Parochial Schools: A Report Card from Notre Dame

Students in Roman Catholic parochial schools are academically ahead of those in public schools—even though their classes are overcrowded, understaffed and lacking many of the teaching amenities that secular education provides. The authors avoid generalizations, but that conclusion is evident in the most exhaustive study to date of the nation's vast Catholic parochial-school system, published last week by the University of Notre Dame. Called Catholic Schools in Action, the 328-page survey, which drew responses from 92% of the nation's Catholic elementary schools and 84% of its high schools, took four years to prepare, and was financed by a $350,000...