Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle have a long tradition of academic excellence that is firmly rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From preschool through 12th grade, students are prepared for success in college, life, and beyond. Catholic schools are communities where educators and families effectively partner to ensure the development of the “Whole Child”: Mind, Body, and Spirit.
“We need to give a soul to the global world through an intellectual and moral formation that can support the good things that globalization brings and correct the harmful ones.” -Pope Francis, Gravissimum Educationis, 25, June 2018
Vision Statement
Be courageous! All who participate in our Catholic Schools help to discover God’s Kingdom as each responds in relationship to Jesus’ unique call.
Mission Statement
In a spirit of communion, solidarity and subsidiarity, the Office for Catholic Schools provides high quality professional development, resources, and best practices to expand the evangelizing mission of our Church as we help one another form the school leaders God has designed for our time.
Strategic Vision
Throughout the 20-21 school year, we continued to provide our principals with the opportunity to collaborate every week. We have learned in throughout this COVID time, that often wisdom comes to use through the group interactions. Principals learned from our vigilant awareness of all health department regulations and they learned from one another best practices in implementing the recommendations.
As we move into the 21-22 school year, we have grounded ourselves in the Pastoral Plan, aligning all that we do in our schools with the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Education. Our accreditation protocol, our resources and our office support will follow and uphold the national standards.
Four domains guide this work:
- Mission and Catholic Identity: As we uplift and animate the Pastoral Plan, we will review and teach to the Religion Standards, along with deepening awareness of racial justice and cultural diversity in our schools. We also hope to further strengthen the teachers’ ability to serve all learners.
- Governance and Leadership: Our on-going weekly Zoom calls with the principals, along with the planned professional development will assist us in retaining our leaders and recruit new talent to fill the empty positions. We partner with the Fulcrum Foundation in securing university partnerships to offer advanced training for new leaders. Within this area we keep up to date in the need for reliance on clear policy to guide our work.
- Academic Excellence: Through our GRACE teacher leader program, we help our schools address academic issues as we all strive to promote learner growth and confidence. Our work stretches to include our earliest learners at age 3 and walks with them through senior year in high school.
- Operational Vitality: With a focus on budgeting, we hope to deliver training in best practices relative to school finance operations. At the same time, we offer advancement training for our school principals and development directors to increase interest in our Catholic schools and secure Pre-K through 12th grade enrollment.