Five

years ago I was

hired by St. Mary's High
School in Lynn, Massachusetts, as a specialist
in professional development, teacher certification and curriculum. St. Mary's is
an urban co-educational secondary
school that provides a college preparatory education to more than
600 young men and women from
several North Shore communities. St.
Dr. Ann McGreevy is director of
professional development at St. Mary's
High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. She
is also a visiting professor in the Graduate School at Salem State College, Salem,
Massachusetts. She is happy to share
information on any of the areas discussed
in this article (amcgreevy@smhlynn.org).
28 Momentum

April /May 2009

Mary's school community has been

in operation for more than 125 years
and originally was supported by two
religious teaching orders, the Sisters
of St. Joseph and the Sisters of Notre
Dame.
There had not been a position like
this one in professional development
previously at the school. The position
emerged as a result of accreditation
reports that recommended immediate attention to these three areas. My
philosophy was to take small steps
with the faculty and with the curriculum as we began to modernize and
standardize curriculum and bring a
new emphasis to professional development.
Although I had been involved previously in similar positions in public
schools and at a Catholic college, a

growing Catholic high school was a

new challenge for me-yet, a welcome one. Principal Carl DiMaiti provided an immediate and enthusiastic
affirmation for these ideas. His thinking was that we try it and then learn
and reshape the model for future use.
It worked!
Research tells us that good schools
and schools that are always improving are places that honor adults and
their learning processes. Roland
Barth, former Harvard educator, suggested that good schools are places of
collegiality when he wrote, "A school
is a place where students discover
and adults rediscover the joys, differences and satisfactions of learning" (1990). That was my vision as
well. I also thought about the Catholic schools that I had attended in

Headmaster Ray Bastarache (standing, left)

and Principal Carl DiMaiti (right) discuss
class assignments in the Connell Library.

the 1960s-schools that were highly

competitive and that enjoyed reputations for rigorous academic programs.
Certainly, professional development
must have been a conscious emphasis
during those years.
In speaking with a Sister of Mercy
who was a teacher and administrator
during those years, she indicated that,
yes, religious faculty members were
called to account through the bishops.
At first, teaching diplomas from the
old Normal Schools were required,
then bachelor's degrees and then
master's degrees as the sisters (and
brothers) moved into high schools
and specific content fields.
There was also a kind of "live in"
collaboration and collegiality related
to teaching and learning as the religious shared their expertise with one
another within communal life.

Important Beginning
Steps
Shortly after my arrival, St. Mary's
High School underwent a governance
transition from a parish school to an
independent Catholic school with a
board of trustees. Dr. Ray Bastarache,
a longtime Lynn educator and administrator, filled the new position of
headmaster. He provided additional
leadership and support for the ideas
and initiatives I proposed. We were
now a team and on our way toward
many interesting and creative accomplishments. The following steps may
be helpful to other Catholic schools as
they move forward in areas of curriculum and professional development.

Mission Integration
The main aspect that distinguishes
Catholic education from other private
schools is the attention to the mission of Catholic education and the
particular charism or heritage of that
school. We started an annual Mission Integration Day that falls each
year on December 8, the Feast of the

Students at St.
Mary's High School
leave at the end of
a day.

"Good schools
and schools that
are always improving are places
that honoradults
and theirlearning
processes.
Immaculate Conception. Our high
school is named in honor of Mary so
this seemed appropriate. We begin
the day with a Mass and community
breakfast and then move into the
lecture hall to hear a visiting lecturer
address some aspect of Catholic education.
In addition, we arrange for Advent
and Lenten reflections for our faculty and staff. Attention to these key
events in our faith tradition provides
ways of honoring and intellectualizing our Catholic faith throughout the
year. Finally, a strong part of our mission integration is the new and beginning teacher orientation seminars
on "Teaching in a Catholic School"
offered monthly by the pastor of St.
Mary's Church, Msgr. Paul Garrity.
These are reflective discussions that
center on readings related to Catholic
education.
Our mission statement hangs on
banners on our school walls and
outside on our building for all to see:

"Love God, Do Your Best, Take Care

of One Another." I thought often of
this statement as I developed a professional development program.

Professional Development

Offerings
One of the first steps was to design
a comprehensive survey of possible
professional development offerings.
We asked the faculty what they believed the needs were at the school.
The major results were topics that
every high school could use-classroom management, differentiated
instruction strategies, writing across
the curriculum and specific content
interests. We honored those needs as
we developed our professional development program.
The administration supported after-school sessions, off-site
conferences (during the day) and the
effort to bring graduate courses to
campus. As an incentive for teachers
to sign up for workshops, we offered

Momentum

April / May 2009

29

Mary Dearborn, religious studies

chairperson, and Pat Andrews, chemistry

teacher, work together at the teacher study
group.

more consistent schedule of departa $250 professional development

ment chair meetings, department
who
teachers
for
year
stipend each
meetings and full-faculty meetings.
accumulated 15 hours of profesAll such gatherings are ways that our
after
workshops
sional development
faculty demonstrate a "voice" in the
school. Teachers were required to
changes and new ideas that are part
workof
the
documentation
in
turn
of our school life.
shops attended along with a brief reflection paper on how their teaching
Teacher Study Group
practice had changed as a result of
This year we are embarking on a
participation. This has worked well.
teacher study group, whose purpose
We also added a significant numis to give teachers the forum and opber of advanced placement courses
portunity to think and talk with each
and an online course. Such offerings require additional
Areas fo
teacher training, and our
ir Professional Development
faculty readily took to
these opportunities.

Teacher Leadership
As a way to develop
teacher leadership and
a "voice" in our teacherleaders, we initiated a
Curriculum Advisory
Committee composed
of representatives from
each content area. This
committee is involved
in
with current issues
teaching and learning
such as honors classes,
summer reading lists and
assessment strategies.
Members of this group
must have taught at least
three years at our school
and be recommended by
their department chairs.
We also developed a
30 Momentum

April/May 2009

other on a sustained and systematic

basis about teaching and learning.
"Teachers teaching teachers" is a
primary goal of such study groups.
Topics that may be included are reviewing curriculum and examining
examples of student work, identifying school culture issues that affect
student achievement and sharing
best practices from varied content
areas. The study groups will include
a conscious effort to discuss how
Catholic teaching on social justice
and human dignity finds its way into
and across the curriculum.
Faculty will develop a shared
sense of ownership and responsibility for future meetings.

Credentialing and certification

Most dioceses and archdioceses
require that teachers become state
certified. Our recommendation from
the accreditation process was no different. I started by holding information sessions after school and at lunch
about certification levels and the state
tests required to advance
up the scale. The administration agreed to
discuss incentives in the
salary scale that would
encourage teachers to
advance to higher certification levels. I invited
the local certification
officer from the nearby
state college to come to
discuss the procedures
for applying for certification. The administration
has agreed to reimburse
faculty for costs incurred
for the state tests, once
they have passed them.
We celebrate the achievements of teachers who
have passed the series of
required tests.

Curriculum
As part of professional development, the

Blending educationalleadership,
technology, and Catholic values
N online program - fosters educational leadership abilities and
emphasizes values essential to Catholic unity and identity within
a school community

Contact:
Sister Patricia Earl, IHM, PhD

summer seminar - provides an opportunity to work with faculty

and fellow students in a two-week session on campus, just
minutes from Washington, DC

financial aid - includes a 50% tuition waiver for current

educators in Catholic schools

For information about the 2009 cohort, visit

www.marymount.edu/cslp

(703) 284-5798

patricia.earl@marymount.edu
administration provided several half
days throughout the year for faculty
to revise their curriculum and align
it to Massachusetts state standards.
I provided a template for the new
curriculum syllabi to all faculty. Departments have used these syllabi
to review the scope and sequence of
their curriculum over the four years
of high school. This project took one
year to complete.
Parent Forums
The professional development
office arranged a series of parent
forums that focus on adolescent faith
formation, the history of Catholic
education, the historical heritage
of our school and new research on
adolescents and learning. My goal
was to have parents connected to
the school in something other than
Booster Club/ sports connections. We
find that our faculty also attend these
forums.

Professional Development and

Institutional Advancement
Over the past five years, I have re-

alized the importance of connecting

professional development with institutional advancement. One world
truly does inform the other. As we
have discovered in our school, there
are donors with specific interests
in curriculum and school life. It is
important for the institutional advancement director to know what
new curriculum and professional
development initiatives are being
discussed and for us to work together on possible grant opportunities.

Culture of

Professionalism and
Continuous Learning
While there are many more steps
to take in the area of professional
development, I feel that significant
progress has been made over the
past few years at our Catholic high
school. We have aimed to develop
a culture of professionalism and
continuous learning. We have tried
to improve. We continue to have
needs, which will inform a new

cycle of professional development.

The next step is for those of us
involved in the professional development of teachers to come together
regionally and nationally so that we
may collaborate readily and share
professional development resources.
Father Joseph O'Keefe, SJ, dean of
the Lynch School of Education at
Boston College, wrote in the November / December 2008 Momentum,
"Change agents in Catholic schools
need the grace of discernment to
distinguish, on the one hand, what
is essential and unchanging, and on
the other hand what must change
and adapt in order to keep the heart
of the enterprise vibrant" (pp. 4-5).
Fostering professional development among teachers is an essential
strategy to build skills for that discernment.
References
Barth, R. (1990). Improving schoolsfrom within:
Teachers, parents and principalscan make a
difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
O'Keefe, J. (2008, November/December). Responding to the changing times of the 21st
century. Momentum, 34 (4). U

Momentum

April/ May 2009

31

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TITLE: Developing a High School Model with Mission and

Grace in Mind
SOURCE: Momentum 40 no2 Ap/My 2009
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