Most parents with school-age children know about Catholic schools, but they may not always fully appreciate what a Catholic curriculum looks like. It is decidedly not a curriculum one might find in public schools or other private schools, merely with the addition of a religion class. Recognizing that even many schools that purport to be Catholic do not understand what a truly Catholic curriculum is, the Cardinal Newman Society took it upon themselves to develop Catholic Curriculum Standards.
These Catholic Curriculum Standards comprise national standards that support the mission and purpose of the Catholic schools. They take into account the integral approach to education that is a hallmark of Catholic schools. The Catholic Church has thought about this for centuries, and these standards translate these insights into a contemporary curriculum.
What Does the Church Expect from Its Schools
A truly Catholic curriculum should be based on the answers to two fundamental questions: What does the Church expect of its schools, and what sort of academic standards in each discipline might guide a school’s curriculum towards this end. Inquiries into the first question led The Cardinal Newman Society to identify five principles of Catholic identity, including:
Inspired by Divine Mission
Models Christian Communion and Identity
Encounters Christ in Prayer, Scripture, and Sacrament
Integrally Forms the Human Person
Imparts a Christian View on Humanity
The Framework of the Catholic Curriculum
The Catholic Curriculum Standards was created based on guidance from Church documents which emphasize that Catholic education involves the integral formation of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, in light of the individual's end and the benefit of society, seeks to know and understand objective reality, including transcendent Truth, which originates from and ends in God, promotes human virtues and the dignity of the human person as created in the image and likeness of God, encourages a synthesis of life, faith, and culture, and develops a Catholic worldview enabling a student to more deeply incorporate himself into the heart of the Catholic Church.
The Development of the Curriculum
The development of the Catholic Curriculum Standards was influenced by multiple sources. These include Church documents and other scholarly works that are related to Catholic education. The developers also used information from texts articulating the nature of classical education and liberal arts.
The Catholic Curriculum Standards are a resource for teachers to help keep the focus on what separates Catholic elementary and secondary education from mainstream education. This includes an evangelizing mission to ensure students are integrally formed in Christ and move on to transmit a Christian worldview. Reach out to us today to see how we implement the Catholic Curriculum Standards in our school.
