By Marnie McAllister, Record Assistant Editor
As nearly 20,000 students flock to Archdiocese of Louisville Catholic schools for a new year, a few changes are greeting them.
More and more schools have adopted “one-to-one initiatives,” meaning each student is paired with an electronic device, such as a tablet computer or laptop.
In addition, Catholic Charities of Louisville’s popular refugee camp simulation is going to be offered more widely and the curriculum has been fine-tuned.
The Archdiocese of Louisville also has adopted a new safe environment program for students and the archdiocese will implement a new assessment to gauge its religious education curriculum.
Catholic Charities’ refugee simulation has been around for years and many students have already played the part of people seeking refuge in a simulated camp. But Catholic Charities’ staff and archdiocesan educators gathered over the summer to fine-tune that program and give it a new name.
The “Seeking Refuge: Forced to flee” curriculum is now being compiled into a manual that can be used in schools around the archdiocese and in other dioceses.
The program’s basics won’t change though. The simulation groups students into refugee “families” and gives them a scenario — a family of five with medical needs, for example. Then the children visit different stations, usually set up in the school gym, where they receive food, medical attention and other basic necessities.
Leisa Schulz, superintendent of Catholic schools, said the program highlights Catholic social teaching and “cultivates the gift of empathy” in the students. She said it also offers them a “call to action.”
“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said, noting that more schools will have the opportunity to use the program this year. “It’s certainly valuable for students to read about what’s going on, watch on television and the Internet. However, if you can put them in a situation that replicates to a degree what individuals are experiencing, I think they have a much better understanding, a greater insight into what’s going on.
“I think that can serve as a catalyst for children and adults to say, ‘OK. What’s the next step? What can I do to assist that situation?’ ”
she said.
Children in some Archdiocese of Louisville schools, especially the high schools, look a little different these days as they walk down the halls. They’re shedding their backpacks and replacing them with small tablets, such as iPads and Windows-based devices. All of the high schools now either provide tablets to at least some students while others allow students to bring their own devices.
Holy Cross High School adopted tablets this year for its freshmen and sophomore classes and has fully incorporated them into classroom curriculum. All of the students’ textbooks are now in digital format and their school work is virtually paperless.
“There’s definitely a different vibe here,” said principal Danielle Wiegandt. “It makes the school feel more innovative. There are no notebooks, pencils, paper” for the freshmen and sophomores. “They really have nothing in their lockers.”
Wiegandt noted that teachers can monitor the screen of every student’s device in real time during class.
DeSales High School has been using electronic devices in the classroom the longest — its one-to-one program began years ago with laptops. All of the other high schools and many elementary schools have also adopted one-to-one initiatives to varying degrees since then.
The archdiocese is updating its safe environment program in elementary schools this year. In the past, the archdiocese used the “Good Touch, Bad Touch” curriculum. This year, the archdiocese will be using “Speak Up Be Safe,” a program that includes lessons about online safety and cyber bullying.
Schulz said those lessons are becoming more important as younger children are using the Internet. She said that some schools may wait until next year to adopt the new program because there wasn’t much time to prepare.
“Speak Up Be Safe” will be delivered and updated online rather than in paper format, Schulz said.
A testing instrument called ACRE, that’s used by the archdiocese to assess its religious education program, has been updated and will be offered this winter in local schools and parish programs. The instrument, produced by the National Catholic Education Association, is given to students in fifth, eighth and 11th grades.