What is the most important factor in a good Catholic faith formation program for teens? The National Initiative on Adolescent Catechesis recently published an interesting report on adolescents and emerging adults in the Catholic Church. The study is based on the influential study by Dr. Christian Smith known as the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR).
Reviewing the Research
Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Lesson Objectives
In order to expand on a previous post titled “Creating Lesson Objectives,” here is a short introduction to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Many teachers use Bloom’s Taxonomy to select an action verb for lesson objectives. Bloom’s taxonomy categorizes different levels of learning to allow teachers to think about what level they want their students to learn: knowledge,…
How many students are enrolled in Catholic schools?
Enrollment in Catholic schools is dropping in the United States. Newspaper articles across the country frequently site the annual data report put out by the NCEA. The full report, coordinated by Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D., provides information on school enrollment history, staffing data, public and private school comparisons, demographic information, and more. Some highlights from…
Catechizing Hispanic Catholics
To follow-up with the previous post based on the Pew Forum’s “Faith in Flux” piece, I would like to react to another observation made about Catholics in the United States. Although one in ten Americans is a former Catholic, the USCCB was right in pointing out that the Catholic Church has a high retention rate…
Keeping Catholic Kids in the Church
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life hopes to reveal the religious landscape of the United States today. Most recently they released a report, “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” (April 27, 2009) to show that 44% of Americans do not currently belong to their childhood faith. Of these, 10%…
