Book excerpt: This book comprises a selection of articles published, mainly in peer-reviewed academic journals, together with a small number of documents prepared for policy makers within the Catholic education sector in England and Wales. The texts have been reprinted almost entirely as originally published, but with some minor editing to avoid unnecessary duplication. The papers are grouped into four sections. The first is concerned with the context of state maintained Catholic schools. The second explores research into the academic performance of Catholic schools prior to 1995. The third provides data on pupils’ academic and social outcomes, together with comparative studies of teachers and leadership of Catholic schools. The fourth section contains briefing papers about various aspects of state maintained Catholic education.