GHR partner, Twin Cities-based St. Jerome Catholic School, provides Pre-K to 8 education to over 200 students, preparing them for the academic, social, and spiritual opportunities and challenges they may face in today's world. With talented, supportive teachers and staff, and a keen eye for data and intentional planning, the school strives for consistent academic growth. In the past five years, the school has welcomed a large community of multi-lingual learners who are part of a Karen refugee community. Word has spread that the school is a safe, nurturing and excellent school home for many recent immigrants from Myanmar and Burma, where children will find their social and emotional needs met. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to virtual instruction, many students at St. Jerome missed significant amounts of instruction time. This has led to observable learning loss, particularly among the many emergent bilingual students still developing their expertise in academic English. In addressing the same, St. Jerome’s principal has identified middle school students as the target population to participate in a new educational model of direct instruction, small group interventions and homework assistance for the next three years in their learning journey. 

With support from GHR for this new model, the school is providing targeted instruction for core subjects, hired an additional English teacher, and hired an intervention specialist who will work directly with students and teachers to monitor student progress and implement changes. “With the small class sizes and a significant amount of 1:1 instruction that has been able to occur, we have seen students go from below to above grade level in their language usage scores. Also, students who are already highly achieving are getting above grade level instruction allowing them to stretch," said Teacher Emma McGlone.

Students are already showing signs of benefiting academically from these interventions – an uplifting sign for the future of this project. A middle school student shared, “We can work at our own pace and we get attention according to what we need, because the teachers know us really well.” 

GHR works to design new and replicable models for high-quality Catholic education. Learn more about this work here. 

From The Star Tribune: 

"For 73 years, St. Pascal school has operated in St. Paul — now the last remaining Catholic grade school on the East Side, where many used to send their graduates off to high school in crowded yellow buses or in cars with tape decks blasting.

Still, its enrollment has fallen, and there have been worries about St. Pascal's future.

But as of this month, the school has new life — thanks to a consortium of schools tailored to urban families in need. St. Pascal is joining Ascension Catholic Academy, a Minneapolis-based group that has provided centralized leadership and other supports to three other Twin Cities Catholic schools since 2016."

Read more. 

From Pioneer Press: 

"Early in the morning in November 2019, Inna Collier Paske, principal of St. Pascal Regional School, had a vision. “God talked to me at that time. He asked me why I work at St. Pascal, and I said it’s because I want to share my faith,” she said.

Her school’s enrollment was dropping fast, and so was financial support from parishioners.

School officials came up with four pillars for the East Side school to live by: “Believe, Learn, Love and Connect.” Students posted strong test scores, even during the coronavirus pandemic.

And earlier this month, the school was welcomed into a consortium that should secure St. Pascal’s future at a time when many Catholic schools have been forced to close.

The consortium, Ascension Catholic Academy, was created in 2016 with major support from the GHR Foundation, founded by commercial real estate developer Gerald Rauenhorst and his wife, Henrietta. The pair, in life and in death, have applied much of their philanthropy to supporting Catholic education.

The foundation, now run by their daughter, Amy Goldman, sought in 2015 to establish a new model for funding Catholic schools."

Read more. 

GHR Foundation’s Catholic Schools Initiative works to close the achievement gap, in part, by incubating new education models. Blended learning, which focuses on several elements including professional development and strengthening leadership capacity, is an approach GHR is currently funding at three Twin Cities Catholic schools. Jane Bona, principal of Immaculate Conception—one of these three schools—was recently honored with an award from National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), recognizing her excellence as a principal. Members of the GHR board visited Jane and Immaculate Conception during a program and results committee meeting in Sept. 2014. 

At the annual NCEA convention in March, Jane will receive the Lead. Learn. Proclaim. award, recognizing excellence and distinguished service in Catholic school education. As new models are adopted, effective school leaders are increasingly necessary. Blended learning requires spaces which encourage dialogue and reflection facilitated by competent leadership. With professional development and culture as two important aspects of the blended learning program, this NCEA recognition is an important indicator of success at Immaculate Conception. 

Immaculate Conception is an excellent example of how GHR is funding blended learning and other innovative approaches in hopes of strengthening urban Catholic schools by fostering healthy school cultures and cultivating strong, caring leaders. To learn more about GHR's Catholic school funding, contact us.

​GHR Foundation's Catholic Schools funding works to ensure the Twin Cities’ urban Catholic schools are faith-filled, academically excellent educational communities that prepare children to be college-ready, productive citizens. One of the key strategies we use to support Catholic schools is testing and incubating new models which will lead to viable and academically excellent schools. Finding new approaches to instruction, student support and governance requires partnership with like-minded, forward-thinking organizations.
 
GHR staff and board members recently attended a convening of the Philanthropy Roundtable Catholic schools working group.  Over two days in Agoura Hills, Calif., more than 20 Catholic school funders met to discuss how working collaboratively on a national scale impacts work on a local level. Members of the GHR team met with key thought leaders from the National Catholic Education Association and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to advocate and discuss partnership.
 
The group split divided into small conversations, tackling issues including the expansion of school network and governance models, accessing performance data and developing talent and leadership.  The GHR team also had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and learn about their new strategies for supporting parental choice efforts.
 
These opportunities for collaboration, partnership and learning are key for the incubation and development of new models. If you are interested in learning more about new approaches to instruction, student support and governance, contact us.

​GHR Foundation's Catholic Schools Initiative works to explore best practices and incubate new models that drive school excellence. Recently, GHR staff traveled to Philadelphia and Camden, N.J. with several Twin Cities education partners to learn more about innovative governance approaches and discuss ongoing collaboration.

The trip was organized by GHR and the Healy Education Foundation, and included representatives from the Schulze Family Foundation, Office of Mission for Catholic Education, the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence, MN Comeback and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School. Participants discussed approaches to governance, finances and fundraising.

Key takeaways included:

• Schools that serve a large number of low-income students benefit most from centralized or regionalized governance
• Governance is key to building community engagement and fundraising, leading toward more stable schools
• State funding remains crucial to bringing models to scale, and there are new approaches to access these resources

​These insights will be valuable as we continue to fund innovative new Catholic school models in the Twin Cities. To learn more about our work to ensure urban Catholic schools in the Twin Cities are faith-filled and academically excellent, contact us.

GHR’s Catholic Schools Initiative works to ensure urban Catholic schools in the Twin Cities are faith-filled, academically excellent educational communities that prepare children to be college-ready, productive citizens.

A recent article in The Catholic Spirit profiles GHR grantee City Connects, which works to connect students with resources to meet their out-of-school needs. The Catholic Spirit pieces examines the successful formula of City Connects and outlines its plan for implementation in a new geographic area.

This fall, GHR is funding the launch of City Connects in seven urban Twin Cities Catholic schools. This innovative program surrounds learners with the services they need to significantly improve student achievement, from tutoring to housing support.

 “We have great teachers and great learning environments, and we have so many resources in the Twin Cities,” said program manager Laurie Acker. “This is going to allow teachers to teach while the site coordinators find resources to help students and families.”

To learn more about partnering with GHR to promote faith-filled, academically excellent Catholic schools, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Catholic Schools funding works to ensure Twin Cities’ urban Catholic schools are faith-filled, academically excellent educational communities that prepare children to be college-ready, productive citizens. GHR has recently been highlighted in the news for our commitment to closing the achievement gap by funding urban Catholic schools.

The Catholic Spirit recently highlighted GHR’s contribution to St. Pascal Baylon Catholic School in St. Paul, Minn., which will help them solidify their future as an anchor of the city’s East Side. St. Pascal plans to implement the STEM learning model, and is a recent recipient of City Connects, an innovative program connecting urban Catholic school students with resources to meet their out-of-school needs. The funding, which is supplemented by the Richard M. Schulze Foundation and the Catholic Community Foundation, will support the needs of students for several years.

For more information about GHR’s funding to Catholic schools, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Catholic Schools funding works with Twin Cities' urban schools to improve literacy, science and math instruction and technology. We fund projects that align assessments with instruction and strengthen fiscal sustainability, while maintaining a strong Catholic identity.

One such project is the recent installation of a new computer lab at Risen Christ Catholic School, intended to strengthen instruction and improve accessibility for MCA testing. This computer lab will improve school excellence in academic quality by investing in technology and providing students with new learning opportunities. 

This technology will allow students to take assessments, leading to continued academic improvement.  Risen Christ—a school chosen to receive the GHR-funded City Connects model—is already high performing, and the new computer lab will help them excel further.

GHR Foundation works to ensure Twin Cities’ urban Catholic schools are faith-filled, academically excellent educational communities that prepare children to be college-ready, productive citizens. To learn more, contact us.