JPGI'S Method

JPGI's Method for Acheiving Mission

JPGI achieves its mission by providing a comprehensive array of services and on-going, hands-on support in the key areas necessary to build and maintain a well-run, mission-driven school. In each of these areas, the Institute accompanies and mentors a school throughout its life cycle.  Year 1 will include a heavy presence of the Institute to help ensure success.  As the years go on, each school will be more and more independent and will contribute its own gifts and talents to the national network of those who are working in this movement.

By retaining the Institute’s services, new schools would become "member schools" of the Institute, thus designating their commitment to be established/renewed in conformity with the vision of the Institute for a Catholic classical school, though they may not have yet reached a stage of maturity to serve as a “partner school.” Partner schools are schools that partner with the Institute (having met a set of qualifying criteria through either the Institutes’ credentialing or accreditation process) to serve as either (or both) (1) lab schools at which teachers and leaders receive hands-on training, mentoring, and the experience of a Catholic classical school and its culture or (2) as different models that families could use as a basis for establishing or renewing a school. Despite slight variations in curriculum, culture or organizational practices among partner schools, partner schools share a set of core principles that member schools must also embody.   

We offer the following services to support the building or renewing of family-initiated Catholic classical schools...

Market Cultivation:  We cultivate relationships in the many great pockets of faithful Catholic families throughout the country.  Where there is a growing homeschool community that wants to cooperate more in the education of their children, there are parents with the right mindset to start a classical independent school.  In other cities, parents or pastors will come to us looking to start a school in their area. The Institute will provide all advertisement materials to attract students and their families. The school will have a minimum of 30 students to open, with the number of grades reflecting the initial needs of the school. We help the school board secure a location for the campus.

Organizational: We help prospective and existing schools determine the best organizational structure, legally and humanly, to achieve the most effective model for their chosen mission and vision. We guide the school in developing its mission and vision and ensuring organizational clarity, commitment, and effectiveness. Such guidance includes advice on selecting board members, drafting by-laws, defining the scope and limit of board functions vis-a-vis school administration, and building board cohesion for maximal organizational impact.      

Instructional Curriculum, Teachers and Leaders:  We guide each school in the assessment, selection and development of a rigorous Catholic classical curriculum that fits the needs and mission of its unique community and enables it to foster a vibrant Catholic culture. Additionally, we help recruit, train, and prepare the faculty for a life-long pursuit of dedicated excellence in the practice of their professional vocation. In collaboration with classical liberal arts Catholic universities, such as the University of Dallas and Benedictine College, we facilitate faculty earning an accredited MA in Catholic Classical Education. 

As with teachers, we identify and train school leaders to guide the school and its community in its mission as a Catholic classical school. For those who aspire to leadership positions and demonstrate potential to do so according to our standardized criteria, we provide an intensive training program. We not only facilitate their academic  formation in partnership with classical liberal arts Catholic universities who offer programs in educational leadership, but provide them with a unique opportunity for hands-on training and personal mentoring at one of our partner schools.   

Our Institute is a hub of the best talent in Catholic classical education that works together to train teachers and administrators throughout the country in a variety of ways.  
We certify teachers and school leadership in the philosophy and method of classical Catholic pedagogy, giving them the confidence to cultivate a robust Catholic culture on their campus.
We offer a lab school experience in which teachers and leaders-in-training can experience the life of one of our model partner campuses in real time and become immersed in its vision as it is lived every day; and

We provide excellent conferences that pull together the best and brightest players in the work of family focused, classical, and Catholic education, all in dialogue with the life and witness of St. John Paul II.

Financial: We assist schools with fundraising and development. We advise on strategy as well as the hiring of well-qualified personnel to direct the school’s fundraising and development efforts. Additionally, we counsel schools in hiring well-qualified personnel to establish and maintain responsible and transparent financial processes. Finally, through funding from the John Paul the Great Foundation, we are able to provide initial funding for operations for the first year, allowing the new school to hire the right talented teachers and administrators. Should capital not be needed from the Institute, then the revenue given back to the Institute will be much less accordingly. If the Institute provided seed capital for the first year of operations, the school will pay an additional 2% of gross revenue until the initial investment is returned. For other services schools would pay a fee to the Institute of up to 5% of gross revenue. 

Cultural: We form the community in our vision of building an authentic Catholic culture through the power of education according to the vision of John Paul the Great.  We help them discern their own vocation to this mission at all levels - the families, the board, the administrators, the teachers, and the students. We guide the school community in developing the practices, events, rituals, and customs that embody and radiate the school community’s mission.

Accreditation/Certification: We provide standards for growth in Catholic identity and a rigorous Catholic classical education and offer support in the relevant domains, such as instruction, leadership, organization and culture, to ensure member schools are accomplishing their mission and realizing their vision. For independent schools outside of an accrediting body, such as a dioceasan education office, we offer third-party authentication to those within the network and beyond that a school is reaching its highest ideals as a Catholic classical school. For all schools, we certify the authenticity of their Catholic identity and fidelity to a Catholic classical pedagogical philosophy.  

Scholarship and Advocacy: In order to advance the efforts of the Institute and the schools it supports, we create meaningful and compelling scholarly and popular multimedia content that educates the nation on the teachings and life of our patron, John Paul II, with respect to many critical issues surrounding family, education and culture. Furthermore, we advocate for laws and public policy that better protects parent’s right to educate their children and be the primary foundation of education in any school environment.