W hen I was growing up in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s, the Catholic identity of the parish elementary school and Catholic high school that I attended was not really given a second thought. Clearly, they were schools with a strong Catholic identity. All the teachers in the parish school and all but one of those who taught me in high school were members of religious congregations. Only Catholic children attended our large parish school and all but a very few students in the high school were Catholic. We learned from the Baltimore Catechism in the elementary school and the daily high school's religion classes were rigorously taught like the other academic subjects. Prayers were said at specific times of the day in the elementary school-at the beginning of the day, before lunch, when we returned from lunch, and at the end of the day-and every class in high school began with a prayer. Liturgical celebrations were frequent and religious symbols abounded. We were challenged to be "soldiers of Christ" and to "spread the good news." Some years ago I was conducting a meeting on Catholic identity with a 188
In order to fulfi ll their role of teaching children to receive Jesus and live out his call to create the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, Catholic schools need to possess and foster the distinctive characteristics of Catholic school identity. This study examined the relationship between Catholic school identity and organizational leadership and the extent to which these predict aspects of school vitality in Catholic elementary schools. The results of the analyses point to the signifi cant predictive relationship of Catholic school identity on each subscale of school vitality and at least one subscale of organizational leadership on three of the four subscales of school vitality. In addition, years of teaching in Catholic schools and percent of Catholic students are signifi cant predictors of Catholic school identity.
The attitudes of bishops and priests toward Catholic schools are critical for the school's success. This article discusses a recent nationwide survey of Catholic clergy that measured the support of bishops and priests for Catholic schools, with a special emphasis on determining factors that affected such support. Overall, a high level of support for Catholic schools is reported by the majority of the clergy surveyed. Factors influencing that support include type and location of ministry, number of years ordained, and one's own Catholic school background.
The relationship of self-concept and locus of control with the achievement of deaf adolescents was examined. The Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, along with modifications of each to compensate for problematic syntax and vocabulary, were administered to 90 deaf adolescents from four residential schools. The achievement data came from standardized test scores in the students' records. Generally, parent hearing status and self-concept were the most important predictors of achievement. An increase in the prediction of achievement for six of nine subtests resulted when the modified forms of the scales were used in place of the original forms. This increase was due particularly to the locus of control variable.
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