Benedictine College metro location addresses call for Catholic teacher preparation
Benedictine College has moved its graduate education programs location within Roeland Park from Roe Blvd. to a new location on Mission Road near St. Agnes Church. Benedictine College has leased locations in Roeland Park since 2001 and the new location is at 5130 Mission Road. The college hosts its Master of Arts in School Leadership (MASL) program there. The MASL is a state-approved licensure program for building principals with a specific focus on developing leaders for Catholic schools.
"The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on Catholic colleges and universities to assist in the preparation of Catholic school teachers and administrators through exceptional programs that are both truly Catholic and of the highest academic quality," said Cheryl Reding, director of graduate programs in education for Benedictine College. "Benedictine College answered that call with the design of our Catholic school cohort, and tuition scholarships for Catholic school teachers."
"The new location is on the east side of St. Agnes Elementary School and is already set up as a state-of-the-art classroom," she said. "The St. Agnes location will be dedicated to the development of Catholic school teachers and principals."
Benedictine's graduate education programs offered in the Kansas City metro area are designed to serve teachers in the two area Catholic dioceses.
"More than 20 graduates of our program are serving as school administrators in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, including an associate superintendent, a high school president and more than 18 high school and elementary school principals," Reding said.
The degrees are offered in a cohort model, with students progressing through the programs as a group. In addition to the Catholic cohort in Roeland Park, Benedictine College also offers a public school MASL cohort on its main campus in Atchison, Kan.
"It is such a great experience to participate in Benedictine's Catholic school cohort because of the collaborative work that exists between classmates," said Andy Tylicki, president of St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kan., and a 2007 MASL graduate. "That collaboration continues with the work we do in our Catholic schools on a daily basis. The mission of Catholic schools to pass on the faith to the next generation of Catholics is alive and well in our schools with the Benedictine College program."
Jodie Maddox, principal of the soon-to-be-completed St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School in Lee's Summit, Mo., completed her MASL degree from Benedictine College in 2008.
"The preparation and formation I received through the Benedictine MASL program has been instrumental in my leadership style," she said. "I appreciated its strong focus on servant leadership and community."
She liked the community approach used by Benedictine and said it helped her understand the importance of meeting people where they are, and then intentionally building relationships to help them grow in God's vocation and plan for them.
"The Benedictine MASL program gave each student the time and space needed to explore the many elements of school leadership, while focusing on personal formation and community," Maddox said. "Students were challenged to think not simply as a leader, but as a follower of Christ dedicated to doing whatever necessary to help others know His love for them."
All programs in the Benedictine College Education Department operate under the conceptual framework of "educators as builders of community." The two-year MASL program focuses on the study of leadership theory and methods and includes a practicum in school administration. The college also offers a Master of Arts in Education (M.Ed.), which is taught on the main campus in Atchison. Both programs include flexible scheduling designed for working teachers.
For more information on these graduate programs, contact Reding at (913) 360-7384 or creding@benedictine.edu.
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