TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 EDITOR’SREPORT:CASJEAIMSTOBRIDGERESEARCH ANDPRACTICE ReneeRubinRoss

2 FROMTHECHAIR:LOOKINGBACK,MOVINGFORWARD JeffreyKress

3 NETWORKFORRESEARCHINJEWISHEDUCATION CELEBRATESTWENTY-FIFTHANNIVERSARYAT YORKUNIVERSITY,JUNE12-14,2011 JonathanKrasner&LauraWiseman

4 NRJECONFERENCEREFLECTIONSFROMAFIRSTTIMER ArielleLevites

4 RAFAELCASHMANNAMEDNRJE2011EMERGINGSCHOLAR CarolK.Ingall

5 FOCUSON…NEWBOOKSINJEWISHEDUCATION

6 JOURNALOFJEWISHEDUCATIONUPDATE

7 NEWSFROMTHEDAVIDSONSCHOOL OfraBackenroth

7 NEWSFROMTHEGRADUATECENTERFOREDUCATION ATAMERICANJEWISHUNIVERSITY MiriamHellerStern

7 FINDUSONFACEBOOK!

8 REPORTFROMYESHIVAUNIVERSITY’SINSTITUTEFOR UNIVERSITY-SCHOOLPARTNERSHIP

9 NEWSFROMTHEMANDELCENTERATBRANDEIS

9 NEWSFROMOURMEMBERS

T his June, while many NRJE members were heading east for the annual Network conference, I was settling in on the West Coast at my new job as Program Officer at the

Jim Joseph Foundation. One exciting project that I have been working on is the

Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE). As Avi Chai Foundation Senior Director of Strategy and Education Planning Susan Kardos wrote in her recent blog post entitled From Practice-to-Research-to-Practice, CASJE is about field building. As Susan describes, the first step is to form panels (e.g. groups of scholars and practitioners) focusing on particular areas of Jewish education, who will “map” the important questions in that area as well as present the most current thinking in a particular area through writing essays or briefs. The content that emerges from these panels will be based on a “field scan” of what is currently known (this field scan is taking place now), will endeavor to present that in a engaging and relevant way, and will result in a research agenda. Although we have not confirmed the topic for the first panel, the CASJE Executive Committee is testing the process by considering how a panel on Educational Leadership in Jewish education might be structured. Other possible topics include Israel education, adolescent spiritual development, and Jewish text study.

Field mapping may include, first, thinking about which frameworks and central ideas in general education should inform understanding of leadership in Jewish education. Second, what important questions emerge from these frameworks, what research has already been done on these questions, and what kind of research plan can be generated from these questions? Lastly and no less important, how might the Jewish aspect of Jewish education inform the ways in which we talk and think

NEWSLETTER OF THE Number 36 Fall2011/5771

EDITOR'S REPORT

RENEE RUBIN ROSS reneer52@gmail.com

NETWORK EXECUTIVE

JEFFKRESS–NetworkChairLEORAISAACS–SecretaryELISCHAAP–TreasurerDAVIDBRYFMAN–TechnicalCommitteeCoordinatorLISAGRANT–ImmediatePastNetworkChairCAROLINGALL–EmergingScholarsAwardCommitteeBENJACOBS–2010ProgramChairJONATHANKRASNER–2011ProgramChairRACHELLERNER–GraduateStudentRepresentativeKARENREISSMEDWED–2012Conferenceco-ChairALEXPOMSON–PastNetworkChairRENEERUBINROSS–NewsletterEditorMICHAELSHIRE–2012ConferenceArrangementsCo-ChairLAURAWISEMAN–2011ConferenceArrangementsChairABBYUHRMAN–GraduateStudentRepresentativeMICHAELZELDIN–Journal of Jewish Education,SeniorEditor

ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE OBTAINED AT http://jesna.org/j/pdfs/re_netres36.pdf

or by contacting JESNA at: 318 W. 39th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018 t 212.284.6878 | f 212.284.6951 | nrje@jesna.org

RENEERUBINROSS

NEWSLETTERDESIGNNicoleRay

CASJE Aims to Bridge Research and Practice

ARTICLESFORTHESPRING2012NEWSLETTERSHOULDREACHRENEERUBINROSS,RENEER52@GMAIL.COM,BY MARCH 16, 2012.

See CASJE AIMS TO BRIDGE RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, next page

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <2>

t is frequently noted that “graduation” from school does not mark the end of one’s learning but rather a point of “commencement.” For those of us working in academic institutions, the coming of September reinforces that idea as we annually commence our relationships

with incoming students and continue our work with those who remain. A birthday or anniversary similarly marks a point on a continuum of time rather than an end in itself.

The idea of looking back while moving forward infused the Network’s 25th Anniversary Conference that took place in Toronto last June. The conference opened with a session highlighting the International Handbook of Jewish Education, edited by Helena Miller, Lisa Grant and Alex Pomson. This monumental publication provides a wonderfully rich overview of the current state of research in Jewish education. Our discussion at the conference made it clear, however, that it is not meant to be a static resource but rather a building block for the field as it grows. Conference attendees were also excited to hear the announcement of the creation of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education, funded by the AVI CHAI and Jim Joseph Foundations. The initial work of this group will be to draw from past and existing research to develop the key questions that will help to guide future research endeavors.

The NRJE’s 25th Anniversary was marked by reminiscences by past chairs about the evolution of the organization. As someone whose involvement in the Network extends only through the past decade or so, it was fascinating to hear about the work of the early NRJE “pioneers” and to marvel about the impact they have made not just on the organization but on the field as a whole. Our celebration was balanced by substance and the program also gave us a glimpse into the field’s near future. The Emerging Scholar award was presented to Rafi Cashman, a graduate student at the University of Toronto, to help further his doctoral research (a special thank you to Carol Ingall and her committee for their work with the award selection). Also, as has been our practice, the program featured a number of consultation sessions in which scholars – emerging and more veteran – presented their incubating ideas for input from their peers.

Even our Monday evening social activity echoed the past/future theme as we visited a synagogue in the “old” Jewish section of Toronto. The beautiful historic building has adapted to changing times - and a changing neighborhood - by focusing on helping local individuals in need of food and camaraderie.

As I look back at the conference, I offer my sincere thanks Jonathan Krasner and Laura Wiseman for their work on the program and the conference arrangements, respectively. It is their patient efforts that made this event possible. We look forward to the start of our next quarter century, to be marked at the 26th Annual NRJE Conference at Boston Hebrew College, Newton, MA, June 10-12 2012 (More information to follow.).

Shanah tovah and best wishes for a wonderful new year.

JEFFKRESS

FROM THE CHAIRJEFFREY KRESS jekress@jtsa.edu

ILooking Back, Moving Forward

about questions related to leadership? As the above example illustrates, the idea is to generate

a research agenda that could then be worked on by Jewish educators and researchers at different levels of training. This idea has tremendous potential: scholars, practitioners and graduate students would work on problems that are not only of concern to them, but to the larger field of Jewish education.

To give one concrete example: as part of my Master’s Degree Program in Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College, my culminating project involved facilitating a conversation about alternatives in Jewish education in a particular area. Topics included alternative religious school structures, teacher hiring, and camp pedagogy. Students approached choosing a topic entirely on their own. One of the ideas behind CASJE would be that future educators will choose research topics from a menu of questions generated by different CASJE panels, with the possibility of checking in their research to CASJE once it is completed. Similarly, doctoral students in Jewish Education might work with CASJE panel members on some of the areas deemed important by different panels. Not incidentally, this process would push practitioners to think more about the larger educational theories surrounding their work, thus bridging the gap between research and practice. At its best, it can be a collaborative effort for scholars and students at all levels to advance research in Jewish education.

I look forward to sharing more about the progress of CASJE in the future. If you want to find out more, have comments, or are interested in being involved, you can be in touch with me or with Susan Kardos at skardos@avichaina.org.

CASJE Aims to Bridge Research and PracticeCONTINUEDFROMPREVIOUSPAGE

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <3>

T

Network for Research in Jewish Education Celebrates Twenty-fifth Anniversary at York University, June 12-14, 2011

JONATHAN KRASNER and LAURA WISEMAN nrjeprogramchair@gmail.com/LWiseman@edu.yorku.ca

hese are only a few of the many comments that were heard in the halls of the comfortable, high-tech Executive Learning Centre, during the Twenty-fifth Annual

International Conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education, which was held at York University, June 12-14, 2011.

Over 75 scholars and practitioners attended the three-day conference. Our hosts, the Israel & Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education and the Faculty of Education, York University, welcomed the academic delegates and graduate students from North America and Israel, who gathered to share current qualitative, quantitative, textual and applied research related to teaching, learning, socio-cultural and demographic concerns in formal, informal and experiential Jewish education.

Also in attendance, to present papers, participate in panels, and take advantage of professional development opportunities were members of the professional educational leadership of the Toronto area day schools, congregational schools and complementary programs, educators associated with UJA Federation’s Centre for Jewish Education, as well as alumni of York University Jewish Teacher Education Programme. The local conference chair was Laura Wiseman.

Program Chair Jonathan Krasner arranged for parallel-scheduled paper sessions, spotlight sessions and consultations which ranged in concentration from research concerning spiritual sensibilities to information technology; from text-based pedagogies to teacher retention; from models of educational leadership to challenges in pluralistic education; and from attitudes of teens toward present-day Israel to faith education in a democratic context. Had there been an award offered for the best presentation title, surely it would have gone to Owen Gottlieb for “You Can’t Wrap a Herring in an I-Pad.”

Twenty-fifth Anniversary Conference highlights included:• the launch of a new two-volume handbook

in Jewish education edited by Helena Miller, Lisa D. Grant and Alex Pomson.

• a gala anniversary dinner with a retrospective program featuring a number of founding NRJE members and more recent ‘movers and shakers.’

• the unveiling of the Consortium of Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE)

• the presentation of the Emerging Scholar Award to graduate student Rafi Cashman of Toronto for his important work on “Conflict and Creativity in Jewish Modern Orthodox Girls’ Education: Navigating Openness to Traditional Thought and Western Knowledge." The award was conferred by NRJE Chair, Jeffrey Kress.

• the annual editorial board meeting of the NRJE-affiliated peer-reviewed Journal of Jewish Education, published by Taylor & Francis.

Special interest groups also met during the conference to further their work. For example, under the auspices of the Covenant Foundation, Sharon Feiman-Nemser met with university educators, school leadership and graduate students to promote a community of practice and examine the use of a repertoire of techniques to extend crucial induction support to teachers new to the field of Jewish education.

The plenary session, entitled "Fields of Engagement: Debating Some Key Questions of Research in Jewish Education," marking the publication of The International Handbook of Jewish Education (Springer), was a fitting companion to the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration later the same evening. Chairing the plenary, Michael Zeldin noted that twenty-five years ago such an ambitious project would have been unimaginable. The Handbook is a testament to the success of the Network in facilitating the establishment of Jewish education as an academic field. The two-volume, 1,300-page work, includes sixty-nine essays, divided into four sections: Vision and Practice; Teaching and Learning; Applications; and Geography.

“The overall quality and interest level of the sessions has been amazing."

“York could not have been more accommodating — and the rooms and dining center worked perfectly."

“It was fascinating to hear a little bit about the origins of the Network and astounding to think about how far we have come since those early days."

“Everyone is so nice in Toronto. I can't get over the culture shock!"

“Does anyone have any plastic silverware?"

See 25th ANNIVERSARY, next page

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <4>

At the annual conference of the Network of Research in Jewish Education at Toronto, on Monday, June 13, 2011, Shani Bechhofer introduced Rafael Cashman as the recipient of the Emerging Scholar Award. Cashman is a PhD student at the University of Toronto, in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. He is also a Wexner Graduate Fellow. The working title of his dissertation is “Conflict and Creativity in Jewish Modern Orthodox Girls’ Education: Navigating Openness to Traditional Thought and Western Knowledge.” Cashman observes that in championing both the autonomy and self-determination of secular learning and the authoritative assumptions of tradition, Modern Orthodoxy young women to face the difficulty of embracing these two discourses. His research intends to investigate the girls’ creative and dissonant responses to their religious, social, and gender autonomy as they negotiate these disparate points of view.

The Emerging Scholar Committee, consisting of Professors Isa Aron (HUC), Shani Bechhofer (YU), Shira Epstein (JTS), Carol Ingall (JTS), Miriam Heller Stern (AJU), Harold Wechsler (NYU), and Sivan Zakai (AJU) read six applications, all of which were well written, thoughtful, and dealt with important research questions. What was most intriguing about Cashman’s project was its innovative methodology. Using a variety of qualitative approaches, his inquiry is focused on eleventh grade students. In addition to studying the school’s vision through artifacts, he will interview the teaching and administrative staff to develop a broader context for the study. Based on a methodology used by Kathleen Gallagher (2007), Cashman plans to create a video project to be conducted by the students themselves, that they will

then show to a focus group of their peers, generating a two levels of insight into the girls’ experiences. Cashman plans to begin his field research in September and hopes to complete his dissertation by April 2013. He has already presented the theory behind this research at four conferences, including the Network in June.

The list of eighty-nine authors reads like a who's who of Network members.

The Consortium of Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE), co-sponsored by AVI CHAI and the Jim Joseph Foundation, is an exciting development for the field of Jewish educational research. Introduced at the conference by Lee Shulman, the retired president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Susan Kardos, Senior Director, Strategy and Education Planning at The AVI CHAI Foundation, CASJE is designed to strengthen the field by building an evidence base in Jewish education. In addition to Shulman and Kardos, the steering committee of the CASJE includes Chip Edelsberg, Alex Pomson, Wendy Rosov and Michael Zeldin.

The twenty-sixth annual conference is scheduled to take place at Hebrew College, in Newton, Massachusetts, from June 10-12, 2012. Karen Reiss Medwed and Michael Shire will chair the local conference committee and welcome the membership.

This summer my family visited Disney for the first time. My younger child, Azi, (4) was somewhat put off to find that his favorite character, Mickey Mouse, was so extraordinarily big for a rodent. In his photo-op with Mickey (for which we waited in line for 40 minutes) Azi is giving the mouse a wary look, as if to say, this is not quite what I expected. It’s hard to meet one’s heroes in real life as they often end up scaled differently then you imagine!

I had a far more positive experience at my first NRJE conference this summer, when I met for the first time the “characters” who animate the pages of the Journal of Jewish Education and the larger field. For this first-timer the conference had a surprising sense of intimacy and congeniality. It was so exciting to be welcomed into conversations I had always wanted to be a part of.

The first evening at the 25th anniversary dinner first-timers got a sense of the history of the Network and the people and relationships out of which it developed. While I probably didn’t get 90% of the jokes, I felt as though upon my arrival at a strange

new world I had been offered a guided tour of the Network’s past and present. Over the course of the conference a number of people asked me how I experienced the evening’s program, concerned that it had been too geared towards insiders and may have put off us newcomers. I was surprised by how many people had tried to put themselves in a newcomer’s shoes. I think that this speaks to the extraordinary investment the Network has in attracting and mentoring new members.

What generated the most discussion among my fellow grad students at the conference was the announcement of the Consortium for Applied Research that was made that first evening. I think many of us new to the Network are hungry to get involved with large scale research projects and want more opportunities to pair up with senior scholars. We hope there will be a place carved out for us in projects like these from the beginning. I know we all look forward to continuing the conversations that began this summer in Toronto.

NRJE Conference Reflections from a First TimerARIELLE LEVITES ariellevites@hotmail.com

CAROL K. INGALL caingall@jtsa.edu

Rafael Cashman Named NRJE 2011 Emerging Scholar

25th AnniversaryCONTINUEDFROMPREVIOUSPAGE

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <5>

Editor’s note: I have asked the authors or editors to share a bit about the “back story” of their books: how did each come to be? The books and stories from the authors or editors are below.

In Her Hands: The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia by Eliyana R. Adler. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2010.

FROM ELIYANA ADLER: When I began to think about graduate school, many years ago, I felt that I had to decide between my two chief intellectual interests: Jewish education and history. I ended up studying modern Jewish history at Brandeis University, and discovering that I could fruitfully combine my interests. The initial result was my thesis, on the emergence and development of private schools for Jewish girls in Tsarist Russia. After nearly a decade of further research, writing and editing it is now a book.

The history of Jewish education is a surprisingly neglected field, given the centrality of educational institutions in Jewish communities across distant chronological and geographical areas. Women's education is even less well researched. Part of what I have tried to do in the book is to use the methods, techniques, and theories developed within the fields of education, history and women’s studies not only to uncover the story of the schools, but also to demonstrate the potential of interdisciplinary work.

The question of how Jewish women in late nineteenth-century Russia achieved such impressive educational, intellectual, and political feats is not a new one. I was fortunate to be in graduate school at the time when the former Soviet archives were first becoming available to researchers. In the files of the Tsarist Ministry of Education, I came upon voluminous correspondence between the Ministry and Jewish educators from the Pale of Settlement. One of the major topics was

private schools for girls. These letters formed the basis of my research and the bulk of the book is devoted to describing the curricula, staffing, financing, and other aspects of the schools.

The book also focuses on how the schools changed over time, and perhaps most importantly, how they in turn changed the society around them. The history of education, at its best, can help us to understand not only the dynamics of individual educational experiments, but also how these institutions served as agents of change within their social environments. My involvement with this project has certainly helped me to see that history and education function in tandem.

HOW A TRIP TO LA LAUNCHED THE BENDERLY BOYS

The Benderly Boys & American Jewish Education by Jonathan Krasner. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2011.

FROM JONATHAN KRASNER: Shortly after my dissertation on the representation of insiders and outsiders in American Jewish schoolbooks was completed, I received piece of fan mail from Gil Graff, the executive director of the BJE in Los Angeles. Gratified that my work had found a receptive audience, I was happy to accept Gil's invitation for coffee during the upcoming Association for Jewish Studies conference in Los Angeles. Gil was working on a history of American Jewish education (which was eventually published by JTS in 2008), so we found a lot to talk about. But one tidbit of information that he shared was particularly intriguing. As we talked shop at the Century City Starbucks, the conversation turned to the outsized impact on Jewish education of Samson Benderly and his students. Los Angeles, in particular, had felt the influence of the Benderly revolution through the

personality of Sam Dinin, who was instrumental in building up institutional pillars in the community, including the BJE, the University of Judaism (now AJU), Camp Ramah in Ojai, and the Los Angeles Hebrew High School. Gil suddenly leaned closer. Did I know, he asked, that Sam Dinin was alive and lucid and living minutes away in Westwood, near UCLA? If I wanted to talk with him I shouldn't wait. Dinin had just celebrated his one hundredth birthday.

A few months later I was sitting in Dinin's living room. He was frail but a genial host. I had done my homework, read virtually everything he had published in advance, and was armed with dozens of questions. I wish I could say that he regaled me with stories about his glory days in New York and LA, and provided me with great insights into his mentors and colleagues. The truth was that his memory was dim; the stories he told were already familiar to me, and he tired easily. By the second hour of my visit, I was beginning to squirm.

Just when I was about to write off the visit in my mind, I asked a question about his efforts to promote the study of modern Hebrew using Ivrit b'Ivrit, the so-called natural method. Didn't his opponents in the 1930s have a point when they charged that the Benderly Boys' single-minded, almost fanatical devotion to modern Hebrew not only failed to produce the desired educational outcomes but diverted them from consistently and wholeheartedly reshaping Jewish education along the progressive lines espoused by John Dewey and other Teachers College mentors? Dinin abruptly sat up and looked me in the eye. It was as if the smoldering embers had suddenly reignited. And the mild-mannered man in front of me was momentarily transformed. Let me tell you something, he began. The men

Focus on…New Books in Jewish Education

See NEW BOOKS, next page

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <6>

who made that charge were traitors to the cause of Jewish education and the rebirth of the Jewish people. We knew then that Hebrew and Zionism were the keys to the Jewish future, in America as well as in Eretz Yisrael. These critics were "assimilationists," he sputtered, spitting out the word like a curse. After a few more minutes of animated conversation, Dinin sank back into his armchair and his placid demeanor returned. (This last surviving member of Benderly's coterie died of natural causes at the age of 103, in December 2005. May his memory be a blessing.)

A few hours later, as I walked along the Santa Monica beach, I reflected on my meeting with Dinin. I wasn't sure whether I agreed with him about the efficacy of Ivrit b'Ivrit or the motives of his detractors, but I was stirred by his passion. Benderly and his "boys" (and girls) were on a holy mission to safeguard the future of the Jewish people in America at a time of great dislocation and change. Their conviction fueled a veritable revolution that remade the landscape of American Jewish education. And the dilemmas they confronted are still very much with us today—yet their story had not adequately been told. By the time I returned to my hotel that evening I was determined to remedy that lacuna. Eight years later, with the publication of The Benderly Boys & American Jewish Education, I hope that I've made good on my pledge.

FILLING IN THE MISSING PARADIGM IN THE TEACHING OF CLASSICAL JEWISH TEXTS

Turn It and Turn It Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts edited by Jon A. Levisohn and Susan P. Fendrick. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2012.

FROM JOHN LEVISOHN: A number of years ago, the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education began to consider how it might make a meaningful contribution to the teaching of classical Jewish texts.

We noted three important areas we might address. First, there was a divide between the teaching of Jewish texts in academia and the teaching of the same texts in Jewish educational settings. A second, related issue was the way that scholars and educators rarely engaged in shared discourse about their work, and when they did, it was usually in a hierarchical fashion, in which it was assumed that the scholar-experts would pass down their disciplinary knowledge to the educators (who would, presumably, pass it down to their students). How could we think about this differently? What does it mean to engage in shared, substantive inquiry about their work? That was a third issue: just as Lee Shulman had identified a “missing paradigm” of subject-specific pedagogical research in the mid-1980s (the paradigm that he proposed to fill with the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge), so too Jewish studies would benefit from the development of knowledge about the specific challenges and dynamics of teaching these particular texts.

To tackle these issues, we created a research project, The Initiative on Bridging Scholarship and Pedagogy in Jewish Studies. The Bridging Initiative convened faculty research seminars and conferences, bringing together educators and scholars not only to read and talk together, but also supporting them in studying their practice. We produced almost 30 Working Papers on the project website, along with several dozen videoclips of conference presentations, and placed 10 articles in peer-reviewed journals. And now, as the project winds down, Jon A. Levisohn, director of the project, and Susan P. Fendrick, senior research associate at the Mandel Center, have completed an edited collection, Turn It and Turn It Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts (forthcoming from Academic Studies Press).

Naturally, the research that we’ve produced has not solved the conceptual and practical questions about the teaching of classical Jewish texts. But it may have contributed to filling in the missing paradigm. The individual chapters of Turn

It and Turn It Again present compelling and insightful studies of the teaching of Jewish texts in diverse settings, and as a whole, they represent helpful models for the scholarship of teaching in this field. Thus, while the publication of the book marks the formal conclusion of the Bridging Initiative, we also believe that it marks a significant point of maturation for the field of research on the teaching of Jewish studies.

▶ Check your mailboxes for Volume 77, No. 4 which is a themed issue on the International Handbook of Jewish Education. Review essays on each of the four parts of the Handbook are written by colleagues Carol Ingall (Teaching and Learning), Jen Glaser (Vision and Practice), Moshe Krakowski (Applications) and Jon Boyd (International Perspective).

▶ The Journal is offering gratis copies of this Handbook issue to recent MA and PhD graduates of schools of Jewish education.

▶ The Journal will be hosting receptions at upcoming conferences of the professional organizations of Jewish educators with whom we have a special subscription arrangement with their memberships.

▶ Keep those manuscripts coming! The Journal’s Associate Editors are skilled at finding just the right reviewers for each submission and authors regularly comment on the value of the feedback and the collegial spirit in which it is offered.

SUE KITTNER HUNTTING journalofjed@aol.com

Journal of Jewish Education Update

New BooksCONTINUEDFROMPREVIOUSPAGE

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <7>

The Graduate Center for Education at American Jewish University is pleased to welcome SIVAN ZAKAI as our new Director of Research and Teacher Education. She teaches courses in education and Jewish history, mentors teachers, advises students in the Master of Arts in Teaching program, and oversees the emerging research agenda of the Graduate Center. Zakai came to AJU in 2010 after serving as a post-doctoral scholar at the Stanford History Education Group. An alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and a recipient of the NRJE’s Young Scholars Award, she has taught in a variety of Jewish educational settings including day schools, supplementary schools, and camps. She is currently researching how Jewish students think about what it means to be American and have a connection with Israel.

Associate Dean LAUREN APPLEBAUM, who recently joined the Executive Ed.D. program at JTS, is beginning a practitioner research study on training reflective practitioners for the field of education. Her work is in conjunction with an ongoing project by Dean MIRIAM HELLER STERN, which explores the opportunities and challenges in training practitioner researchers. Masters students in education at AJU now complete a two-year course sequence in the skills of reflective practice and practitioner research. Data from these courses are the basis for Applebaum’s and Stern’s studies.

Our hope is to continue to strengthen the application of research to practice and to forge more pathways from practice to research.

The William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education is thrilled to welcome 29 new MA students and 9 new Executive Doctoral students for the Fall 2011. Eleven students began the new master’s in Experiential Jewish Education; eleven will be studying in the day school track, and seven will be studying in the Synagogue Educational Leadership Track. Six students are enrolled in the distance learning program.

This year the Davidson School of Education launches two new programs: a new semester program in Israel and a Master's Program in Jewish Experiential Education.

The Israel semester for MA students, funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, is entitled Kesher Hadash ("New Connection"), and is intended to produce a cadre of Jewish educators with a specialty in Israel education. The program is rooted in an innovative and sophisticated conception of Israel education, and will enable students to consider the key questions of that field in collaboration and conversation with Israeli students at a variety of different Israeli institutions. The program is directed by Alex Sinclair and Ofra Backenroth.

The Master's Program in Jewish Experiential Education, also funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, welcomes a full cohort of 11 dynamic and passionate students. At the center of the program is a new first year experiential learning seminar in which the cohort will visit multiple settings where Jewish experiential education occurs, including the Jewish Farm School at Eden Village Camp, Columbia / Barnard Hillel, 92Ytribeca and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Students will also engage with field leaders, facilitating conversations around Jewish youth groups, Jewish camp, social justice education and experiential learning in classroom settings. Throughout the seminar, students will discuss core themes of Jewish experiential education and how they interplay in various educational environments.The Davidson School looks forward to a year of learning and discovery with our experiential cohort!

News from the Graduate Center for Education at American Jewish University

News from Davidson School

MIRIAM HELLER STERN MStern@mail.ajula.edu

OFRA BACKENROTH ofbackenroth@jtsa.edu

FIND US ON FACEBOOK!

The Network for Research in Jewish Education now has an active Facebook group

with 160 members. The page includes job announcements and information about research scholarships. Find the group on Facebook to join, or contact Sara Shapiro-Plevan at sashapiro@jtsa.edu.

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <8>

Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership, a division of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, seeks to reimagine and sustain Jewish day schools throughout North America. Beyond servicing Jewish day schools with programs and support, the YU School Partnership serves as an important engine of faculty research and publications to advance the field. In the coming year, we hope to share findings from studies related to:

• The recruitment, placement, and induction of teach-ers and leaders in the field;

• Outcomes of Judaic and Hebrew language studies of students in day schools;

• Experiences and outcomes of day school alumni; • The landscape of continuing education and profes-

sional development, including groundbreaking work in:o bully prevention by Rona Novick, o 21st Century learning (educational technology

integration, online learning, and 21st Century skill development)

o child abuse prevention and intervention systems by David Pelcovitz and Scott Goldberg, and

o religious and spiritual development by Scott Gold-berg and David Pelcovitz.

In the sidebar, we share with you an excerpt from a recent blog post by Harry Bloom with some initial results from an important ongoing applied research study related to school affordability and sustainability.

Many of our projects and programs already provide opportunities for research, not only for faculty but gradu-ate students as well. Of particular note, is the wealth of possibilities that our Communities of Practice (CoPs) and online learning platforms create for ongoing research and collaboration in particular content areas such as emerging technologies and social media. This past year we success-fully convened CoPs on topics of integrating technology into the classroom (YU2.0), social/emotional issues in Jew-ish day schools (The JCoP), and strengthening professional development in Jewish day schools (YUPDCoP). This year we are proud to launch additional CoPs focusing on profes-sional development and support of new and prospective teachers (YUTeach), collaborative efforts to ensure high quality Judaic online learning (YUeLearning), high school Judaic studies curriculum and instruction (YUHSChinuch-Community), differentiated instruction (YUDICommunity), early childhood education (YUJECE), and spirituality and religious growth (YURUACH).

Our online certificate programs for Jewish educators, supported by a generous grant from the Jim Joseph Foun-dation, provide an opportunity for professional develop-ment for participants in the areas of differentiated instruc-

tion, educational technology, or student support, but are also a great resource for research related to modalities of professional development and online learning.

To learn more about our applied research and programs, please visit our website www.yu.edu/schoolpartnership or email schoolpartnership@yu.edu. Follow us on twitter: @yuschoolpartner

Educational Return on Dollars Invested: An Opportunity

The YU School Partnership has analyzed in detail the economics of nearly 40 Jewish day schools across five communities: Baltimore, Chicago, Bergen County, Cleveland and Philadelphia. A key piece of information in this discussion is that the cost per student of providing education in these five communities ranges from $10,000 per student to $16,000 per student, with the median community cost being $12,500. Moreover, the relative operating cost per student does not strictly align with traditional measures of HH income or cost of living.

These numbers prompt a key observation and a question. The observation: Jewish day schools as a whole are a good value in light of the Cato Institute's March 2010 finding about U.S. Public School spending that "Real spending per pupil ranges from a low of nearly $12,000 in the Phoenix area schools to a high of nearly $27,000 in the New York metro area."

Still the question must be asked: Does the community whose average day school cost is $16,000 deliver 60% more student value than the one that costs $10,000? This is a tough question to ask and even tougher to answer. But it is an important question. An educated hypothesis, informed by the YU Partnership's educational assessment in cities with widely differing cost structures is that the cost per student does not correlate very well with the value per student. The lower cost school communities are managing their finances more tightly than those which cost more. And some of the difference in cost may be money well and equitably spent, such as on teacher benefits. But other cost components are not well spent and could be managed better.

This suggests that part of a comprehensive solution to the funding problem of Jewish day schools is unlocking the difference between the $10,000 cost per student and $16,000 cost per student and putting some of that difference into tuition assistance for hard pressed families. This is what drives the YU School Partnership's benchmarking and financial planning program, generously funded by the AVICHAI Foundation and local Federations and foundations.

Report from Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership

fall 2011 >>> the network for research in jewish education <9>

The INDUCTION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT, directed by SARAH BIRKELAND and VIVIAN TROEN, completed its third annual Induction Summer Institute for partner schools in June. The three-day meeting, focused on systems thinking and sustainability, used teaching cases as a centerpiece for discussion and learning. The Induction Partnership Project's teaching cases and supporting materials are now available on the project website: www.inductionpartnership.com.

ORIT KENT and ALLISON COOK, director and research associate of the BEIT MIDRASH RESEARCH PROJECT (brandeis.edu/mandel/projects/beitmidrashresearch/), recently helped shape the Artists’ Beit Midrash, an important feature of Brandeis’s BIMA summer program for high school students. Kent and Cook introduced BIMA educators to pedagogical frameworks for havruta study and helped them connect the work of havruta to the work of artists.

JON A. LEVISOHN, assistant academic director of the Mandel Center, is serving as a mentor in the Enriching LIFE Fellowship Program at JESNA, a new project funded by the Covenant Foundation. He is also a fellow of the North American Scholars Circle of the Shalom Hartman Institute, a select group of Jewish studies academics who work on a shared project over the course of the year. His book, The Interpretive Virtues: A Philosophical Investigation of the Teaching and Learning of Historical Narratives, is forthcoming from Wiley-Blackwell.

The DELET LONGITUDINAL SURVEY, directed by Senior Research Associate ERAN TAMIR, will conduct its third survey this winter of Delet graduates. This project explores the decision to become Jewish day school teachers, graduates’ Jewish backgrounds and identities, their experiences in DeleT, their career aspirations and commitments, teaching practices, social backgrounds, and more. More information and the latest report from the project are available at brandeis.edu/mandel/projects/delettracking.html.

Eran’s paper “Teacher retention and career commitments among DeLeT graduates: The intersection of teachers’ background, preparation to teaching, and school context,” co-authored with Raquel Magidin de Kremer, appeared in the Journal of Jewish Education. His paper “Staying above the fray: Framing and conflict in the coverage of education policy debates,” with Roei Davidson, appeared in American Journal of Education.

Mandel Center Director SHARON FEIMAN-NEMSER has been named to the national advisory board of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE).

This fall we welcome ORAH MINDER (doctoral fellow) and TSAFRIR GOLDBERG (post-doctoral fellow) to the Mandel Center. More information about Orah and Tsafrir can be found at the Mandel

Center website: http://www.brandeis.edu/mandel/index.htmWe are planning a year of learning and celebration to mark the

tenth anniversaries of the Mandel Center and the Delet program in 2011-12. Our calendar of events at Brandeis will begin with the fourth annual Teacher Forum in February, featuring Steve Seidel of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Delet reached a milestone this summer when it graduated Cohort 9 and welcomed Cohort 10.

News: September 2011 MANDEL CENTER at BRANDEIS

NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS

LESLIE GINSPARG is now Associate Dean of Maalot Baltimore, a undergraduate program for Orthodox women.

This fall, ten new students are starting the NYU Graduate Programs in Education and Jewish Studies. MICHAEL EMERSON, SARAH OSSEY, and RABBI DANIEL SMOKLER are beginning the PhD program. MIJAL BITTON, YAEL FRIEDMAN, REYZL GESELOWITZ, STEFANIE GORDON, DAVID HOFFMAN, and JODIE HONIGMAN will be Dual MA students in Education and Jewish Studies and Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and REBECCA BIGMAN will be pursuing the MA in Education and Jewish Studies.

Yeshiva University announces the publication of The Azrieli Papers: Dimensions in Orthodox Jewish Education. More information can be found at http://blogs.yu.edu/news/2011/07/26/new-dimensions-in-jewish-education/

MEREDITH KATZ has begun a position as the Jim Joseph Senior Scholar at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education of JTS. She completed her doctorate in 2010 at Teachers College, Columbia University where her dissertation, "Mature love is complicated: Israel education as a microcosm of challenges to educators in liberal Jewish day schools," focused on teacher decision making in an Israel education curriculum development project. Meredith looks forward to continuing to be involved in Israel education research as well as to pursuing her interests in citizenship education in Jewish schools and teacher education.