Firmly committed to our philosophy, we pledge ourselves and our resources to maintain an educational environment, and to foster a socially responsible Catholic community. Through conscientious preparation, enthusiastic and patient teaching, we will encourage the growth of each child spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

We strive to raise our children's awareness of the needs and concerns in the local community as well as the larger world community, and challenge them to become involved by our personal example and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our daily lives.

Strongly rooted in our shared Christian beliefs and moral values, the Bishop McDowell School Community also pledge our prayers and support for our children as they are transplanted from the protective and loving environment into the world where we hope they will bloom and grow as mature Christian adults in today's challenging world.

Middle States Accreditation

MSCES (Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools) works with public and private schools that serve an elementary-age population. MSCES (and its predecessor, the Assembly of Elementary Schools) has provided accreditation protocols to schools since 1978. Many protocols have been developed since the early days of MSCES, but all rely on the concepts of peer evaluation and self-regulation to provide continuous school improvement. Some schools have created a DOAS, a Description of an Accredited School. This on-line snapshot of the school has sections about the curriculum, student activities and services, staff, and other information about the school. You can take a look at the Bishop McDowell's DOAS page by clicking here and selecting the DOAS link. This will take you to a page where you will want to type in the zip code 15227 and click on the "Search" button. Select Bishop John B. McDowell Regional Elementary School from the search results page. If you would like to learn more about the Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools please visit their Web site at http://www.ces-msa.org/.

Philosophy

Bishop McDowell School Community believes that God has a unique plan for each of us as we share in Christ's work by developing and guiding our children to recognize and accept their own unique, God-given character, their individual abilities, talents, and limitations, and those of others.

We believe in the absolute dignity of all life. We believe that every facet of life is important: spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional.

We believe that every child is unique and valuable because his/her life comes from God.

We believe the students gradually learn that responsibility goes beyond themselves to family, fellow students, community, country and the world.

Leading the Way

Bishop McDowell is leading the way in Academics:

• State and Diocesan certified teachers
• Terra Nova Test Scores significantly higher than the national average
• Computer, Spanish and Junior Achievement classes in grades K-8
• School Counselor, remedial Math and Reading instruction provided by the Allegheny Intermediate unit
• Instrumental Band and String Music Program
• Participation in numerous academic competitions in Math, Science, Language Arts, Spelling, Social Studies and Robotics
• Strong emphasis on Catholic and Christian values through involvement in school liturgies and prayer services
• School buddy system, visits to area nursing homes, and service projects in the local community and beyond
• Enrichment programs for gifted students

In the Community

Bishop McDowell Regional School is sponsored by St. Wendelin and St. Albert the Great Parishes in a safe nurturing environment with small classes (averaging 16 students/teacher) allowing individualized attention. The campus is located on 10.4 acres with a school population drawn from neighboring communities including Baldwin, Carrick and Brentwood. Bus transportation is provided by Baldwin-Whitehall School District and Pittsburgh Public School District. A hot breakfast and a hot lunch program is available on site sponsored by the Diocesan Purchasing Commission.

Bishop McDowell has both Full and Half-day Kindergarten available as well as programs for 3 and 4 year old preschool in addition to grades 1-8. After school care is available until 6:00 PM each day.