ATLANTA—Two awards from the National Catholic Educational Association will be presented to archdiocesan Catholic school groups at their convention in Pittsburgh in April.

The Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Schools Advisory Council, just one of six across the country, is being recognized for three achievements, including developing a best practices toolkit for principals.

The second award winner is St. Jude the Apostle School Home and School Association for its “St. Francis Program.” It teaches young people to become “lifelong environmental stewards.” The school is receiving the Distinguished Home and School Association Award.

In the fall of 2012, the Atlanta school community hosted a day of service spent sprucing up the school, parish and the neighborhood. Each class had tasks to complete, from cleaning debris to planting bulbs. Some 1,000 plants were embedded. Monthly lesson plans now keep the focus on the project and line up with the archdiocesan science curriculum.

The Archdiocesan Schools’ Advisory Council works with the archbishop and the schools superintendent on issues related to archdiocesan schools. Its 13 members come from across the archdiocese with expertise in finance, marketing, strategic planning, business consulting services, health care and telecommunications.

The national award is for three achievements: a marketing toolkit for local school communities; developing a process for a new or existing school to be recognized as an independent Catholic school in the archdiocese; and a creation of a “viability index” for all archdiocesan schools which is completed annually by each principal in consultation with the local school advisory council.