Get Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools

The era of Catholic schools in America dates to 1884, when the bishops, responding to complaints about Protestant domination of public schools, ordered every parish to build a school. Waves of mostly poor, immigrant children were educated at these schools, which engendered a backlash.

Catholic schools are supported primarily through tuition payments and fundraising, and typically enroll students irrespective of their religious background.

The History of Catholic Education in the United States extends from the early colonial era in Louisiana and Maryland to the parochial school system set up in most parishes in the 19th century, to hundreds of colleges, all down to the present.

The earliest recorded Catholic school in the region, and arguably the oldest Catholic school in the English-speaking colonies, was St. Mary's, founded by the Jesuits about 1640 in Newtown, now in the state of Maryland.

ing to the U.S. Department of Education, Catholic school students consistently score higher on advanced achievement tests, and by eighth grade, they outscore their public school counterparts in mathematics by a full 13 points.

A revered pioneer from the early 1800s is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821), a native of New York who worked in Maryland with the support of Bishop John Carroll (the nation's first and only bishop 1790-1800) to found a teaching order of sisters and establish schools in several Eastern cities.

Founded in 1727 by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula, Ursuline Academy of New Orleans enjoys the distinction of being both the oldest, continuously-operating school for girls and the oldest Catholic school in the United States.

The first Catholic school in America opened in Philadelphia in 1783. Throughout the 19th century, the indispensable efforts of Catholic priests and nuns contributed to the creation of many Catholic schools across America.