“By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them...”
K-12 Religious Education Outcomes
for Catholic Schools
By Region 7 Religious Outcomes Task Force
A companion resource to Creating A Curriculum That Works
by Lorraine A. Ozar, Ph.D.
from the “Introduction”
This document does not constitute a curriculum for religious education...effective curriculum maps the most important connections among learnng outcomes, student assessments, and teaching strategies in ways that teachers can use it to teach specific students. Effective curriculum grows out of expertise in the subject area, knowledge of how learning occurs for students at different developmental stages, and the mission and philosophy of the school. A curriculum that works (helps the students learn what is important) must be developed at the local level because that is the point of impact with real students.
from “Curriculum Framework”
This document provides a framework or set of paramaters within which schools can develop religious education curriculum that works.
from “Outcomes-Centered Curriculum”
“...to create a curriculum that works: (1) define the desired learning, (2) find ways for students to demonstrate that it is happening (assessments) (3) select strategies most likely to promote the desired learning.”
Religious Education Outcomes for
Catholic Students in a Catholic School
Outcomes Statement 1: Read, interpret and apply Scripture to life.
Rationale: Scripture, as a vehicle of revelation, enables Catholics to discover truth about oneself, God, and the world. As a reflection of the community’s experience of God, Scripture gives meaning to prayer, unites values to knowledge and inspires people to hope.
Assessment categories:
• Read and recall Bible stories
• Use historical/critical methods of interpretation
• Locate specific information within the Bible
• Use Scripture for prayer and liturgy
• Transfer ideas from Scripture to daily life.
Outcomes Statement 2: Present a reasoned rationale for being Catholic.
Rationale: For faith to be living, conscious and alive, it is important for students to articulate the reasonableness of faith.
Assessment categories:
• Reflect on the basic need for persons to engage in the quest for the transcendent.
• Recall specific examples of personal conversion.
• Examine reasons for belieivng in God, as a member of the Catholic religion.
• Demonstrate personal synthesis of knowledge and faith.
Outcomes Statement 3: Illustrate basic understanding of Catholic dogma and doctrine in light of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Rationale: Knowledge and understanding of the doctrine and dogma of the Cathoic faith* are an essential foundation for life within the Catholic community.
*The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative statement of the Church’s faith and of Church doctrine. It is the Church’s reference for catechesis.
Assessment categories:
• Recall and explain the Nicene Creed.
• Relate the dogma and doctrine of the Catholic tradition.
• Research and relate Church teachings to current experiences.
Outcomes Statement 4: Demonstrate the importance of Sacraments, with an emphasis on the centrality of the Eucharist, in the life of Catholics.
Rationale: Persons encounter God in the Sacraments. The Sacraments, most centrally the Eucharist, are the sources and strengths of the Catholic community and are essential to the life of the Church.
Assessment categories:
• Explain the meaning of the Sacraments.
• Demonstrate an understanding of and experience Eucharist as central to Catholic life and the symbols of the reign of God.
• Participate in the sacramental life of the community.
• Refer to and reflect upon Scripture texts relating to the Sacraments.
• Analyze, interpret and apply symbols of the Sacraments.
• Trace the historical development of the Sacraments.
Outcomes Statement 5: Make moral decisions consistent with Church teaching.
Rationale: Life decisions consistent with Church teaching provide opportunities for healthy, holy living.
Assessment categories:
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the Commandments and the Beatitudes.
• Examine and explain the Church’s social teachings.
• Use a variety of decison-making strategies.
• Apply relevant knowledge of Church teachings to concrete situations.
• Access the community in forming values and making choices.
Outcomes Statement 6: Illustrate a basic understanding fo the history of the Church
Rationale: Our understanding of God and our identity as Church develops through history. the history of the Church is a reflection of the active and continuing presences of God.
Assessment categories:
• Identify key historical movements in the Church.
• Discern the active presence of God in historical events of the Church.
• Trace the impact of the Church on culture and culture on the Church.
• Trace the development of theological ideas and issues through the history of the Church.
Outcomes Statement 7: Acknowledge and affirm the diverse cultural expressions of Catholicism.
Rationale: The Catholic Church is a global community consisting of persons whose cultural mores enrich the experience and tradition of the Church.
Assessment categories:
• Identify the varied cultures and contributions they make within the Church including spirituality, traditions, popular devotions, world view and ethics.
• Celebrate our cultural and ethnic heritage in the midst of holy days and holidays.
Outcomes Statement 8: Apply Catholic principles to interpersonal relations (e.g. family, peers, work, society, Church, etc.)
Rationale: Relationships with others are rooted in the dignity of persons, given by God’s grace.
Assessment categories:
• Identify Cathlic principles of interpersonal relationships.
• Use Scripture to model interpersonal relationships.
• Apply moral principles of the Church to interpersonal relationships.
• Examine issues of sexuality which impact interpersonal relationships.
Outcomes Statement 9: Demonstrate an appreciation for faith community as the way to come to know God
Rationale: A relationship with God is not a private affair. A dynamic faith community is essential to the spiritual formation of its members.
Assessment categories:
• Identify the varied cultures and contributions they make within the Church including spirituality, traditions, popular devotions, world view and ethics.
• Celebrate our cultural and ethnic heritage in the midst of holy days and holidays.
Outcomes Statement 10: Use effective community building skills in relating to others.
Rationale: Effective community building skills provide an essential tool in forming people of God.
Assessment categories:
• Identify skills for building community.
• Apply skills to concrete life situations.
Outcomes Statement 11: Critique societal structures in light of Catholic social justice principles and apply to social and personal situations.
Rationale: Catholic morality has to do with the public arena as well as personal life. Catholics are called to discern discrepancies, where they exist, between social realities and Gospel values, and to develop strategies to make Gospel values operative.
Assessment categories:
• Analyze Church documents which contain social teachings and characterize their major elements.
• Draw implications from these documents for public and persoanl life.
• Develop strategies to make Gospel values operative where they are not.
• Compare and contrast American cultural values with the Church’s social teaching.
Outcomes Statement 12: Engage in service to the community (e.g. family, parish, local, national, and global) in response to the Gospel call.
Rationale: By virtue of Baptism, Catholics are called to discipleship which is manifest in loving service to others.
Assessment categories:
• Relate the Sacraments of initiation to the call to service.
• Engage in age appropriate service to the community.
• Engage in theological reflection on service.
• Reflect on Gospel portrayals of Jesus as a person of service.
Outcomes Statement 13: Exercise responsbile stewardship for the gift of creation.
Rationale: Creation is a gift from God for all generations. It is a Catholic’s responsibility to interact with the gift wisely, share its fruits equitably, and to preserve the gift for the future.
Assessment categories:
• Reflect on the abundance of God’s creation in the face of poverty and human suffering.
• Reflect on the meaning of ownership in light of Catholic tradition.
• Explore the interdependence of God’s creation.
• Examine patterns of distribution and use of resources in light of the theology of stewardship.
• Engage in problem solving to promote responsible stewardship.
Outcomes Statement 14: Examine the variety of Christian life-styles as ways to respond to the Baptismal call to a life of service.
Rationale: By virtue of Baptism, every Catholics is called to service. This call is fulfilled through a variety of life-styles and ministries.
Assessment categories:
• Identify the characteristics of various life-styles (single, married, religious, ordained).
• Explain the connections among life-styles, ministries and vocations.
• Explore the service dimensions of each life-style.
• Locate specific examples which disclose the role of community in personal and spiritual dimensions.
Outcomes Statement 15: Demonstrate the relationship between faith and culture (e.g. through arts, social sciences, sciences, technology, etc.)
Rationale: Faith and culture inform each other in providing meaning, purpose and direction to human life.
Assessment categories:
• Observe culture in light of Catholic values.
• Critique culture in light of Catholic values.
• Demonstrate ways in which the Catholic experience of faith has been and is shaped by culture.
• Compare and contrast American cultural values with Catholic values.
• Examine the interaction between faith and each discipline of learning.
Outcomes Statement 16: Use appropriate resources to plan and participate in liturgy and other prayer experiences.
Rationale: Liturgy is a central expression of the community’s faith. It is essential that members of the community, gathered in prayer, participate actively in appropriate and meaningful ways.
Assessment categories:
• Locate and use a variety of liturgy planning resources (e.g. directory for masses with children, lectionary for children, liturgy training publications, etc.)
• Plan liturgies and other prayer experiences that foster conscious participation.
• Consciously participate in liturgy and other prayer experiences.
Outcomes Statement 17: Use a variety of prayer forms to enrich and express personal and community spirituality.
Rationale: Prayer, as open and loving communication with God, reflects the diverse spiritualities of the Catholic people.
Assessment categories:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the various prayer forms (e.g. traditional, spontaneous, devotional, multicultural).
• Recite and explain the traditional prayers of the Church.
• Experience various forms of prayer.
• Engage in personal prayer.
• Articulate the practical role of prayer in sustaining a God-centered life.
Outcomes Statement 18: Celebrate the presence of the Sacred in experiences of sacramental, symbols and rituals.
Rationale: We are drawn into the mystery of God’s presence in and through the mediation of sacramentals, symbols and rituals.
Assessment categories:
• Explain the role of sacramentals, symbols and rituals in the life of Catholics.
• Give examples of religious symbols drawn from home, school and Church.
• Explore the relationship between a symbol and the mystery of God’s presence.
• Incorporate sacramentals, symbols and rituals into meaningful prayer experiences.
Outcomes Statement 19: Demonstrate an understanding of liturgical seasons and feasts.
Rationale: The mystery of salvation is unfolded in the cycles of the Church year.
Assessment categories:
• Identify liturgical seasons and feasts.
• Use knowledge of liturgical seasons and feasts to inform understanding of doctrine.
• Use knowledge of liturgical seasons and feasts to plan and design liturgies and prayer experiences.
• Apply the message of liturgical seasons to daily life.
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