NEWS RELEASE
The Nation's Report Card Shows
Catholic Schools Excelling Post-pandemic
ALBUQUERQUE – Tuesday, November 1, 2022 – IMMEDIATE RELEASE –The Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is more than pleased to see the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Donna Illerbrun, Superintendent of Catholic Schools said, “The National Report Card shows that even during a pandemic, our teachers showed up and held high expectations for their students. It is with their love and dedication that our schools continued to outperform, even during a pandemic.”
Below is a summary from the National Catholic Educational Association:
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Catholic school students performed at or near the top in reading and math compared to public schools coming out of the pandemic. NAEP released its findings for math and reading for Grades 4 and 8. NAEP is considered the most consistent measure of U.S. student achievement over time and a lens into student success.
As one commentator observed, if Catholic schools were a state, they would be the highest performing state in the country. The data also shows that Catholic schools are near the top in learning outcomes for students receiving free and reduced-price lunch, demonstrating the system’s commitment to underprivileged students. Although Catholic school students experienced a statistically significant five-point drop in Grade 8 math, Catholic school students’ average scores remained 15 points higher than the average scores of their Grade 8 public school peers.
Aside from Catholic schools, other private schools did not meet the minimum standard of responses to be included in the 2022 assessment.
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Holy Ghost Excelling
Holy Ghost believes we should prepare students not just to enter high school, but to be successful when in high school. Public schools talk about students who read or perform math functions on grade level; we like to look at how far above grade level our students perform. If our students do not perform at grade level, we provide several supports and look at how much they are improving (growth) to know students are moving in a positive direction.
For example, this year’s 8th grade class is achieving at the following levels in reading:
74% of students are reading at or above grade level; Albuquerque Public Schools is 35.4%
87.5% of students who have been at Holy Ghost for at least two years are reading at or above grade level.
63% of students are reading at greater than a 10th grade reading level.
It is important to note that students are not even halfway through their 8th grade year yet.
In math, 8th grade students are achieving at the following levels:
68.4% of students are performing at or above grade level; Albuquerque Public Schools is 19.6%
81.25% of students who have been at Holy Ghost for at least two years are performing at or above grade level in math.
58% of students are performing at greater than a 10th grade achievement level.
It is important to note that students are not even halfway through their 8th grade year yet.
For Holy Ghost students who have been at the school for two or more years, they are averaging a one year and one month growth from the May 2022 test to the October 2022 test.
Our data show that we have a challenging curriculum because our students consistently score above grade level and those who do not are growing at a rate higher than one grade per school year.
