Archdiocesan Catholic school enrollment boost continues after ‘COVID year’

A growing number of students entering Catholic elementary and high schools in 2020-2021 reversed an extended enrollment decline, a feat accomplished even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents seeking safely conducted, in-person instruction for their children are believed to have been a driving force, archdiocesan education leaders say.

Kindergarten through high school enrollment in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis stood at 25,010 total students in 2019-2020, according to the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, as reported in its annual Archdiocesan Schools Report, using a reporting date of Oct. 1 each year. Enrollment grew 4.4% to 26,101 in 2020-2021, and another 3.5% to 27,014 this fall.

Emily Dahdah, director of educational quality and excellence in the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, said the reasons are complex and cannot be pinned to a single cause, such as in-person learning. Catholic schools in the archdiocese provided in-person and hybrid learning last year, while many metro-area public schools continued pandemic-related distance learning.

“But, certainly during the time of uncertainty, Catholic schools have provided, and they continue to provide, parents with that steady partner in the education of their children,” Dahdah said. “And the overwhelming majority of families who choose Catholic schools stay in Catholic education year over year, including those students we first welcomed last year.”

The pandemic appears to have given parents an opportunity to deeply consider the type of education they want for their child, Dahdah said, “and they found a good partner with our Catholic schools.”

The archdiocese has a long history of Catholic education, Dahdah said. In 2019, with the publication of the archdiocese’s Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education, it laid out the local Church’s strategic direction for Catholic education, charting a course for talent management, particularly leadership development; curriculum and assessments; access and sustainability; mission schools; and governance.

“It’s that work that has really helped strengthen the educational quality and excellence in Catholic education at all levels,” she said. “If I look at the data that we’re seeing as the Roadmap becomes (further) implemented, families are more and more recognizing our schools and choosing to want to have them as partners.”

Higher enrollment also points to the extraordinary effort of Catholic school leadership— including principals, pastors and chaplains — to provide a high-quality Catholic education, with Jesus Christ at the center, Dahdah said. “And so, then our Catholic school families … want to continue partnering with Catholic schools in the education of their children,” she said.

Examples of schools increasing enrollment can be found in all corners of the archdiocese, Dahdah said, including St. Hubert in Chanhassen, St. John Paul II in Minneapolis and Holy Family high school in Victoria.

St. Hubert Catholic School, Chanhassen
At St. Hubert, K-8 enrollment in 2019-2020 was 513. It grew by 23 students in 2020-2021 and by another 56 to hit 592 as of Nov. 4. Preschool enrollment, which starts at 16 months, brought an additional 125 children to the school this year.

David Sorkin, head of school, attributed three factors to St. Hubert’s enrollment increases: In-person learning during the pandemic; the closing of Guardian Angels School in Chaska at the end of last school year, which brought 31 students to St. Hubert; and discontent among some parents with the local public school district.

Families are telling their friends they didn’t realize what was missing in their child’s education and their child is happier, he said. And some students from non-Catholic families are asking their parents to take them to church. “We’re seeing kids who are reaching out to say, ‘I’d like to receive my sacraments and families who have reached out to say, ‘Well, we’re kind of inspired by my kid.’ And they’ve started going to church.”

“They’re becoming a whole person,” Sorkin said of the students. “A Catholic education focuses on more than academics. It focuses on the faith life and spiritual dimension of the human person. It focuses on the intellect. But it also focuses on the family and the way that our students are leaders and how they put that knowledge to work in service to God.”

St. John Paul II Catholic School, Minneapolis
Kindergarten through eighth-grade enrollment at St. John Paul II in 2019-2020 was 124. Last year, it grew to 143 and this fall reached 158. When Ascension Catholic Academy formed five years ago — with St. John Paul II joining Ascension Catholic School in north Minneapolis and St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul — enrollment at St. John Paul II was 103, said Principal Tricia Menzhuber.

Because operations such as human resources, finance and development are part of the academy’s centralized operations, Menzhuber said, school staff can prioritize parent and family engagement.

“My staff in the building, we just take care of the people,” she said. “We can focus where we need to focus — on the teachers and the scholars and the families.”

Last year during the pandemic, the school was in-person for kindergarten, first and second grades for the entire year. Other grades switched to virtual learning after Thanksgiving until February. “So, we saw these increases even without in-person learning,” Menzhuber said. School staff conduct exit interviews with parents to learn why they chose the school, what they tell other families about the school, why they are leaving; and offer varying incentives (tuition discount, school sweater, etc.) to school families who refer new families who join the school. Staff members ask the new families why they chose the school.

“As with every school, word of mouth is by far our greatest leverage,” Menzhuber said. “And it’s nice that families are really happy and feel safe here, and they share that.”

Menzhuber said that the school has attracted several families from Ecuador who were
looking for a school where their children can learn English, “but learn it in a way that’s very kind.”

The school’s bilingual staff supports the entire family, she said.

“That’s really where much of the increase has come in the past five years,” she said, with school families telling other families what the school offers to immigrants. Other families choosing St. John Paul II in recent years had children in public, charter or Spanish immersion schools and realized they were not receiving the academic support they needed to learn English and remain at grade level. St. John Paul II has a 100% high school graduation rate, Menzhuber said.

Holy Family Catholic High School, Victoria
Enrollment at Holy Family has grown from 383 in 2019-2020 to 456 in 2020-2021. This fall it reached 525.

Michael Brennan, school president, said the majority of Catholic schools that experienced enrollment increases in 2020-2021 likely wondered if it was “a one and done.” “We didn’t have a crystal ball,” he said, but having 525 students in the building today is significant. “I think it speaks to the bigger story here, which is, I don’t want to give the pandemic all the credit,” he said.

In late winter and early spring last year, Holy Family surveyed families whose children transferred to the school as sophomores, juniors and seniors, and families of freshmen who decided “later in the game (July or August) to come to Holy Family,” Brennan said.

The school learned that in addition to a boost from in-person learning at a time many public-school campuses remained closed, parents had reevaluated their values and the value proposition of Catholic schools, he said.

“We found a place where we feel supported, not just by a school’s administration, not just by teachers, but we’re supported in that proverbial village sense of all the other parents here share the same values,” Brennan said of survey results. “They all look out for our kids collectively.”

Catholic schools have consistently stated their value proposition, he said. “Society is opening its eyes and realizing that, after reflection, that their values are aligning with the values of Catholic schools,” he said.