Fourth International Conference on Catholic Educational Leadership Directions for Catholic Educational Leadership in the 21st Century: The vision, Challenges and Reality Engaging High School Students in a Context of Turbulence:

While scores of programs are designed to respond to the concerns of teachers and administrators, sparse attention has been paid to students themselves. How do they define their learning needs? Where are these needs met now? How do today’s high school students learn best? We simply have not bothered to ask these essential questions often enough and well enough. Without answers to such fundamental questions, how do policy makers know that young people are listening, let alone engaged enough to learn effectively? If we are serious about promoting high standards of academic achievement, we must do more than talk. This paper will report on research conducted by the authors in The United States and Australia designed to give a carefully selected, diverse group of high school students an opportunity to describe their level of engagement with school academic programs and express their own learning priorities. Five Australian Catholic High schools were selected for participation in this study. Their selection was decided by their existing involvement in a Project called “Leaders Transforming Leaning and Learners”. To further the LTLL program goal