This year National Catholic Schools Week is celebrated from January 29 - February 4, 2012. In its 39th year, the first Catholic Schools Week was celebrated in 1974. CSW always starts on the last Sunday in January.

Catholic Schools week seeks to build community awareness and involvement in Catholic schools throughout our country.

Catholic school elementary and secondary students prepare for a Christian life through the high standards of excellence and quality education found within the Catholic schools of our country. This is the core of what Catholic Schools Week celebrates.

Every year a them is chosen and this year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Academics. Service.” This focuses around three priorities that make Catholic schools stand out from other educational institutions. Faith is taught to students - not only the basics of our Christian faith, but how to establish a relationship with God. Academics in Catholic schools are not only held to a high standard, but assist each student in reaching his or her potential. Service, to give of one's time and to help others, is taught as good citizenship as well as an expression of our faith.

Did You Know?

• The rate of graduation in Catholic high schools is 99.4%. The rate for other religious schools is 98.1 % and non-sectarian schools is 95%.
  
  
• Nearly half of all students in U.S. private schools are enrolled in Catholic schools.
  
  
• The percentage of high schools seniors who graduated from Catholic schools and attend a four-year college is 84.9%, compared to other religious schools 61.3% and other private schools 57.2%.
  
  
• Catholic school staffing has shifted, throughout the years, from primarily religious to primarily lay. In 1950, 90.1% was religious. In 2010, 96.3% was lay.
  
  
• The cost of tuition rarely covers the cost of a Catholic school education. Dioceses, parishes, schools and benefactors make the difference up. A typical elementary Catholic school tuition is $3,383, whereas the actual cost per student is $5,436. A typical secondary Catholic school tuition is $8,787, whereas the actual cost per student is $10,808.

Catholic Schools Week, a joint undertaking of the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), is an activity of the National Marketing Campaign for Catholic Schools (since 1992).

Find a Catholic School in your area: School & Diocesan Locator

Catholic Schools and the Common Good -- Buy from Amazon
The Catholic Youth Bible, Third Edition: New American Bible Translation -- Buy from Amazon

Peace in Christ,
© Melissa Knoblett-Aman