A workshop in Helena on Thursday, Oct. 15, drew 100 teachers from Catholic schools, within the Diocese of Helena, for a day of professional development.

“This is the first time in Montana where Catholic schools from different districts have coordinated the use of their federal Title II dollars to subsidize a professional-development day,” said Patrick Haggarty, Ed.D., diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools. The U.S. Department of Education says the Title II program is intended to “increase academic achievement by improving teacher and principal quality.”

Haggarty said the limited funds that individual Catholic schools receive through the federal program make getting maximum impact from the dollars difficult if they are spent by each school, rather than in a coordinated way.

“When we coordinate our funds, it provides our schools with the ability to ensure high-quality, researched-based, professional development that will apply directly to improved student learning,” he said.

The workshop was designed for teachers with varying levels of experience, some having more than 20 years in the classroom and others fewer than five. Haggarty explained that a survey conducted through his office indicated that the diocese’s Catholic schools have a wide range of experience levels among their faculty.

“We sought professional development opportunities that would address a unified teaching and instruction program related to the core academic areas of instruction,” Haggarty said. He said that his office chose Catapult Learning Company to conduct the professional development training after consulting with other dioceses in the region.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 25, No. 10, October 16, 2009.