Mandel Center seminar Monday will look at the exodus of new teachers leaving Catholic schools
Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education
Mandel Center Lunchtime Seminar
Monday, Dec. 14
11 a.m.
Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex, Room 204
On Dec. 14, the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education will welcome Aubrey Scheopner of Boston College’s Center for Catholic Education, who will look at a troubling trend in the Catholic school system: educators who are leaving the profession within their first five years of teaching. Scheopner will discuss findings from her recent study on teacher attrition that combined interviews and statistical analysis to contextualize and compare the experiences of the teachers interviewed with the larger population of early leavers.
"This seminar focuses on trends in retention among Catholic school teachers, which has been a major challenge for Catholic schools in the last few decades,” said Eran Tamir, senior research associate at the Mandel Center. “Dr. Sheopner's research mirrors research we are conducting here at the Mandel Center on similar trends among Jewish day school teachers through the Choosing to Teach Project. Hearing from Dr. Sheopner is a great opportunity to make connections across these two distinct school sectors which serve the Catholic and Jewish communities, in hopes of leading teachers to make a long-term commitment to the profession."
Scheopner recently completed her doctorate in the Curriculum and Instruction Program at Boston College and works as the managing editor of Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice. Her research studies include issues in urban Catholic schools, teacher retention, and teacher professionalism.
This seminar is part of the Mandel Center’s monthly lunchtime series that has previously featured talks from center researchers and representatives from the Cohen Center about their JData.com project, and Sophie Hartounian-Gordon of Northwestern University. More information on these events is available here. The center is planning to continue the series in the spring 2010 semester.
