Catholic school guarantees tuition refund if students aren't reading

Published: 2007-08-20

DETROIT (CNS) -- Our Lady of La Salette Catholic School in the Detroit suburb of Berkley is making a guarantee: First-graders will be reading at a second-grade level by the end of the year. If not, parents can ask for a full tuition refund. It's an idea that came to came to principal Carol Smith while she was brainstorming for the coming school year. Her first-grade class was looking a little small for the upcoming year, a bit of an oddity for a school with an enrollment of nearly 200 students in preschool through eighth grade. She believes her teachers are top-notch, and thought it would be a shame if more students weren't getting the benefit of a La Salette education. "I thought, I had to get people's attention," Smith told The Michigan Catholic, Detroit's archdiocesan newspaper. Yearly tuition for a student who is not a parishioner is $5,080. There's no catch, but there is a commitment required. Parents must sign a contract promising to spend at least 15 minutes -- a time recommended by most educators -- reading with their child every day. The first-grader must be new to the school, and he or she will take a test to make sure he or she is ready to learn and has no learning disabilities. At the end of the school year, the child will be given a standardized third-party test to be sure he or she is at a second-grade reading level. If not, parents may request a refund.

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