From the President’s Desk: Celebrate Catholic Schools

The learning loss experienced by our nation’s students through the pandemic is real, deeply problematic, and widespread. It is, however, not the lived reality for every child across the country. It is also not the way it has to be for children in the future.

Where were the exceptions? For many, it was in Catholic schools.

Where should we look for future success? Wherever parents are choosing the education they believe will best prepare their children for the future.

As we close out School Choice Week and enter Catholic Schools Week, I invite you to join me in celebrating that, against the backdrop of the most significant educational crisis of our generation, Catholic schools and the children they serve have excelled. The teachers and leaders within their walls have met and continue to find ways to meet the individual and unique needs of their students and families.

Ricky Austin is the President of the Aim Higher Foundation.

Despite the current state of K-12 schooling more broadly, I am filled with an immense amount of hope. We have a real recipe for student success in Catholic schools and recent stress tests have only proven how tried and true it is. It’s why the Aim Higher Foundation believes that Catholic schools are such an exceptional choice for families looking for a supportive, academically-focused, and faith-filled school for their children.

In many ways, the recent accomplishments of Catholic schools make the work of those committed to the “Catholic school renaissance” just a little bit easier. By telling the evergreen story of the Catholic school advantage with the fresh, new perspective of the crisis they endured like no other system of schools, we stand ever stronger in our conviction. Catholic schools are a key piece to the educational crisis we face. They must be accessible to all children. And they must be available to all parents who want to send their child to one.

The work to give children and families the opportunity to attend Catholic schools and reap their benefits has an urgency unlike ever before. So as we make our way through both School Choice Week and Catholic Schools Week, I invite you to join me in celebrating the hope Catholic schools create for the children of today and tomorrow.

About the Aim Higher Foundation
The Aim Higher Foundation provides student-based, tuition-assistance scholarships so that more children in the twelve-county Twin Cities metro area can experience the life-changing benefits of a Catholic education. Since 2012, the foundation has awarded more than 14,000 scholarships – worth more than $12.8 million – to children to attend Catholic schools serving K-8 students in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.