Catholic Education Research Initiative
Catholic Education Research Initiative
Catholic schools combine high-quality instruction and faith formation with a formative education, going beyond subject-matter learning to foster character development in children and develop ethical citizens.
In recent decades, however, Catholic schools have faced substantial challenges, including the transition to a lay teaching force, budget pressures, shrinking enrollment, and the closure of many schools. In order to enrich the lives of their students, Catholic schools need additional resources and improved governance models in addition to high-quality educators and leaders who can recruit, retain, and deliver services to an increasingly diverse student population.
At Boston College’s Lynch School, we strive to contribute to the rejuvenation of Catholic schooling. Our faculty conduct high-quality research, educate excellent teachers and school leaders, and partner with educational and organizational networks. Our Catholic Education Research Initiative focuses on finding problem-based solutions to the challenges that educators in Catholic schools face.
Our goal is to conduct rigorous research in Catholic schools to better understand the impact and effectiveness on students and educators. We are building a network across Boston College to coordinate efforts across schools and departments, build on strengths and expertise, and connect Catholic education experts throughout campus.
The Catholic Education Research Initiative offers a year-long fellowship to build a network for Catholic Ed leadership and coordinate efforts across departments and communities in Boston College and beyond. We are actively recruiting students to join our team and work together in various research efforts.
Research opportunities include, but are not limited to:
- Understanding the Catholic Educator Pipeline
- Studying commonalities and differences between charter and Catholic schools
- Comparing funding flow and budgets in public and Catholic schools
- Examining the Catholic school student populations
- Examining the impact of a whole person education on children’s development
Boston College is home to many centers, institutes, and programs focused on Catholic education, including:
Contact Us
Director, Catholic Education Research Initiative
Professor, Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics and Assessment
Research Spotlight
Charter Schools' Impact on Catholic School Enrollment
Since the beginning of the charter school explosion in the late 1990s, denizens of the policy world have speculated that the birth of a new educational model could escalate the decades-long decline in Catholic schooling. While increasing secularization has likely driven much of the fall in parochial enrollments, the more recent emergence of free, easily accessible schools of choice in virtually every major American city seemed like the equivalent of throwing an anvil to a drowning man.
In a paper released in August, Boston College professor Shaun Dougherty offered persuasive evidence that charter expansion had indeed come at the expense of the Catholic sector. Relying on data collected from over 25,000 K–12 institutions, the study calculated that between 1998 and 2020, an average of 3.5 percent of Catholic school students disenrolled within two years of a charter opening in the vicinity. Given the thin margins in Catholic education, those declines made full-on closures significantly more likely.
