Catholic Education Special Interest Group

Members of ND’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), in collaboration with several other universities, have established a Catholic Education Special Interest Group (SIG) in the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The group will convene international meetings of scholars and educators to discuss theoretical and practical aspects of Catholic schools and Catholic education.

Specifically, the group will encourage and support increased collaboration among such scholars while promoting and disseminating new research in the field of Catholic education. It also will host a website and list-serv, publish a quarterly newsletter, and solicit proposals for presentation at the AERA.

According to Rev. Ron Nuzzi, director of Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, which is an extension of ACE, this is an important step in building the field of Catholic educational research. The SIG gives Catholic educational researchers a seat at the table in the world’s largest educational research organization.

Father Nuzzi says the SIG will provide faculty already doing research on Catholic schools, the single largest sector of the private school market, with an academic community capable of merging diverse scholarly disciplines into a national research agenda in Catholic education.