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Step 1: Choose a review committee
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Begin to identify the members of the review committee. The committee members
may include the following persons:
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Pastor and/or Associate Pastor
Pastoral Associate
Religious Education Director
Principal
Liturgy/Director
Other Staff
RE Advisory Board Representatives
Parish Pastoral Council Representatives
Parents*
Catechists*
Teachers*
*May represent specific grade levels.
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Create a list of your reviewers using
Form A: Parish Reviewer List.
As you create this list you may wish to have a team review a specific
grade level. Members of the team will review the student text and
teacher/catechist guide.
Step 2: Prepare to review catechetical programs
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Identify published programs that best relate to the mission and catechetical
goals of your parish.
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Choose two or three programs with student text and teacher guides for all
grade levels to examine more closely.
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Complete
Form B: Preparing to Review Catechetical Programs
for each selected program.
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Check to see if the programs have been found to be in conformity with the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
You can do this by going to the website
of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Here the Office for
the Catechism lists
Conformity Listing of Catechetical Texts and Series.
When you are at the Office of the Catechism page, click on "List of
Catechetical Texts in PDF" to open the PDF document.
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Check to see if the program has an imprimatur, the official permission to
print from Church authorities or a censor. The imprimatur represents the
approval by a bishop for the publication of a religious work and is for
material other than that of the teaching Church itself (like council, synod,
or bishop.)
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Request the copies that you will need for review from the selected publishers
or your Diocesan Office or Media Center.
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Prepare copies of
Form C: Catechetical Program Reviewer Worksheet
for committee members.
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Locate copies of any arch/diocesan policies or guidelines that may impact
the selection of catechetical materials.
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Confirm the time, date, and location of the initial meeting with each member.
Step 3: Plan agenda for the committee in-service meeting
(Note: The DRE or Principal normally guides the discussion and overview
of this step. A PowerPoint template
may be downloaded to use for developing your committee presentation and agenda.)
As you prepare for the committee in-service meeting, refer to the
following points for reflection and discussion:
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The mission of this parish and how catechesis is an integral part of the parish mission.
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What the Church says about catechesis. (See the
General Directory for Catechesis
and
Catechism of the Catholic Church)
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The specific goals for catechesis in this parish.
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Provide an overview of the catechetical program(s) that is/are currently
being used in the parish.
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How the current texts and guides meet the catechetical goals.
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What you like about your current texts and guides.
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Areas that need improvement for you to meet your catechetical goals.
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Provide your committee with an explanation of the importance of the
following statements in catechetical materials:
The Conformity Statement with the Catechism of the Catholic Church
and the Imprimatur. (Refer to Step 2 for additional information.)
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Determine how you will walk the reviewers through
Form C: Catechetical Program Review worksheet.
Choose one or two statements from each section (General Overview:
Program, Teacher/Catechist Guide, and Student Text). Have on hand
a set of program materials from a publisher that reviewers may refer
to when responding to the chosen statements. It may be best for the
reviewer to use the text materials that they will be using for the
review at this time.
Step 4: Conduct a committee in-service meeting
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Open the inservice meeting with a prayer.
Adding quiet background music will enhance the reflection.
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Review the meeting agenda with attendees and proceed with in-service
meeting.
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Distribute copies of the program to be reviewed with
Form C: Catechetical Program Reviewer Worksheet
for the assigned reviewer. Each reviewer should receive one
form per program for the texts that they are reviewing.
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Assign a reasonable deadline and encourage your reviewers to
complete this task as quickly as possible. A two-week period
of time is reasonable.
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Determine a date for the final meeting.
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A week after the meeting, remind the committee members to return
the books and reviewer worksheet(s).
Step 5: Tally reviewer comments
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Summarize the responses by the program and by grade level. You
may wish to use
Form D: Program Summary.
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When you have completed the summary for each program, then you can
transfer the Total/Average numbers for each program to
Form E: Summary by Program Comparison.
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If you are a user of Microsoft Excel, you will find an electronic
template for Form D. The information that you add to Form D will
automatically generate Form E. To download the Excel file go to
Form D: Program Summary.
Step 6: Plan for the discernment meeting
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Choose questions for the committee discussion. For example:
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What are the strengths of each program?
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What are the limitations of each program?
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Which program will best meet the catechetical goals of the parish?
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Which program will offer the opportunity to unify catechetical programs?
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Which program best prepares students for participation in parish, liturgy, and life?
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Are catechists provided solid background and easy to use lesson plans that are relational, inspirational, informational, and realistic?
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How is the family provided support in the religious growth and development of their child?
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How are technology and media integrated into the catechetical program?
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Other questions as applicable.
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Confirm with each member the time, date, and location of the discernment meeting.
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In your memo you may wish to include a copy of
Form E: Summary by Program Comparison
for the committee member to review before the meeting. Remind them at the
next meeting that they will be involved in a discussion, which will result
in their making a recommendation to the pastor for a catechetical program
to be used in your parish.
Step 7: Prepare for the Meeting
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Prepare the meeting room in a way that is conducive for shared discussion.
(e.g., chairs in a circle)
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Have one set of each catechetical program (for all grades) that is being
reviewed available for reference.
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On a side table, in a binder, include all forms that have been tallied.
(i.e., Form A: Preparing to Review Catechetical Programs;
Form B: Catechetical Program Reviewer Worksheet Review Instrument;
Form D: Program Summary)
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Prepare a sufficient number of copies of
Form E: Summary by Program Comparison
for members of the committee.
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Have several copies of the Scope & Sequence of each program available
on the side table. The Scope & Sequence provides an overview of the
entire program.
Step 8: Conduct the discernment meeting
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Open the meeting with a prayer.
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Review the meeting agenda and give a brief overview of the discussion questions.
The primary goal of this meeting is to share the insights gained from the reviewers
so that all reviewers have a full understanding and overview of each
catechetical program.
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If the participants did not bring their copy of
Form E: Summary by Program Comparison
to the meeting, have copies available to distribute at the beginning of the
meeting. The summary of this form offers an indication of the average ratings
of all reviewers. It may be helpful to ask reviewers to interpret the ratings
that are listed here. For example, Program A-Program Total Number of Points
may be - 108 and Program B - Program Total Number of Points may be 142.
These averages indicate that reviewers perceive that one program has more
strengths than another does. In the large group discussion, it is important
to identify the specific strengths and limitations of each series. It is
important that the discernment discussion be facilitated so that all reviewers
will have a full understanding of the nuances of each series. Remember that
time commitments may allow a reviewer to review one grade level. The
challenge is to engage this reviewer in a conversation in order to
enlarge their personal perception. The gift of this discussion is
that each reviewer has the opportunity to share his or her wisdom and
to listen to the wisdom of all reviewers so that they will be able to
determine what series will best serve the catechetical mission of their parish.
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Remember to assign two or three note takers who are then responsible to
summarize the large group discussion. It will be important to have these
note takers share the group insights from time to time.
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Remember that the average scores of Form E are only indicators. What is
key in the process is to interpret the meaning that is underneath the
numbers so that all members of the committee have a broad understanding
of each program.
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After the discussions, it is time to determine which program will serve
your parish/school religious education program for the next three to five
years. You will want to aim for a consensus of agreement. One way that you
can quickly test if the group has formed a consensus is to have three large
newsprint sheets prepared with the Program Title and Copyright printed at
the top of the sheet. Tape these sheets to a wall and have markers available
for the committee members to register their preference score of a "3"
(Highly Supportive) a "2" (Moderately Supportive) or "1" (Supportive)
or a "0" (Not Supportive) for each series. Each reviewer may only use their
3 ranking once, their 2 ranking once, and so forth.
After all committee members have indicated their preference, add all the
preference scores and divide by the number of reviewers. (For example if
10 reviewers indicated the following preference scores: 3+2+3+3+3+3+3+3+2+3.
Your total preference score is: 28/10 = 2.8)
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When you have a score that ranges from 3.0 - 2.8, this indicates a high
preference of the group for a specific program.
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When you have a score that ranges from 2.7 - 1.8, this indicates a moderate
preference of the group. This also means that there is not strong support
for the program.
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When you have a score that ranges from 1.7 - 0, this indicates little or no
preference for a program.
If you have a situation where you do not immediately reach a high preference,
drop the program with the lowest preference score. Then invite the reviewers
to comment on why they assigned the program rating they did the first time to
the remaining programs.
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After all have contributed to the discussion, prepare new sheets for the
remaining programs. Invite the reviewers to indicate their preference by
using a 3-2-1-0 preference rating as before. Repeat the scoring as before.
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When you have reached a consensus, you are ready to make a formal
recommendation to your pastor. Together, outline the key reasons for
the choice.
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