining the degree in which characters significantly possess or lack the perfections proper to a) their nature as human persons, b) their proper role in society as understood in their own culture or the world of the text, c) the terms of contemporary culture, and d) the terms of Catholic tradition and moral norms.
CS	ELA.712	DS7	Delight and wonder through the reading of creative, sound, and healthy stories, plays and poems.

History K-6

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS
IN HISTORY K-6²³

Teachers should guide the students’ work in such a way that they will be able to discover a religious dimension in the world of human history. As a preliminary, they should be encouraged to develop a taste for historical truth, and therefore to realize the need to look critically at texts and curricula which, at times, are imposed by a government or distorted by the ideology of the author…they will see the development of civilizations, and learn about progress…When they are ready to appreciate it, students can be invited to reflect on the fact that this human struggle takes place within the divine history of universal salvation. At this moment, the religious dimension of history begins to shine forth in all its luminous grandeur.
The Religious Dimension of a Catholic School, 1988, #58-59

			General Standards
CS	H.K6	GS1	Demonstrate a general understanding of the “story” of humanity from creation to present through a Catholic concept of the world and man.
CS	H.K6	GS2	Demonstrate an understanding about great figures of history by examining their lives for examples of virtue or vice.
CS	H.K6	GS3	Demonstrate an understanding of the cultural inheritance provided by the Church.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	H.K6	IS1	Describe how history begins and ends in God and how history has a religious dimension.
CS	H.K6	IS2	Describe how Jesus, as God incarnate, existed in history just like we do.
CS	H.K6	IS3	Describe how reading history is a way to learn about what God does for humanity.
CS	H.K6	IS4	Explain the history of the Catholic Church and its impact in human events.
CS	H.K6	IS5	Exhibit mastery of essential dates, persons, places, and facts relevant to the Western tradition and the Catholic Church.
CS	H.K6	IS6	Explain how the central themes within the stories of important Catholic figures and saints repeat over time.
CS	H.K6	IS7	Explain how beliefs about God, humanity, and material things affect behavior.
CS	H.K6	IS8	Explain the human condition and the role and dignity of man in God’s plan.
CS	H.K6	IS9	Demonstrate how history helps us predict and plan for future events using prudence and wisdom gleaned from recognizing previous patterns of change, knowledge of past events, and a richer, more significant, view of personal experiences.
CS	H.K6	IS10	Explain how historical events involving critical human experiences, especially those dealing with good and evil, help enlarge perspective and understanding of self and others.
CS	H.K6	IS11	Identify the motivating values that have informed particular societies and how they correlate with Catholic teaching.
CS	H.K6	IS12	Examine how history can assist in the acquisition of values and virtues.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	H.K6	DS1	Select and describe beautiful artifacts from different times and cultures
CS	H.K6	DS2	Exhibit an affinity for the common good and shared humanity, not just with those nearby, but also for those who have gone before and those who will come after.
CS	H.K6	DS3	Demonstrate respect and solicitude to individual differences among students in the classroom and school community.
CS	H.K6	DS4	Discriminate between what is positive in the world with what needs to be transformed and what injustices need to be overcome.
CS	H.K6	DS5	Justify the significance and impact of the Catholic Church throughout history.
CS	H.K6	DS6	Develop a habitual vision of greatness.

History 7-12

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS
IN HISTORY 7-12²⁴

Teachers should guide the students’ work in such a way that they will be able to discover a religious dimension in the world of human history. As a preliminary, they should be encouraged to develop a taste for historical truth, and therefore to realize the need to look critically at texts and curricula which, at times, are imposed by a government or distorted by the ideology of the author…they will see the development of civilizations, and learn about progress…When they are ready to appreciate it, students can be invited to reflect on the fact that this human struggle takes place within the divine history of universal salvation. At this moment, the religious dimension of history begins to shine forth in all its luminous grandeur.
The Religious Dimension of a Catholic School, 1988, # 58-59

			General Standards
CS	H.712	GS1	Describe how history begins and ends in God and how history has a religious dimension.
CS	H.712	GS2	Analyze stories of important Catholic figures and saints who through their actions and examples develop or re-awaken that period’s moral sense.
CS	H.712	GS3	Describe the historical impact of the Catholic Church on human events.
CS	H.712	GS4	Explain how religious and moral knowledge are a requisite for understanding human grandeur and the drama of human activity throughout history.
CS	H.712	GS5	Display personal self-worth and dignity as a human being and as part of God’s ultimate plan of creation.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	H.712	IS1	Describe how God, Himself, through the incarnation, has “sacramentalized” time and humanity.
CS	H.712	IS2	Analyze how God has revealed Himself throughout time and history, including the things we know best and can easily verify.
CS	H.712	IS3	Analyze how life experiences and life choices create a personal history with eternal consequences.
CS	H.712	IS4	Evaluate how history is not a mere chronicle of human events, but rather a moral and meta-physical drama having supreme worth in the eyes of God.
CS	H.712	IS5	Analyze cultures to show how they give expression to the transcendental aspects of life, including reflection on the mystery of the world and the mystery of humanity.
CS	H.712	IS6	Develop an historical perspective and intellectual framework to properly situate each academic discipline, not only in its own developmental timeline, but also within the larger story of historical, cultural, and intellectual development.
CS	H.712	IS7	Identify, from the Catholic perspective, the motivating values, philosophies, and theologies that have informed particular societies (e.g., Mexico, Canada, early colonies in the U.S.).
CS	H.712	IS8	Demonstrate the ways men and societies change and/or persist over time to better understand the human condition.
CS	H.712	IS9	Evaluate how societies provide a sense of coherence and meaning to human life, shaping and forming human culture and events.
CS	H.712	IS10	Analyze great figures and events in history using the systematic frameworks of Western philosophical tradition and Catholic moral norms and virtue to better understand both those people and events.
CS	H.712	IS11	Compare the actions of peoples according to their historical and cultural norms to the expectations of current Catholic moral norms and virtues.
CS	H.712	IS12	Demonstrate how historical events and patterns of change help predict and plan for future events.
CS	H.712	IS13	Describe how the moral qualities of a citizenry naturally give rise to the nature of the government and influence societal outcomes and destinies.
CS	H.712	IS14	Relate how the development of a broader viewpoint of history and events affects individual experiences and deepens a sense of being and the world.
CS	H.712	IS15	Analyze the thoughts and deeds of great men and women of the past.
CS	H.712	IS16	Analyze and exhibit mastery of essential dates, persons, places, and facts, relevant to the Western tradition and the Catholic Church.
CS	H.712	IS17	Examine texts for historical truths, recognizing bias or distortion by the author and overcoming a relativistic viewpoint.
CS	H.712	IS18	Analyze historical events, especially those involving critical human experiences of good and evil, so as to enlarge understanding of self and others.
CS	H.712	IS19	Distinguish the basic elements of Christian social ethics within historical events.
CS	H.712	IS20	Evaluate how Christian social ethics extend to questions of politics, economy, and social institutions and not just personal moral decision-making.
CS	H.712	IS21	Evaluate the concept of subsidiarity and its role in Catholic social doctrine.
CS	H.712	IS22	Analyze the concept of solidarity and describe its effect on a local, regional, and global level.
CS	H.712	IS23	Compare the right to own private property with the universal distribution of goods and the distribution of goods in a socialist society.
CS	H.712	IS24	Summarize the case for the dignity of work and the rights of workers.
CS	H.712	IS25	Examine the Church’s position on freedom and man’s right to participate in the building up of society and contributing to the common good.
CS	H.712	IS26	Articulate the tension and distinction between religious freedom and social cohesion.
CS	H.712	IS27	Identify the dangers of relativism present in the notion that one culture cannot critique another, and that truth is simply culturally created.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	H.712	DS1	Select and describe beautiful artifacts from different times and cultures.
CS	H.712	DS2	Exhibit love for the common good and a shared humanity with those present, those who have gone before, and those who will come after.
CS	H.712	DS3	Evaluate the aesthetics (idea of beauty) of different cultures and times to better appreciate the purpose and power of both cultural and transcendent notions of the beautiful.
CS	H.712	DS4	Share Catholic virtues and values (i.e., prudence and wisdom) gleaned from the study of human history to better evaluate personal behaviors, trends of contemporary society, and prevalent social pressures and norms.
CS	H.712	DS5	Justify how history, as a medium, can assist in recognizing and rejecting contemporary cultural values that threaten human dignity and are contrary to the Gospel message.
CS	H.712	DS6	Demonstrate respect and appreciation for the qualities and characteristics of different cultures in order to pursue peace and understanding, knowledge and truth.

Scientific Topics K-6

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

RELATED TO SCIENTIFIC TOPICS K-6²⁵

By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws. These man must respect as he recognizes the methods proper to every science and technique…Whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, even though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their identity.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, #36

		General Standards
CS	S.K6	GS1	Exhibit care and concern at all stages of life for each human person as an image and likeness of God.
CS	S.K6	GS2	Describe the unity of faith and reason with confidence that there exists no contradiction between the God of nature and the God of faith.
CS	S.K6	GS3	Value the human body as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	S.K6	IS1	Explain what it means to say that God created the world and all matter out of nothing at a certain point in time; how it manifests His wisdom, glory, and purpose; and how He holds everything in existence according to His plan.
CS	S.K6	IS2	Describe the relationships, elements, underlying order, harmony, and meaning in God’s creation.
CS	S.K6	IS3	Explain how creation is an outward sign of God’s love and goodness and, therefore, is “sacramental” in nature.
CS	S.K6	IS4	Give examples of the beauty evident in God’s creation.
CS	S.K6	IS5	Explain the processes of conservation, preservation, overconsumption, and stewardship in relation to caring for that which God has given to sustain and delight us.
CS	S.K6	IS6	Describe God’s relationship with man and nature.
CS	S.K6	IS7	Describe how science and technology should always be at the service of humanity and, ultimately, to God, in harmony with His purposes.
CS	S.K6	IS8	Explain how science properly limits its focus to “how” things physically exist and is not designed to answer issues of meaning, the value of things, or the mysteries of the human person.
CS	S.K6	IS9	Describe how the use of the scientific method to explore and understand nature differs, yet complements, the theological and philosophical questions one asks in order to understand God and His works.
CS	S.K6	IS10	Analyze the false assumption that science can replace faith.
CS	S.K6	IS11	List the basic contributions of significant Catholics to science such as Galileo, Copernicus, Mendel, and others.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	S.K6	DS1	Display a sense of wonder and delight about the natural universe and its beauty.
CS	S.K6	DS2	Share concern and care for the environment as a part of God’s creation.
CS	S.K6	DS3	Accept the premise that nature should not be manipulated simply at man’s will or only viewed as a thing to be used, but that man must cooperate with God’s plan for himself and for nature.
CS	S.K6	DS4	Accept that scientific knowledge is a call to serve and not simply a means to gain power, material prosperity, or success.

Scientific Topics 7-12

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

RELATED TO SCIENTIFIC TOPICS 7-12²⁶

By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws. These man must respect as he recognizes the methods proper to every science and technique…Whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, even though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their identity.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, #36

		General Standards
CS	S.712	GS1	Exhibit a primacy of care and concern at all stages of life for each human person as an image and likeness of God.
CS	S.712	GS2	Explain and promote the unity of faith and reason with confidence that there exists no contradiction between the God of nature and the God of the faith.
CS	S.712	GS3	Value the human body as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
CS	S.712	GS4	Share how the beauty and goodness of God is reflected in nature and the study of the natural sciences.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	S.712	IS1	Articulate how science properly situates itself within other academic disciplines (e.g., history, theology) for correction and completion in order to recognize the limited material explanation of reality to which it is properly attuned.
CS	S.712	IS2	Demonstrate confidence in human reason and in one’s ability to know the truth about God’s creation and the fundamental intelligibility of the world.
CS	S.712	IS3	Analyze how the pursuit of scientific knowledge, for utilitarian purposes alone or for the misguided manipulation of nature, thwarts the pursuit of authentic Truth and the greater glory of God.
CS	S.712	IS4	Relate how the search for truth, even when it concerns a finite reality of the natural world or of man, is never-ending and always points beyond to something higher than the immediate object of study.
CS	S.712	IS5	Explain the processes of conservation, preservation, overconsumption, and stewardship as it relates to creation and to caring for that which God has given to sustain and delight us.
CS	S.712	IS6	Evaluate the relationship between God, man, and nature, and the proper role in the totality of being and creation.
CS	S.712	IS7	Describe humanity’s natural situation in, and dependence upon, physical reality and how man carries out his role as a cooperator with God in the work of creation.
CS	S.712	IS8	Evaluate the errors present in the belief system of scientific naturalism or scientism.²⁷ (which includes materialism²⁸ and reductionism²⁹), which posits that scientific exploration and explanation is the only valid source of meaning.
CS	S.712	IS9	Distinguish the difference between the use of the scientific method and the use of theological inquiry to know and understand God’s creation and universal truths.
CS	S.712	IS10	Articulate the limitations of science (the scientific method and constraints of the physical world) to know and understand God and transcendent reality.
CS	S.712	IS11	Identify key Catholic scientists such as Copernicus, Mendel, DaVinci, Bacon, Pasteur, Volta, St. Albert the Great, and others and the witness and evidence they supply against the false claim that Catholicism is not compatible with science.
CS	S.712	IS12	Analyze and articulate the Church’s approach to the theory of evolution.
CS	S.712	IS13	Relate how the human soul is specifically created by God for each human being, does not evolve from lesser matter, and is not inherited from our parents.
CS	S.712	IS14	Explain how understanding the physiological properties of a human being does not address the existence of the transcendent spirit of the human person (see Appendix E).
CS	S.712	IS15	Explain the supernatural design hypothesis in terms of the Borde-Vilenkin-Guth Proof, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy, and anthropic coincidences (fine tuning of initial conditions and universal constants) (see Appendix E).
CS	S.712	IS16	Articulate the details of the Galileo affair to counter the assumption that the Church is anti-science.
CS	S.712	IS17	Demonstrate an understanding of the moral issues involving in vitro fertilization, human cloning, human genetic manipulation, and human experimentation and what the Church teaches regarding work in these areas.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	S.712	DS1	Display a deep sense of wonder and delight about the natural universe.
CS	S.712	DS2	Share how natural phenomena have more than a utilitarian meaning and purpose and exemplify the handiwork of the Creator.
CS	S.712	DS3	Subscribe to the premise that nature should not be manipulated at will, but should be respected for its natural purpose and end as destined by the creator God.
CS	S.712	DS4	Share concern and care for the environment as part of God’s creation.
CS	S.712	DS5	Adhere to the idea of the simultaneous complexity and simplicity of physical reality.

Mathematics K-6

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

IN MATHEMATICS K-6³⁰

The school considers human knowledge as a truth to be discovered. In the measure in which subjects are taught by someone who knowingly and without restraint seeks the truth, they are to that extent Christian. Discovery and awareness of truth leads man to the discovery of Truth itself. A teacher who is full of Christian wisdom, well prepared in his own subject, does more than convey the sense of what he is teaching to his pupils. Over and above what he says, he guides his pupils beyond his mere words to the heart of total Truth.
The Catholic School, 1977, #41

		General Standards
CS	M.K6	GS1	Demonstrate the mental habits of precise, determined, careful, and accurate questioning, inquiry, and reasoning.
CS	M.K6	GS2	Develop lines of inquiry (as developmentally appropriate) to understand why things are true and why they are false.
CS	M.K6	GS3	Recognize the power of the human mind as both a gift from God and a reflection of Him in whose image and likeness we are made.
CS	M.K6	GS4	Survey the truths about mathematical objects that are interesting in their own right and independent of human opinions.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	M.K6	DS1	Display a sense of wonder about mathematical relationships as well as confidence in mathematical certitude.
CS	M.K6	DS2	Respond to the beauty, harmony, proportion, radiance, and wholeness present in mathematics.
CS	M.K6	DS3	Show interest in the pursuit of understanding for its own sake.
CS	M.K6	DS4	Exhibit joy at solving difficult mathematical problems and operations.
CS	M.K6	DS5	Show interest in how the mental processes evident within the discipline of mathematics (such as order, perseverance, and logical reasoning) help us with the development of the natural virtues (such as self-discipline and fortitude).

Mathematics 7-12

CATHOLIC CURRICULAR STANDARDS AND DISPOSITIONS

IN MATHEMATICS 7-12³¹

The school considers human knowledge as a truth to be discovered. In the measure in which subjects are taught by someone who knowingly and without restraint seeks the truth, they are to that extent Christian. Discovery and awareness of truth leads man to the discovery of Truth itself. A teacher who is full of Christian wisdom, well prepared in his own subject, does more than convey the sense of what he is teaching to his pupils. Over and above what he says, he guides his pupils beyond his mere words to the heart of total Truth.
The Catholic school, 1977, #41

		General Standards
CS	M.712	GS1	Demonstrate the mental habits of precise, determined, careful, and accurate questioning, inquiry, and reasoning in the pursuit of transcendent truths.
CS	M.712	GS2	Develop lines of inquiry to understand why things are true and why they are false.
CS	M.712	GS3	Have faith in the glory and dignity of human reason as both a gift from God and a reflection of Him in whose image and likeness we are made.
CS	M.712	GS4	Explain how mathematics in its reflection of the good, true, and beautiful reveals qualities of being and the presence of God.
			Intellectual Standards
CS	M.712	IS1	Explain the nature of rational discourse and argument and the desirability of precision and deductive certainty which mathematics makes possible and is not possible to the same degree in other disciplines.
CS	M.712	IS2	Demonstrate how sound logical arguments and other processes of mathematics are foundational to its discipline.
CS	M.712	IS3	Recognize how mathematical arguments and processes can be extrapolated to other areas of study, including theology and philosophy.
CS	M.712	IS4	Explain how it is possible to mentally abstract and construct mathematical objects from direct observations of reality and how one’s perception of that reality is important to what one is doing (see Appendix F).
CS	M.712	IS5	Recognize personal bias in inquiry and articulate why inquiry should be undertaken in a fair and independent manner.
CS	M.712	IS6	Evaluate the ongoing nature of mathematical inquiry, its inexhaustibility, and its openness to the infinite.
CS	M.712	IS7	Explain man’s limitations of understanding and uncovering all mathematical knowledge.
CS	M.712	IS8	Explain how fundamental questions of values, common sense, and religious and human truths and experiences are beyond the scope of mathematical inquiry and its syllogisms.
			Dispositional Standards
CS	M.712	DS1	Display a sense of wonder about mathematical relationships, especially mathematical certitude which is independent of human opinion.
CS	M.712	DS2	Share with others the beauty, harmony, proportion, radiance, and wholeness present in mathematics.
CS	M.712	DS3	Advocate for the pursuit of understanding for its own sake and the intrinsic value or discovery of the true and the beautiful often at the requirement of great sacrifice, discipline, and effort.
CS	M.712	DS4	Exhibit appreciation for the ongoing nature of mathematical inquiry.
CS	M.712	DS5	Exhibit habits of thinking quantitatively and in an orderly manner, especially through immersion in mathematical observations found within creation.
CS	M.712	DS6	Propose how mathematical objects or proofs (such as the golden mean, the Fibonacci numbers, the musical scale, and geometric proofs) suggest divine origin.
CS	M.712	DS7	Exhibit appreciation for the process of discovering meanings and truths existing within the solution of the problem and not just arriving at an answer.
CS	M.712	DS8	Exhibit humility at knowing that as a human being man can only grasp a portion of the truths of the universe.
CS	M.712	DS9	Advance an understanding of the ability of the human intellect to know and the desire of the will to want to know more.

Appendix A

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Educating to Truth, Beauty, and Goodness³²

The world, in all its diversity, is eager to be guided towards the great values of mankind, truth, good and beauty; now more than ever…Teaching means to accompany young people in their search for truth and beauty, for what is right and good.
Educating Today and Tomorrow: A Renewing Passion, 2014 ³³

We want our students to maximize their human potential and to both be good and do good in authentic freedom. In order to do this, our students need to be able to know how to wisely and fully apprehend and interrogate all aspects of reality from a solid Christian intellectual tradition. This intellectual tradition involves not just teaching facts and skills, but is also essentially focused on seeking to know the value and nature of things and in appreciating the value of knowledge for its own sake.

One method of assisting students to keep focus on these aspects of Catholic intellectual inquiry is to use the lenses of truth, goodness, and beauty to evaluate a subject under consideration. These three elements are often understood as being among the transcendentals. Transcendentals are the timeless and universal attributes of being.³⁴ They are the properties of all beings. They reflect the divine origin of all things and the unity of all truth and reality in God. These elements are among the deepest realities. They help unite men across time and culture and are often a delight to explore and discuss, because they are substantive to our very nature.

The transcendentals of truth, beauty, and goodness are closely intertwined. Dubay (1999) observed that, “Truth, goodness, and beauty have their being together. By truth we are put in touch with reality, which we find is good for us and beautiful to behold. In our knowing, loving, and delighting the gift of reality appears to us as ‘something infinitely and inexhaustibly valuable and fascinating.’”³⁵ In seeking to discuss one, the others are naturally and organically brought into the conversation.

The following simple definitions and essential questions are provided as a general framework to help facilitate a discussion on any topic in any subject. The goal is not to generate easy questions for easy answers, but to generate foundational questions for deep inquiry into the value and nature of things, to instill a sense of the intrinsic value of knowledge, and to elicit a sense of wonder.

Beauty

Beauty can help evoke wonder and delight, which are foundations of a life of wisdom and inquiry.³⁶ Beauty involves apprehending unity, harmony, proportion, wholeness, and radiance.³⁷ It often manifests itself in simplicity and purity, especially in math and science.³⁸ Often beauty has a type of pre-rational (striking) force upon the soul, for instance when one witnesses a spectacular sunset or the face of one’s beloved. Beauty can be understood as a type of inner radiance or shine coming from a thing that is well-ordered to its state of being or is true to its nature or form.³⁹

Beauty pleases not only the eye or ear, but also the intellect in a celebration of the integrity of our body and soul. It can be seen as a sign of God’s goodness, benevolence and graciousness, of both His presence and His transcendence in the world.⁴⁰ It can serve as re-enchantment with the cosmos and all reality⁴¹ and assist in moving our students to a rich and deep contemplative beholding of the real.⁴²

Some essential questions related to beauty:

Is “X” beautiful? How so? Why not?
Which of these (i.e., poems, experiments, proofs, theories, people, functions, concepts) is more beautiful and why? Why might others have thought this beautiful?
How does this person/thing attract? Is this person using their God-given gifts to attract in a way that pleases God and draws others closer to God? What can happen when beauty is not used for the glory of God?
What is delightful, wondrous about this person/thing?
How does this shine? Radiate?
How is faithfulness to form or nature powerfully evident here?
What does this reveal about the nature of what is seen?
Where is there unity and wholeness here?
Where is there proportion and harmony here?
How does this reveal God’s graciousness, presence, and transcendence?
What does my response to this reveal about me?
Is this also Good? Is this also True?

Goodness

When we explore issues of goodness with our students, we are fundamentally asking them to consider questions of how well someone or something fulfills its purpose. Goodness is understood as the perfection of being. A thing is good to the degree that it enacts and perfects those powers, activities, and capacities appropriate to its nature and purpose. A good pair of scissors cuts, a good eye has 20/20 vision, and so forth. We have to know a thing’s purpose, nature, or form to engage in an authentic discussion of “The Good.” When we get to questions of what is a good law, a good government, a good father, or a good man, the discussion quickly grows richer, deeper, and more complex.

As Catholic educators, our goal is to help our students to become good persons. Among those qualities we deem good are wisdom, faithfulness, and virtue. Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good.⁴³ We are free to the extent that with the help of others, we have maximized these goods, these proper powers and perfections as man.⁴⁴ Such efforts raise fundamental questions of what it means to be human and our relationships with each other, the created world, and God.

God, through reason and revelation, has not left us blind on these issues, nor has He left us up to our own subjective devices. It is a fundamental responsibility of the Catholic school to teach and pass on this Catholic culture, this Catholic worldview, this cultural patrimony, these insights, and these very fundamental truths about the good and what constitutes the good life.⁴⁵ Particularly, in this and all our efforts as Catholic educators, we build our foundation of the good on Jesus Christ, who is the perfect man, and who fully reveals man to himself.⁴⁶

Some essential questions related to goodness:

What is this thing’s purpose/end? What do we know from our senses and reason? From nature and natural law? What do we know from revelation?
What is this thing’s nature? What do we know from our senses and reason? From nature and natural law? What do we know from revelation?
What perfections are proper to this thing in light of its purpose?
To what degree does the particular instance we are considering possess or lack these perfections?
What, if anything, would make this better?
What would make this worse?
How well does this work? Is “X” a good “Y”? What makes “X” a good “Y”? (e.g., Is Odysseus a good husband? Is the liver we are diagnosing a good liver? Is the theory of relativity a good theory? Is Picasso a good artist?)
How does this measure up in terms of a Catholic worldview and values?
How does this measure up in terms of Catholic morality and virtue?
How does this measure up to God’s plan or expectations of it as revealed in Christ?
Is this also beautiful? Is this also true?

Truth

A simple definition for truth is the mind being in accord with reality.⁴⁷ We seek always to place our students and ourselves in proper relationship with the truth. Nothing we do can ever be opposed to the truth, that is, opposed to reality which has its being in God. Catholics hold that when our senses are in good condition and functioning properly under normal circumstances, and when our reason is functioning honestly and clearly, we can come to know reality and have the ability to make true judgments about reality. Through study, reflection, experimentation, argument and discussion, we believe that an object under discussion may manifest itself in its various relations, either directly or indirectly, to the mind.⁴⁸

We believe that Man tends by nature toward the truth. Even though due to our fallen nature we may sometimes seek to ignore or obfuscate the truth, we are nonetheless obliged to honor and bear witness to it in its fullness. We are bound to adhere to the truth once we come to know it and direct our whole life in accordance with the demands of truth.⁴⁹ As Catholics, we believe that reason, revelation, and science will never be in ultimate conflict, as the same God created them all.⁵⁰ We oppose scientism which without evidence makes the metaphysical claim that only what can be measured and subject to physical science can be true. We oppose relativism, not only because its central dictum “there is no truth” is self-contradicting, but also because in removing objective truths from any analysis, this also removes the possibility of gauging human progress, destroys the basis for human dignity, and disables the ability to make important moral distinctions such as the desirability of tolerance⁵¹ and wisdom of pursuing truth, beauty, and goodness as opposed to their opposites of error, ugliness, and sin.

Some essential questions related to truth:

Is it true?
Is our mind/concept in accord with reality?
Are we looking at this clearly and with our senses and reason properly attuned?
Is the thinking rational and logical?
Is the information and reasoning clear and precise?
Is the approach fair and balanced?
How does this square with what we know from revelation? If there is a disconnect, where further shall we explore?
On what intellectual, moral, or intuitive principle are we basing this?
Can the knowledge or situation under consideration be integrated with or expanded by the knowledge from another academic discipline?
Now that we know this particular truth about a thing, what other questions does that raise? What more do we want to know?
Is this also beautiful? Is this also good?

Appendix B

Assessing Non-Cognitive Standards

In the Catholic school’s educational project there is no separation between time for learning and time for formation, between acquiring notions and growing in wisdom. The various school subjects do not present only knowledge to be attained, but also values to be acquired and truths to be discovered.
The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium,1997, #14

The virtues, values, truths, and wisdom, which are never separated from instruction in Catholic schools, must not be forgotten or minimized because they are not easily measurable. Our efforts at complete human formation often find us situated into matters of the heart and spirit which do not easily lend themselves to traditional quantitative assessment.⁵² We need not worry about this or apologize for it. We must also avoid the common trap of assuming that only that which can be quantifiably assessed should be taught or only that which is quantifiable is assessable. As Catholic educators, we know many of life’s most important things are invisible to the eye and do not lend themselves to the scientist’s tools of measurement. This does not prevent us from teaching the things that matter most.

Values, beliefs, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and virtues have always been taught, for the most part implicitly, in Catholic schools. It is important to be explicit about all that is implicit in our instructional efforts and their nature so that we do not lose touch with them or allow them to be sidelined by a culture of constant assessment. We must plan for the un-planned and never hesitate to grab a teachable moment, even though it deviates from a lesson plan or state standard. Formal lesson plans with objectives stating “Students will internalize aspects of our Catholic cultural heritage” or “Students will value the sacraments as outward signs of God’s inner grace” are not typically required or appropriate. These affective⁵³ dispositions are, for the most part, taught by the example given by others (especially as modeled by the teacher) or developed through classroom discussions and firsthand interactions with materials, problems, and experiences. Growth in such areas is more often “caught than taught,” and rather than planning for them in discreet experiences, the Catholic teacher must be constantly aware of them so as to integrate them naturally whenever possible and without immediate concern for concrete assessment.

This area of highly personal affective behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs touches close to the heart of the individual, and because of this schools have traditionally shied away from placing numerical values on whether students do or do not possess particular affective qualities. While we are seeing more attempts at this type of measurement in public schools, sometimes measurement of these beliefs, values, and attitudes is not absolutely necessary. Sometimes framing the dispositions as an objective for the classroom teacher so as to provide focus and direction is all that is required. Sometimes it is appropriate to assess the group as a whole, either through observation or an anonymous class survey, in an effort to determine progress on developing dispositions such as: do students “realize a deep sense of wonder and delight about the natural universe,” or do students “recognize and value how literature assists them in interpreting and evaluating all things in a truly Christian spirit”?

Three Methods for Assessing Non-Cognitive Dispositions

When contemplating an assessment, one should always ask: “What is the purpose, use, and measure of this assessment?” “Why is this assessment necessary?” “How will this assessment be used?” and “Is this a proper measure for this type of standard?” These types of questions are always necessary for any assessment, but especially assessments where students’ values and beliefs are the center of attention. When focusing on whether a student possesses a certain attitude, belief, or value, we are entering into an area that is highly personal and might change from day to day. While assessing cognition seems slightly removed from the center of the person, assessing beliefs and values cuts to the heart. It is almost like assessing love. “How much do you love me?” would be the assessment question, but isn’t love in-and-of-itself worthy without measure?

While caution needs to be used when seeking to align assessment to non-cognitive dispositions, it is still possible to design assessments for some of the non-cognitive standards using three primary methods: teacher observations, student-teacher interviews, and student self-reports. Because of the nature of assessing a disposition, it is advisable to use multiple measures to gain a fuller insight into a student’s behaviors and beliefs rather than through the use of only one assessment. Gathering information through the use of multiple types of assessments will result in a better understanding of what the student actually believes and, perhaps, why he or she believes it. Taking multiple measures over a longer period of time can also improve the reliability of the measure and help to confirm or disconfirm the student’s beliefs, values, and attitudes.

Non-cognitive dispositions can be assessed daily through interaction, such as brief or concentrated discussions with and between students, casual teacher observations of student traits or behaviors, or as articulated statements of belief made by the student during classroom exercises. These observations can be gathered informally through an anecdotal running record. Teachers might also record more formal notations of student beliefs, values, and attitudes through the development of a more structured rating scale. Either approach relies upon a solid understanding of the disposition in question.

When targeting a specific affective disposition for formal assessment, teachers first need to think deeply about the quality and characteristics evident for that disposition. Working with other teachers to compile a list of both positive and negative behaviors is the first step toward developing a continuum for observation. With this complete, a scale or frequency checklist can be created to provide reliability and guidance when observing students.

For example, a teacher might like to note the developing disposition of how well her students “exhibit a primacy of care and concern for each human person at all stages of life and as images and likenesses of God.” The teacher would first think about what qualities and characteristics are evident in a student who “exhibits a primacy of care and concern for each human person…” and begin to list these characteristics. Consultation with other educational experts about these characteristics helps validate the behaviors or lack thereof. The teacher would next create either a rating scale or frequency checklist as illustrated below using the behaviors as the criteria of measurement.

Rating Scale

Behavior	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Most of the Time	Almost Always
Helps others in need without being asked
Looks for ways of making life easier for others.

Frequency Checklist

Number of events	Behavior
	Helps others in need without being asked.
	Looks for ways of making life easier for others.

Most Catholic schoolteachers are familiar with the National Catholic Educational Association’s ACRE exam,⁵⁵ becomes a living mirror, in whom every individual in the educational community will see reflected an image of one inspired by the Gospel (#52).

Part III discusses the many dimensions of necessary formation for Catholic schoolteachers, and Part IV addresses the types and kinds of ecclesial and institutional support needed and available for lay teachers in Catholic schools whose work in education is part of the specific mission of the Church. That work includes

cultivating in student the intellectual, creative, and aesthetic faculties of the human person; to develop in them the ability to make correct use of their judgement, will, and affectivity; to promote in them a sense of values; to encourage just attitudes and prudent behavior; to introduce them to the cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations; to prepare them for professional life, and to encourage the friendly interchange among students of diverse cultures and backgrounds that will lead to mutual understanding (#12).

Canon Law Society of America. (1983). Code of canon law. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2N.HTM

Book III, Title III, Canons 793-806 are particular to grade schools operating under an ecclesial authority, independent or private schools using a Catholic faith-based curriculum, and parents.

Can. 795. Education must pay regard to the formation of the whole person, so that all may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society. Children and young persons are therefore to be cared for in such a way that their physical, moral and intellectual talents may develop in a harmonious manner, so that they may attain a greater sense of responsibility and a right use of freedom, and be formed to take an active part in social life.

Can. 803 §2. Instruction and education in a Catholic school must be based on the principles of Catholic doctrine, and the teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness of life.

Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education. (1988). The religious dimension of education in a Catholic school. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc _doc_19880407_catholic-school_en.html

This is the third of a trilogy of documents issued by the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education on Catholic education following the promulgation of Gravissimum Educationis in 1965. (The trilogy began with The Catholic School in 1977 and Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith in 1982.) This document offers general guidelines regarding the educational climate of a Catholic school which includes the building up of a school culture animated by faith. Catholic schools should not be seen as institutions, but as communities and extensions of family life, especially for elementary school students. The document discusses the complementary role of harmonious spiritual and academic formation of the students and again focuses upon the school climate to impress upon the reader that

strong determination is needed to do everything possible to eliminate conditions which threaten the health of the school climate. Some examples of potential problems are these: the educational goals are either not defined or are defined badly; those responsible for the school are not sufficiently trained; concern for academic achievement is excessive; relations between teachers and students are cold and impersonal; teachers are antagonistic toward one another; discipline is imposed from on high without any participation or cooperation from the students; relationships with families are formal or even strained, and families are not involved in helping to determine the educational goals; some within the school community are giving a negative witness; individuals are unwilling to work together for the common good; the school is isolated from the local Church; there is no interest in or concern for the problems of society; religious instruction is ‘routine’ (#104).

Discussion regarding the teaching of religion and the importance of catechesis of those receptive to the Christian message of salvation is presented with suggestions for methodology and to look for opportunities of “pre-evangelization: to the development of a religious sense of life” (#108), the “why,” “what,” and “how” of a culture purports a religious and ethical dimension. Frequent reference to Christ and God, the Father, as well as frequent prayer create a culture and climate that is genuinely Catholic.

Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education. (1995). The truth and meaning of human sexuality: Guidelines for education within the family. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_ family_doc_08121995_human-sexuality_en.html

This document from the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education was written for families, but it is applicable for educators and administrators overseeing courses on human sexuality in Catholic schools. As collaborators with parents in the education of their children, educators need to affirm the Church’s position that parents are the primary educators of their children. Included in this document are several quotes from Familiaris Consortio, one of which is, “Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them. In this regard, the Church affirms the law of subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in sex education, by entering into the same spirit that animates the parents.” Also, the end of the document is a set of recommendations for all educators working in this area:

Since each child or young person must be able to live his or her own sexuality in conformity with Christian principles, and hence be able to exercise the virtue of chastity, no educator—not even parents—can interfere with this right to chastity (cf. Matthew 18: 4-7) (#118).
It is recommended that respect be given to the right of the child and the young person to be adequately informed by their own parents on moral and sexual questions in a way that complies with his or her desire to be chaste and to be formed in chastity. This right is further qualified by a child’s stage of development, his or her capacity to integrate moral truth with sexual information, and by respect for his or her innocence and tranquility (#119).
It is recommended that respect be given to the right of the child or young person to withdraw from any form of sexual instruction imparted outside the home. Neither the children nor other members of their family should ever be penalized or discriminated against for this decision (#120).

Congregation for the Clergy. (1997). General directory for catechesis. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html

The document from the Congregation for the Clergy describes the relationship between religious instruction and catechesis, both of which are evident in Catholic schools. Paragraphs 73-75 explain the proper characteristics of religious instruction in schools. Religious instruction is to be scholastic in nature

with the same systematic demands and the same rigour as other disciplines. It must present the Christian message and the Christian event with the same seriousness and the same depth with which other disciplines present their knowledge. It should not be an accessory alongside of these disciplines, but rather it should engage in a necessary inter-disciplinary dialogue. This dialogue should take place above all at that level at which every discipline forms the personality of students. In this way the presentation of the Christian message influences the way in which the origins of the world, the sense of history, the basis of ethical values, the function of religion in culture, the destiny of man and his relationship with nature, are understood. Through inter-disciplinary dialogue religious instruction in schools underpins, activates, develops and completes the educational activity of the school (#73).

Paragraph 259-260 address religious instruction and catechesis within Catholic schools, recalling the emphasis of the Second Vatican Council’s document Gravissimum Educationis on schools as places for evangelization, human formation, and enculturation into the life of Christ.

Congregation for Catholic Education. (1997). The Catholic school on the threshold of the third millennium. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_27041998_school20 00_ en.html

Written as a “state of the union” for Catholic education at the time before the new millennium, the document from the Congregation for Catholic Education highlights the exiting concerns and challenges of Catholic education, the first and foremost as a crisis of values, especially in the prevalence of moral relativism, subjectivism, and nihilism.⁵⁶ Society has turned away from the Christian faith as a “reference point” and “source of light for an effective and convincing interpretation of existence” (#1). Stressing the importance of the Catholic school as a place for courageous renewal with its evangelizing mission, pastoral care for the family and society, and shared responsibility for the “social and cultural development of the different communities and people to which it belongs” (#5), Catholic schools are called to impart a “solid Christian formation” (#8), to offer technical and scientific skills, and above all to focus on the “development of the whole man” (#9).

The document briefly but succinctly mentions the cultural identity of the Catholic school.

From the nature of the Catholic school also stems one of the most significant elements of its educational project: the synthesis between culture and faith. Indeed, knowledge set in the context of faith becomes wisdom and life vision. The endeavor to interweave reason and faith, which has become the heart of individual subjects, makes for unity, articulation and coordination, bringing forth within what is learned in school a Christian vision of the world, of life, of culture and of history. In a Catholic school’s educational project there is no separation between time for learning and time for formation, between acquiring notions and growing in wisdom…All of this demands an atmosphere characterized by the search for truth, in which competent, convinced and coherent educators, teachers of learning and of life, may be a reflection, albeit imperfect but still vivid, of the one Teacher. In this perspective, in the Christian educational project all subjects collaborate, each with its own specific content, to the formation of mature personalities. (#14)

Catholic education’s role in service to society and the local community is discussed with the special role of teachers and their role in students development, “for the teacher does not write on inanimate material, but on the very spirits of human beings” (#19).

National Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2005). National directory for catechesis. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

While not a Catholic school document, per se, the directory for catechesis from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops insists on the role of the Catholic school as a center for evangelization and catechesis, stating “its catechetical program is essential to is distinctly Catholic identity and character” (p.231). It includes an important section on the hiring of the Catholic school principal (Section 9a) as well as the role Catholic schoolteachers play as models and witness of the faith as they act to form students in what it means to live life as a Christian.

All teachers in Catholic schools share in the catechetical ministry. ‘All members of the faculty, at least by their example, are an integral part of the process of religious education… Teachers’ life style and character are as important as their professional credentials’. Their daily witness to the meaning of mature faith and Christian living has a profound effect on the education and formation of their students (p. 233).

This witness is so important, the directory goes on to say, “While some situations might entail compelling reasons for members of another faith tradition to teach in a Catholic school, as much as possible, all teachers in a Catholic school should be practicing Catholics” (p. 233).

Section 61.4b states that religion programs in Catholic schools should be in harmony with the catechetical efforts of local parishes and diocesan catechetical priorities and that Catholic schools should be affordable, accessible, and open to all.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2005). Renewing our commitment to Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the third millennium. Retrieved from http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catholic-education/upload/renewing-our-commitment-2005.pdf

This document was developed by the Committee on Education of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to reaffirm commitment to Catholic education and its fourfold purposes of “providing an atmosphere in which the Gospel message is proclaimed, community in Christ is experienced, service to our sisters and brothers is the norm, and thanksgiving and worship of our God is cultivated” (par. 2). The document reiterates the value of Catholic education, citing some of the previous documents released by the Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education, and discusses the importance of Catholic schools especially for the economically poor and minority students in inner-city environments. The document addresses the changing demographics of the Church in America, citing the increase in the Hispanic/Latino population and the need to find and properly train lay administrators for positions in the Catholic school environment, develop new models for economic sustainability of schools, and continue advocacy of Catholic schools in the public policy arena. It recommends meetings across the country to address “critical issues of Catholic identity, cultural diversity, finances, just wages and benefits, academic quality—especially in the area of religious education—alternative governance models, and the marketing of our Catholic schools.”

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2007). Educating together in Catholic schools: A shared mission between consecrated persons and the lay faithful. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_20070908_educare-insieme_en.html

This document from the Congregation for Catholic Education “considers the pastoral aspects regarding cooperation between lay and consecrated persons within the same educational mission. In it, the choice of the lay faithful to live their educational commitment as ‘a personal vocation in the Church, and not simply as… the exercise of a profession’” (#6). Catholic education is discussed from the perspective of communion, defined as union both with God and neighbor. Aspects of communion are further described, and importance is placed upon the Catholic educator as being a person living in communion, with a spirituality of communion, and living for communion with Christ and with others.

As “a consecrated person is called to testify his or her specific vocation to a life of communion in love so as to be in the scholastic community a sign, a memorial and a prophecy of the values of the Gospel, so too a lay educator is required to exercise ‘a specific mission within the Church by living, in faith, a secular vocation in the communitarian structure of the school’” (#15).

Sufficient detail is given to the professional and spiritual formation of those working in Catholic schools. All should continually update methodologies and knowledge of culture, psychology, and pedagogical approaches. Catholic educators must possess a “sensitivity with regard to the person to be educated in order to grasp not only the request for growth in knowledge and skills, but also the need for growth in humanity” (#24).

For this reason, Catholic educators need “a ‘formation of the heart’: they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others”, so that their educational commitment becomes “a consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love (cf. Gal 5:6)”. In fact, even “care for instruction means loving” (Wis 6:17). It is only in this way that they can make their teaching a school of faith, that is to say, a transmission of the Gospel, as required by the educational project of the Catholic school (#25).

Communion not only includes collaboration among colleagues, but also with parents, the local community, and the entire Church.

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2013). Educating to intercultural dialogue in Catholic schools: Living in harmony for a civilization of love. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_20131028_dialogo-interculturale_en.html

Primarily aimed at parents, teachers, and other personnel in Catholic schools, this document from the Congregation for Catholic Education addresses what it sees as a central challenge of education—the acceptance of various cultural expressions among all peoples and the necessity to overcome prejudices and build harmony among cultures without losing one’s own identity and pedagogical vision. Culture is defined as the “particular expression of human beings, their specific way of being and organizing their presence in the world” (Ch. 1, #1). While dialogue and clarity regarding the understanding of other religions is discussed, it is done so with “faithfulness to one’s own Christian identity” (#16). Catholic schools, as institutions of evangelization and enculturation, are seen as places where this intercultural dialogue should take place. In order for this dialogue to be effective, it must be “set-out from a deep-seated knowledge of the specific identity of the various dialogue partners. From this point of view, diversity ceases to be seen as a problem. Instead, a community characterized by pluralism is seen as a resource, a chance for opening up the whole system to all differences of origin, relationship between men and women, social status and educational history” (#27). Culture is discussed from a theological, anthropological, and pedagogical perspective before focus is placed practical applications of the transmission of culture in Catholic schools. “The contribution that Catholicism can make to education and to intercultural dialogue is in their reference to the centrality of the human person, who has his or her constitutive element in relationships with others. Catholic schools have in Jesus Christ the basis of their anthropological and pedagogical paradigm…” (#57).

Of importance to Catholic educators and administrators are the sections titled, “The curriculum as the expression of the school’s identity” (#64-69) and the sections directed toward the formation and profession of teachers and administrators (#76-86). A Catholic school’s programs “can be harmonized with the school’s original mission” (#65), and their curricula should “place on centre-stage both individuals and their search for meaning. This is the reference value, in view of which the various academic disciplines are important resources… From this perspective, what is taught is not neutral, and neither is the way of teaching it” (#65).

Catholic schools are encouraged to promote a wisdom-based society, to go beyond knowledge and educate people to think, evaluating facts in the light of values… In teaching the various academic disciplines, teachers share and promote a methodological viewpoint in which the various branches of knowledge are dynamically correlated, in a wisdom perspective. The epistemological framework of every branch of knowledge has its own identity, both in content and methodology. However, this framework does not relate merely to ‘internal’ questions, touching upon the correct realization of each discipline. Each discipline is not an island inhabited by a form of knowledge that is distinct and ring-fenced; rather, it is in a dynamic relationship with all other forms of knowledge, each of which expresses something about the human person and touches upon some truth. (#66-67) Moreover, it must be pointed out that teaching the Catholic religion in schools has its own aims, different from those of catechesis. In fact, while catechesis promotes personal adherence to Christ and maturing of the Christian life, school teaching gives the students knowledge about Christianity’s identity and the Christian life. Thus, one aims ‘to enlarge the area of our rationality, to reopen it to the larger questions of the truth and the good, to link theology, philosophy and science between them in full respect for the methods proper to them and for their reciprocal autonomy, but also in the awareness of the intrinsic unity that holds them together.’ (#74)

The formation of Catholic school teachers and administrators is discussed as not simply an initial formation, but an initiation into an on-going, professional learning community of scholars who collaborate with each other and integrate their ideas and faith into the subjects they teach. Their camaraderie goes beyond the classroom to a personal level and their responsibilities as teachers does not end when the final bell rings, for “Good teachers know that their responsibilities do not end outside the classroom or school. They know that their responsibilities are also connected with their local area, and are demonstrated by their understanding for today’s social problems…teachers must be able to provide their students with the cultural tools necessary for giving direction to their lives” (#83).

In its conclusion, the document states Catholic schools are to “avoid both fundamentalism and ideas of relativism where everything is the same. Instead, they are encouraged to progress in harmony with the identity they have received from their Gospel inspiration.”

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2015). Educating today and tomorrow: A renewing passion. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_ con_ccatheduc_doc_20140407_ educare-oggi-e-domani_en.html

This post-synodal document from the Congregation for Catholic Education focuses on the need for Catholic education to “convey vital values and principles to younger generations” and to “contribute to building the common good” (Introduction). Both the context and approach of teaching in a Catholic school are described. The context is the collaborative, unified learning and teaching environment where care and concern is exhibited between teachers and students; where a wealth of opportunities exist for students to thrive and develop their talents; where the cognitive, affective, social, professional, ethical and spiritual dimensions of the person are all addressed; and where ideas are respected, dialogue is free-flowing, and a rigorous commitment towards truth is found. The approach to teaching and learning engages one in the pursuit of knowledge and research where “Engagement in knowledge and research cannot be separated from a sense of ethics and transcendence: no real science can disregard ethical consequences and no real science drives us away from transcendence. Science and ethics, science and transcendence are not mutually exclusive, but come together for a greater and better understanding of man and the world” (II, #2). The pedagogy of teaching includes the centrality of the learner within a relationship where teachers are trained and prepared to guide and accompany students toward deeper learning and challenging goals.

Challenges of Catholic education are to “make young people realize the beauty of faith in Jesus Christ and of religious freedom in a multireligious universe. In every environment, whether it is favorable or not, Catholic educators will have to be credible witnesses” (III). The educational vision for Catholic education must sit within a “philosophical anthropology that must also be an anthropology of truth, i.e., a social anthropology whereby man is seen in his relations and way of being; an anthropology of recollection and promise; an anthropology that refers to the cosmos and cares about sustainable development; and, even more, an anthropology that refers to God” (III).

Education is not just knowledge, but also experience: it links together knowledge and action; it works to achieve unity amongst different forms of knowledge and pursues consistency. It encompasses the affective and emotional domains, and is also endowed with an ethical dimension: knowing how to do things and what we want to do, daring to change society and the world, and serving the community. Education is based on participation, shared intelligence and intelligence interdependence; dialogue, self-giving, example, cooperation and reciprocity are also equally important elements (III).

Challenges to Catholic schools include an increased hostility toward private, religious education by local and national governments.

The document addresses Catholic higher education and its challenges and then concludes with a quote from Pope Francis to educators (below) and a questionnaire.

Do not be disheartened in the face of the difficulties that the educational challenge presents. Educating is not a profession but an attitude, a way of being; in order to educate it is necessary to step out of ourselves and be among young people, to accompany them in the stages of their growth and to set ourselves beside them; Give them hope and optimism for their journey in the world. Teach them to see the beauty and goodness of creation and of man who always retains the Creator’s hallmark. But above all with your life be witnesses of what you communicate (Conclusion).

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2017). Educating to fraternal humanism: Building a “civilization of love” fifty years after Populorum progressio. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/ rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20170416_educare-umanesimo-solidale_en.html

This Instruction is another follow-up on the 2015 World Congress Educating today and tomorrow: A renewing passion (29) as well as the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the social encyclical, Populorum progressio. Divided into seven sections, it presents the current state of global affairs as one filled with multiple crises in economic, financial, political, environmental, and social fields. It proposes a “joint development of civic opportunities with an educational plan” (6) to promote cooperation and solidarity in the world instead of marginalization.

Section two provides the document’s thesis that “education should be at the service of a new humanism,” and that education itself needs to be humanized through

…a process in which each person can develop his or her own deep-rooted attitudes and vocation, and thus contribute to his or her vocation within the community. ‘Humanizing education’ means putting the person at the centre of education, in a framework of relationships that make up a living community, which is interdependent and bound to a common destiny. This is fraternal humanism. (8)

Fraternal humanism includes respect for the family as the “first natural society” and a methodology that

does not just provide an educational service, but deals with its results in the overall context of the personal, moral and social abilities of those who participate in the educational process. It does not simply ask the teacher to teach and students to learn, but urges everyone to live, study and act in accordance with the reasons of fraternal humanism. It does not aim to create division and divergence, but rather offers places for meeting and discussion to create valid educational projects. It is an education – at the same time – that is sound and open, that pulls down the walls of exclusivity, promoting the richness and diversity of individual talents and extending the classroom to embrace every corner of social experience in which education can generate solidarity, sharing and communion. (10)

Section three leans heavily on the use of the “grammar of dialogue” (12) to build networks of fraternal humanism which “ha[ve] the weighty responsibility of providing a formation of citizens” (14) who will work with positive ethical values in the public sphere (13). Section four states that “the education to fraternal humanism must start from the certainty of the message of hope contained in the truth of Jesus Christ” (17) and that this is the job of education, to make connections that offer hope to the world. Section five moves toward inclusion of all peoples, not just education for the future and the needs of citizens in that world but establishing a relationship with a community’s past generations. Section six discusses cooperative networks among faculty, schools, universities, research groups, and content areas for the collaboration and sharing of knowledge and services. The last section sums up the “themes and horizons” (31) just explored as a “culture of dialogue, globalizing hope, inclusion and cooperation networks” (31) and encourages everyone to use these tools to engage civic society.

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2019). Male and female he created them: Towards a path of dialogue on the question of gender theory in education. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/ rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20190202_maschio-e-femmina_en.pdf

This document is specifically in response to the push of ‘gender ideology,’ which “leads to educational programmes and legislative enactments that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological difference between male and female” (2). It states that discussion of gender should not be separated from a larger discussion of an “education in the call to love” and the presentation of a “clear and convincing” (30) Christian vision of anthropology. The document warns that traditional notions of marriage and the family are abandoned if gender ideology is accepted (14, 21). The document recommends a process of ‘Listening’ to all sides of the issue to find points of agreement and disagreement, ‘Reasoning’ through rational arguments from biology/physiology/medical science, philosophy, psychology, and theology and ‘Proposing’ acceptable ways for Catholic schools to address the issue. It encourages schools to provide solid teaching in Christian anthropology and human sexuality in conjunction with the family (subsidiarity) and with carefully prepared teachers (47) formed in the moral teachings of the Church and human psychological and physical development (46). The document highlights the importance of all those working in Catholic education, not just teachers, in the Christian formation of students.

School managers, teaching staff and personnel all share the responsibility of both guaranteeing delivery of a high-quality service coherent with the Christian principles that lie at the heart of their educational project, as well as interpreting the challenges of their time while giving daily witness of their understanding, objectivity and prudence. (48)

The document’s preferred “path of dialogue, which involves listening, reasoning and proposing” is put forward as a means of addressing the issue of gender theory in order to bring “positive transformation of concerns and misunderstandings” (52). Schools are to provide a “way of accompanying” (56) that is “discrete and confidential, capable of reaching out to those who are experiencing complex and painful situations” (56).

Every school should therefore make sure it is an environment of trust, calmness and openness, particularly where there are cases that require time and careful discernment. It is essential that the right conditions are created to provide a patient and understanding ear, far removed from any unjust discrimination. (56)

Congregation for Catholic Education. (2022). Instruction on the identity of the Catholic school for a culture of dialogue. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/ rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20220125_istruzione-identita-scuola-cattolica_en.html

This Instruction is a follow-up on the 2015 World Congress Educating today and tomorrow: A renewing passion. It addresses the need for a “clearer awareness and consistency of the Catholic identity of the Church’s educational institutions all over the world” (1). It is written as a “concise and practical tool” to “help clarify certain current issues” and to “prevent conflicts and divisions in the critical area of education” (7). The document addresses Catholic identity from four points: the reductive, the formal, the charismatic, and the narrow; The document encourages Catholic schools to be in “the educational sphere the model of a ‘Church which goes forth’, in dialogue with everyone” (68-72). It emphasizes that everyone in a Catholic school is important to the establishment of the school’s Catholic identity. It details safeguards for teachers to know the mission and catholicity of the school prior to employment. It suggests the development of self-assessments and formation programs detailing expectations of those working in Catholic education. A very specific section on the Bishop’s authority over Catholic schools and the recourse to both civil and canon law available to solve conflicts is emphasized as are the processes of dialogue, subsidiarity, graduality, and proportionality when handling these conflicts.

Code of Canon Law (1983), canon 795; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration on Christian Education Gravissimum Educationis (1965), 2.
Meeting with Catholic Educators: Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI (Washington, D.C., April, 2008).
The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School (1977), 34.
Code of Canon Law, canon 795; Gravissimum Educationis, Introduction; Circular Letter to the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences on Religious Education in Schools (2009), 1.
USCCB, Doctrinal elements of a curriculum framework for the development of catechetical materials for young people of high school age (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2008).
Blessed John Henry Newman. The Idea of a University: Defined and illustrated (London, England: Pickering, 1873).
The Catholic School (1977), 34; The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School (1988), 77, 100; Congregation for Catholic Education, Educating in Intercultural Dialogue in the Catholic school: Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love (2013), 56; National Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Teach as Jesus Did, (Washington, DC: USCCB, 1973), 102.
Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 57.
Gravissimum Educationis, 5; The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith (1982), 12.
Saint Pope John Paul II, Ad limina visit of bishops from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, (May 30, 1998), 2; Gravissimum Educationis, 8; USCCB, Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary & Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2005), excerpts.
The Catholic School, 15, 26, 36; Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 12; The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 108.
The Catholic School, 49: The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 34, 51 & 52.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 49.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 47, 49.
The Catholic School, 36, 47, 49; Gravissimum Educationis, 1, par. 1; USCCB. Seven themes of Catholic social teaching.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 52, 56; The Catholic School, 55.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 52; The Catholic School, 37.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 71, 74-77; The Catholic School, 50.
For instance, religion standards are not included in this compilation, as the USCCB has addressed these in their Curriculum Framework. The reader will, though, find in these standards some natural overlap with the Curriculum Framework, specifically in the areas of science (discussion of creation S.K6. IS1-4 and human dignity S.712.GS3) and history (History begins and ends in God and has a religious dimension H.K6.IS1).
See Appendix C for English Language Arts resources and a recommended reading list for Catholic schools in the United States.
See Appendix C for English Language Arts resources and a recommended reading list for Catholic schools in the United States.
A “person” includes concepts of intelligence and will, freedom and feelings, the capacity to be an active and creative agent, a being endowed with both rights and duties, capable of interpersonal relationships, called to a specific mission in the world.
See Appendix D for History resources.
See Appendix D for History resources.
The topics covered in these standards, while touching upon the natural world, nevertheless transcend the limits of strict scientific inquiry. Thus they may be explored in various disciplines. However, all science teachers in Catholic schools should be conversant in these issues from a Catholic perspective as they may arise in science class. See Appendix E for Science resources.
The topics covered in these standards, while touching upon the natural world, nevertheless transcend the limits of strict scientific inquiry. Thus they may be explored in various disciplines. However, all science teachers in Catholic schools should be conversant in these issues from a Catholic perspective as they may arise in science class. See Appendix E for Science resources.
Scientism – belief that only science can reveal the truth.
Materialism – elements of the visible world are the only things that really exist.
Reductionism –all of reality is reducible to its smallest physical parts.
See Appendix F for mathematics resources.
See Appendix F for Mathematics resources.
An adapted version of this essay appears in After the fall: Catholic education beyond the common core (September 2016) Esolen, A., Guernsey, D., Robbins. J., and Ryan, K. A white paper by The Pioneer Institute and American Principles Project.
Congregation for Catholic Education. (2014). Educating today and tomorrow: A renewing passion. Conclusion.
Harden, J. (1980). Modern Catholic dictionary. New York, NY: Image Books.
Dubay, T. (1999). The evidential power of beauty: Science and theology meet. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 52.
Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1.982b.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, 5,4 and 1q.39.a.8.
Dubay, The evidential power of beauty: Science and theology meet, 24.
Saward, J.(1997). The beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty: Art sanctity and the truth of Catholicism. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 47.
Hart, D. (2003). The beauty of the infinite: The aesthetics of Christian truth. Cambridge, UK: Eerdmann’s Publishing, 17.
Caldecott, S. (2009). Beauty for truth’s sake: The re-enchantment of education. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 17.
Pieper, J. (1998). Leisure and the basis of culture. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 31.
Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance with the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II. (1997). Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.1830.
Hancock, C. (2005). Recovering a Catholic philosophy of elementary education. Mount Pocono, PA: Newman House Press, 86.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 108.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. (1965). Gaudium et Spes, 22.
St. Thomas Aquinas De Veritate, Q.1, A.1-3; cf. Summa Theologiae, Q.16.
For a more complete discussion of this topic see p. 64-70, Recovering a Catholic Philosophy of Elementary Education by Curtis Hancock.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2467.
The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 54.
Beckwith, F. & Koukl, G. (1998). Relativism: Feet firmly planted in midair. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 62-69.
Traditional methods for measuring cognitive (thinking) standards include: selected response items (i.e., multiple-choice, true-false, and matching), constructed responses (i.e., short answer, essay), performance tasks (i.e., products and skills), or simple teacher observations using checklists and scales.
Krathwohl, D., Bloom, B., & Masia, B. (1964). Taxonomy of educational objectives: Book 2 affective domain. New York, NY: Longman, Inc.
Information about this assessment can be found at https://ncea.caltesting.org/about.html.
A public or private school with an educational philosophy compatible with Catholic schools (#47). Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education. (1982). Lay Catholics in schools: Witnesses to faith. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/roman_ curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_19821015_lay-catholics_en.html
“The belief that traditional morals, ideas, beliefs, etc., have no worth or value; a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Table of Contents

Explanation of the Catholic Curriculum Standards

Introduction

English/Language Arts K-6

English/Language Arts 7-12

History K-6

History 7-12

Scientific Topics K-6

Scientific Topics 7-12

Mathematics K-6

Mathematics 7-12

Appendix A