Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Selected Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Institution
St. John's University, School of Education
Abstract
Catholic elementary and middle schools have witnessed numerous changes throughout the years. The current study analyzed the driving forces behind these changes, including a decline in enrollment. This decline may be attributed to a variety of individual forces, including three significant shifts: population shifts in the United States; population shifts in the dioceses of the U.S.; and shifts in religious beliefs and perceptions. These forces were revealed by looking at the demographics, ethnicity, and migration of the general population, the changes in Catholic school population, and perceptions surrounding these beliefs and religion. This research collects, sorts, and analyzes data from the U.S. Census, NCEA , Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious beliefs and practices, CARA, and the Sunday Visitor’s Catholics Almanac through the lens of the business model of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). The findings based on the driving forces included the aging of the White Catholic population and the increase in the Hispanic/Latino population, few of whom currently attend Catholic Schools. The research found a shift in the Catholic population to the Southeast region of the United States where schools are remaining open. Recommendations, which include strategic plans for financing the education for the new wave of Hispanic/Latino Catholic immigrants, were made based on the findings and the analysis of the graphs.
Related Pillar(s)
Study
Recommended Citation
Smith, Denise T., "The Driving Forces behind Changes in Catholic Schools in the Eastern Region of the United States" (2014). Theses & Dissertations: Molloy Faculty. 1.
https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/etd_fac/1
