Cristo Rey Schools: A Model of 21st-Century Catholic Education by William Donovan and Jeffrey Thielman WHITE PAPER No. 174 | November 2017 PIONEER INSTITUTE Pioneer’s Mission Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government. This paper is a publication of Pioneer Edu- Pioneer Health seeks to refocus the Massachu- cation, which seeks to increase the education setts conversation about health care costs away options available to parents and students, drive from government-imposed interventions, toward system-wide reform, and ensure accountability market-based reforms. Current initiatives include in public education. 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Current initiatives the state builds, manages, repairs and finances its promote market reforms to increase the supply of transportation assets as well as public employee affordable housing, reduce the cost of doing busi- benefit reform. ness, and revitalize urban areas. Pioneer Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization funded through the donations of individuals, foundations and businesses committed to the principles Pioneer espouses. To ensure its independence, Pioneer does not accept government grants. CRISTO REY SCHOOLS: A MODEL OF 21ST-CENTURY CATHOLIC EDUCATION Table of Contents Executive Summary ________________________________ 4 Background ______________________________________ 4 A Cold Reception __________________________________ 8 Background on Cristo Rey in Massachusetts _______________ 8 What can be learned? ______________________________ 9 Market focus is critical _________________________________ 9 Cristo Rey schools think creatively _________________________ 10 Cristo Rey schools have programs to address the challenges of their students ____________________ 11 Faculty and staff are on a mission __________________________ 12 Conclusion_______________________________________ 13 Recommendations: Lessons for other Catholic Schools _______ 14 Clearly define your market ______________________________ 14 Establish your brand _________________________________ 14 Campaign for tax credits _______________________________ 14 Be rigorous but find ways to respond to students who struggle ________ 15 3 CRISTO REY SCHOOLS: A MODEL OF 21ST-CENTURY CATHOLIC EDUCATION Executive Summary Since the mid-1960s Catholic high schools in the United by salaried lay teachers. Expenses related to the clergy abuse States have been separating along different paths based upon crisis forced many schools to close. The Archdiocese of Boston their prospects for survival. The pressures of rising labor costs, ended millions of dollars in annual subsidies to its Catholic shifting demographics and a failing business model have cre- schools. ated a distinct alignment consisting of schools serving top and Cristo Rey schools are returning Catholic education to urban bottom tiers and those catering to a shrinking middle class. areas. In its unique model, students receive a college-prepa- Catholic high schools for upper income students, with tuitions ratory education and participate in a work-study program in often exceeding $20,000 per year, enrollments above 1,000 which they learn employable skills and earn money to help pay students and supportive alumni, are holding steady. A middle for their tuition. Since the first Cristo Rey school was founded class of smaller high schools, with enrollments in the low to in Chicago in 1996, 31 others have opened in 21 states and mid hundreds, serving blue-collar families on tuition-sensitive the District of Columbia, including in Boston and Lawrence, budgets, is being squeezed. MA, with plans to add eight more by 2020. Total enrollment is over 11,500 students and more than 13,000 have graduated.4 Ironically, Catholic high schools serving families at the bottom of the income scale are thriving. Specifically those schools in This paper will examine Cristo Rey schools, why they work, the Chicago-based Cristo Rey Network, which serve low-in- how they work and what parts of their education/business come families in urban areas, are doing what many thought design can be successfully transferred to other Catholic high impossible. Rather than losing students they are adding them. schools. It will look at the Cristo Rey Network, a cooperative Instead of closing schools they are organization formed to standard- opening new ones. And while they Ironically, Catholic high schools ize the Cristo Rey approach, offer aren’t flush with cash, their untradi- serving families at the bottom resources to the individual schools tional business model is better than and help promote the spread of Cris- break-even and provides a pathway to of the income scale are thriving. to Rey schools to cities that can sup- college for families who never envi- Specifically those schools in the port them. sioned it. Chicago-based Cristo Rey Network, Through interviews with founders Cristo Rey schools aren’t solving which serve low-income families in and early backers it will review the the crisis for middle-class Catho- origins of the Cristo Rey method and lic schools. But their ability to serve urban areas, are doing what many how it has been replicated in plac- poor families and still pay the bills is thought impossible. es such as Cristo Rey Boston High inspiring hope that other viable busi- School and Notre Dame Cristo Rey ness models can be found. High School in Lawrence. And it will look to see what lessons can be drawn by other Catholic “Cristo Rey is a model that many schools admire and look high schools wrestling with sliding enrollment and shrinking at,” says Heather Gossart, director of executive mentoring/ income. coaching and senior consultant with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA). “It serves those students who Across the country Catholic high schools have had uneven would not otherwise be able to access Catholic education. It results in attracting new students and bolstering their financ- really does a phenomenal job for what it does.” 1 es. They’ve tried tithing by parishioners, hiring profession- al fundraising firms, diving deep into alumni bases, raising A major factor in the overall enrollment decline in elementary tuitions and recruiting students from China.5 Still the over- and secondary Catholic schools during the past 50 years has all numbers are disappointing. During the past 10 years 100 been the migration of families from urban parish schools to Catholic secondary schools were closed and just 62 opened. Of suburban public education. A national student population that those opened, 18 were Cristo Rey schools.6, 7 exceeded 5.2 million in 1965 was down to about 1.9 million students by 2016.2 Nearly 13,000 Catholic schools operated in the early 1960s. By 2016 that number was down to roughly Background 6,400.3 The roots of the first Cristo Rey school and the Cristo Rey The enrollment decline coincided with rising expenses at movement stretch back to 1993, when members of the Society Catholic schools. Nuns and priests, who essentially acted as of Jesus (the Jesuits) “walked the streets of Chicago’s Pilsen free labor, began leaving religious orders and were replaced neighborhood asking residents how they can best respond to the considerable underserved needs of the Mexican and 4 CRISTO REY SCHOOLS: A MODEL OF 21ST-CENTURY CATHOLIC EDUCATION Latino immigrants pouring into the community,” according month (one day per week, except for one week in which they to Fr. John P. Foley, S.J., founder of the first Cristo Rey high worked two days). Teams of four students shared one 40-hour school.8 That survey, along with an additional feasibility study, per week, entry-level job. They combined that with 15 days of determined that parents wanted a Catholic college preparatory academic classes per month. The Jesuits designed a school with high school. Cristo Rey Jesuit High School opened in August a longer school day and year to ensure students had enough of 1996. time for a college preparatory academic program. According to Fr. Foley, the name “Cristo Rey, which is Span- “When you go to any of our schools and say to the kids ‘What ish for “Christ the King,” was selected for two reasons: it was do you like about our school?’ inevitably it’s the job,” says Fr. appropriate for a high school that would be bi-lingual and Foley.