Our educational mission is to maximize each students’ intellectual potential through rigorous academic standards developing:
- Critical thinking and academic success skills
- Creative problem solving
- Abilities to apply academics in real-life learning
- Each child’s unique talents, interests, and gifts, and give them the confidence to reach higher self-esteem, intellectual risk-taking, and collaboration in a community of peers
ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER CATHOLIC SCHOOLS CURRICULUM GUIDELINES
The primary goal of the program of instruction in the schools of the Archdiocese of Denver is to provide learning experiences which most effectively inculcate worthwhile attitudes and impart the knowledge and skills necessary for the spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical development of the student.
The Office of Catholic Schools provides courses of study/curriculum guides for mandatory use in all Archdiocesan and Parish Catholic schools.
Curriculum evaluation committees consisting of teachers, principals and/or other curriculum experts are charged with the responsibility of assisting the Associate Superintendent in reviewing, revising and developing implementation for individual subject areas of the curriculum. Changes to curriculum areas are made according to a set subject rotation, as determined by the Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Staff Development with the approval of the Superintendent.
OLOL CATHOLIC SCHOOL AND
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
The Office of Catholic Schools has examined the Common Core and, as they have traditionally done, have taken what is best from the Common Core and incorporated it into our curriculum guidelines with input from Catholic school teachers, principals, and the Office of Catholic Schools.
Textbooks are a support for professional teachers, not a curriculum in themselves. Teachers and principals will ensure that the formation of students includes faith formation as well as rigorous academics regardless of the textbooks that are used.
Additional specials offered are Music , PE , Spanish and Art.
BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN
YOUNG MINDS
Studies show that Catholic schools benefit young people in various ways: higher academic achievement among students of similar backgrounds, lower drop-out rates, and higher college enrollment rates. It may seem counterintuitive, but our students score better on standardized test scores precisely because that is not our focus. We work to engage our students as individuals and to make the personal investment necessary for each one of them to reach his or her own potential.
Catholic schools have a lower dropout rate (3.4%) than both public (14.4%) and other private schools (11.9%) (USCCB, 2005).
99% of students who attend Catholic high schools graduate. Of those, 86% attend 4-year colleges (NCEA, quoted by Notre Dame).
92.4% of Catholic high school graduates within the Archdiocese of Denver in 2015-16 went on to enroll in a 4-year college.