Page 16: Integrating Faith and Academics: The Catholic High School Honor Roll

Integrating Faith and Academics: A Report on the CHSHR’s Academic Component

By Dr. Kevin Schmiesing

In 2004, the Acton Institute, a non-profit educational organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan, inaugurated an annual program, the Catholic High School Honor Roll (CHSHR). The program’s goal is to promote excellence in Catholic education by recognizing the top fifty Catholic high schools in the United States.

The Honor Roll’s assessment process is comprised of three dimensions: academics, Catholic identity, and civic education. Animated by the Second Vatican Council’s call for Catholic education to prepare students for both the “earthly city” and the “Kingdom of God,” the Honor Roll requires that applicants demonstrate outstanding commitment to all of these areas.

In his landmark address on Catholic education, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop Michael Miller, insisted, “Catholicism should permeate not just the class period of catechism or religious education, or the school’s pastoral activities, but the entire curriculum.” The CHSHR recognizes the importance of this mark of Catholic education and attempts to measure schools’ success in achieving this aim. While this article will focus on the CHSHR’s academics component, Archbishop Miller’s remarks point to the fact that the various dimensions of Catholic education, though distinct, are ultimately inseparable. Therefore, it is only natural that the discussion will include cross-reference to other portions of the CHSHR evaluation process.

Within the mark of “imbuing Catholicism” throughout the curriculum, Archbishop Miller includes discussion of two subpoints: the “search for wisdom and truth”; and “culture, faith, and life.” Under the latter heading, Miller notes, “Schools prepare students to relate the Catholic Faith to their particular culture and to live that Faith in practice.” These points illustrate the importance of academic excellence in Catholic high schools. To engage the culture, students must be adequately equipped with the necessary intellectual tools. More mundanely, given the competition of free government schools, it is critical for their survival that Catholic schools maintain (or, where necessary, regain) their reputation for outstanding academic performance.

To evaluate schools’ achievement in this area, the CHSHR takes into account the following items: standardized test scores (PSAT or equivalent); number of years of mandatory course work in various subject areas; and Advanced Placement activity (number of course and test pass rates). The CHSHR staff’s constant communication with high school officials ensures that these measures do not become outdated. For example, recognizing that some elite schools are moving away from AP tests to other methods of high-achievement instruction, the CHSHR is developing alternative measures of assessment in that area.