Despite low salaries and tough socioeconomic conditions, the University of Dayton's Lalanne program, which supports first- and second-year teachers, has a track record of retaining quality teachers in inner-city Catholic schools.
Lalanne teachers live together in the cities where they work, supporting each other professionally and spiritually through the sometimes-tumultuous early years of teaching. They make a two-year commitment and, during summer breaks, earn their master's degrees at the University of Dayton.
All the teachers who've completed the Lalanne program since its 1999 launch have stayed in education, and most stay in their assigned schools for more than the required two years, said Brother Edward Brink of the University of Dayton's Center for Catholic Education, who directs the program.
“We do a good job supporting the teachers when they're in their first couple of years of teaching,” Brink said. “Even though teaching is difficult, they have support through the university, through our program and also through the community of teachers where they live.”
This fall, 25 Lalanne participants will teach in 19 schools in five Midwestern cities: Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis and Toledo. Three new schools have been added to the Lalanne roster this year.
Teacher Mike Petro exemplifies the commitment typical of Lalanne teachers.
While Petro was one of 13 participants who completed their two years with Lalanne this summer, he's returning to the Detroit school where he teaches ninth-grade math and physics.
“Our principal loves us,” Petro, who is working on a master's in educational leadership, said of the Lalanne participants at his school. The principal hired him sight-unseen, thanks largely to his Lalanne connection, he added.
Lalanne teachers do stand out, said Brink, who said he's heard positive reports from as far away as New Mexico.
“We need to keep the Catholic presence in the inner city,” said Jacinta Mergler, Lalanne coordinator of teacher activities. “We do that through keeping good teachers.”
The program is named for Jean Baptiste Lalanne, an 18th-century Society of Mary priest. It started with six teachers working in Dayton's urban Catholic schools and has consistently grown since.
The University of Dayton is a private, Catholic university founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), a Roman Catholic teaching order of priests and brothers. It is one of the nation's 10 largest Catholic universities and is Ohio's largest private university, enrolling more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and hosting more than 70 academic programs in the arts and sciences, business administration, education and allied professions, engineering, and law.
U.S. News and World Report's just-released issue of “America's Best Colleges” ranked UD among the 10 best Catholic doctoral universities in the nation.
