A Catholic 'Teach for America'

When Desmond Shannon was a student at the Gesu School in North Philadelphia, he thought students at that private Catholic elementary school had more homework than their teachers.

Thanks to a new, local program that trains young college graduates to teach at inner-city Catholic schools, Shannon, 22, now knows better.

"I see the other side," said Shannon, who teaches 25 sixth graders at St. Rose of Lima Catholic elementary school in West Philadelphia and spends evenings grading their assignments and writing lesson plans. "Teachers have more homework than students."

After majoring in actuarial science at St. Joseph's University, Shannon expected to be crunching numbers for an insurance company. Instead, he joined 14 other 2010 college grads who signed up to teach at nine Catholic schools in Philadelphia through the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at St. Joseph's.

St. Joseph's launched its version of the University of Notre Dame's successful ACE program in the summer with nearly $1 million in contributions from foundations and donors and support from the University of Pennsylvania.

Notre Dame's program, which was created in 1993-94, aims to provide a cadre of dedicated and academically accomplished young educators for Catholic schools just as Teach for America (TFA) trains teachers for public schools nationwide.

As is the case with Teach for America, ACE recruits high-achieving grads who did not major in education, trains them in summer, provides professional support, and sends them to graduate school so they have master's degrees in education at the end of their two years.

The tight economy and uncertain job prospects for 2010 grads helped St. Joe's fledgling program fill its openings with alums from across the country like Meghan Bliss, who received an undergraduate degree in American studies from Notre Dame.

Although Bliss always had wanted to be a teacher, she said she was really interested in earning her bachelor's degree from Notre Dame's respected program in American studies. The Missouri native applied to ACE in Philadelphia after being put on ACE's waiting list at Notre Dame.

"The Catholic education and community aspects of this program in particular were appealing to me," said Bliss, 22, who teaches third grade at St. Rose of Lima.

"Work needs to be done to improve urban education," she added. "I'm happy to be part of something that can fill that need."