FALL 2020
Notre Dame: The Promise of Student-Centered Excellence
NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL
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Structure was crucial to ND’s success with online learning. While some schools required little to any face time between students and teachers, ND adhered to largely the same classroom schedule already in place.
“Requiring students to log on at a certain time definitely helped with focus and deadlines,” says Cipriano. Attendance and assignment completion rates hovered at a remarkable 95% last semester, a testament to the school’s keen emphasis on each student as an individual.
Attending to students’ social and emotional needs is as important as academics, and faculty were determined to adapt extracurricular and service activities to be Covid-compliant. “Notre Dame’s dedication to the growth of the whole student won’t stop because of our current challenges,” says Cipriano. “When we tell them, ‘our mission is you,’ we mean it, and our commitment to both academic excellence and the development of body and spirit has not been dimmed by the pandemic.”
For the 500 students flooding back to Fairfield’s Notre Dame campus for the first time in six months, the new normal means desks are farther apart, sanitizers and wipes are everywhere, hallways are one way only, and masks are part of the uniform. It was an intense summer of preparation to ensure everyone’s safety, but after a spring semester spent at home, “students were clearly eager to see each other face to face,” says Principal Christopher Cipriano.
This fall, many diocesan schools returned to a five-day, in-class schedule. The decision has proven popular: Transfers to ND are far higher this year than is typical, and the freshman class is one of the largest in years. Most are attracted by the promise of in-class learning instead of the at-home or hybrid approach that other schools have taken. Plus, students and their families value ND’s reputation for small class sizes, student focus, and powerful emphasis on community, as well as the structure inherent in a Catholic school education.
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“Notre Dame’s dedication to the growth of the whole student won’t stop because of our current challenges."
In fact, ND is forging ahead with some new initiatives. One of these is the Learning Academy, a program that allows bright students with mild learning differences the support that a Catholic school is typically unable to offer.
If schools are forced to rewind and shut down again, ND students and faculty will be well prepared.
“Our teachers really did a fantastic job, and I can’t say enough about the way they pivoted to online learning last March,” says Cipriano. “They delivered a curriculum that looked very different than the one they had planned, and they did it in a day and a half.” And if it’s necessary, he has every confidence they’ll do it again.
For more information, visit notredame.org.
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Notre Dame: The Promise of Student-Centered Excellence
