TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 EDITOR’SCOLUMN:HALLWAYS,CAFETERIAS,ANDTHENRJE MichelleLynn-Sachs
2 REFLECTIONSFROMTHENRJECHAIR JonathanKrasner
2 JOURNALOFJEWISHEDUCATIONUPDATE SueKittnerHuntting
3 27THANNUALCONFERENCEOFTHENRJE:JUNE2–4,2013, ATTHEJEWISHTHEOLOGICALSEMINARY,NEWYORK OfraBackenroth&MeredithKatz
3 NRJEAWARDSCOMMITTEE CarolIngall
4 NEWSFROMTHEDAVIDSONSCHOOL OfraBackenroth
5 NEWSFROMYESHIVAUNIVERSITY-AZRIELIGRADUATE SCHOOLOFJEWISHEDUCATIONANDADMINISTRATION SusanRosenberg
5 NEWSFROMOURMEMBERS
5 NEWSFROMTHEMANDELCENTERATBRANDEISUNIVERSITY SusanneShavelson
6 JESNA LeoraIsaacs
6 ANNOUNCINGSPECIALISSUEOFJOURNAL OF DIASPORA, MINORITY, AND INDIGENOUS EDUCATION SharonAvni
7 CONSORTIUMFORAPPLIEDSTUDIESINJEWISHEDUCATION RafiCashmanandFraydaGonshorCohen
T he debate about what it takes to be productive is front and center, thanks to Marissa Mayer of Yahoo and the many who weighed in on her pronouncement that Yahoo employees
must show up at an office and no longer have the option to work from home. As reported in the tech blog AllThingsD, the explanation to employees pointed to the importance of “communication and collaboration,” going on to say that “some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings.” The debate interests me on cultural, personal, and professional levels, but at this moment, I am wondering, “Where is the NRJE ‘cafeteria?’”
We in the NRJE share a passion for advancing knowledge in the field of Jewish education, but our employers are as varied as they come. We work in large research universities, smaller seminaries, consulting groups, research centers, policy institutions, national agencies, and local Jewish educational institutions. Within each of those institutions, we may have only a handful of colleagues in our field. In a field as small and dispersed as ours, how likely are we to have serendipitous encounters with other Jewish education researchers that spark a new idea or plant the seeds of a new collaboration?
Social media helps. The NRJE is on Facebook and Twitter (#NRJE), which means you can easily connect with members you don’t know or don’t get to see often. But for those hallway and cafeteria conversations, the ones that inspire you, connect you, and help you see new paths, the annual conference is the place to be. If you haven’t attended for a few years, treat yourself this June. The planned program of spotlight sessions, conference papers, and consultations is the centerpiece, and it will be excellent, but in my view, it’s the serendipitous moments that make it worth the trip. Hope to see you at JTS in New York, June 2-4, 2013.
NEWSLETTER OF THE Number 39 Spring2013/5773
EDITOR'S COLUMN
MICHELLE LYNN-SACHS |[email protected]
JONATHANKRASNER–Chair
BENJACOBS–SecretaryELISCHAAP–Treasurer
OFRABACKENROTH2013ConferenceCo-ChairDAVIDBRYFMANTechnicalCommitteeCoordinatorLISAGRANTPastNetworkChairCAROLINGALLEmergingScholarsAwardandPastNetworkChairMEREDITHKATZ2013ConferenceProgramChairJEFFKRESSImmediatePastNetworkChair
RACHELLERNERGraduateStudentLiaisonMICHELLELYNN-SACHSNewsletterEditorSARAHOSSEYGraduateStudentLiaisonKARENREISSMEDWED2012ConferenceCo-ChairALEXPOMSONPastNetworkChairMICHAELSHIRE2012ConferenceCo-ChairTALIZELKOWICZ2012ConferenceProgramChair
MICHAELZELDINSeniorEditor, Journal of Jewish Education
ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE OBTAINED by contacting NRJE at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
One West Fourth Street | New York, NY 10012 c/o Beth Lutzker-Levick
212.824.2299 | [email protected]
MICHELLELYNN-SACHS
NEWSLETTERDESIGNNicoleRay|www.nicoleray.com
Where is the NRJE ‘cafeteria?'
ARTICLESFORTHEFALL2013NEWSLETTERSHOULDREACHMICHELLELYNN-SACHSATMICHELLE.LYNN@NYU.EDUBYSEPTEMBER 10, 2013.
NETWORK EXECUTIVE
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <2>
S pring is always a busy time at the Network and this year is no exception. As you will read elsewhere in this issue,
plans are well underway for the 27th Annual Conference of the NRJE, which will take place at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Our program chair, Meredith Katz, and arrangements chair, Ofra Backenroth, have been working tirelessly on all manner of details and I know you all join me in thanking them for their efforts.
I am pleased to announce the Moshe Krakowski has agreed to coordinate our travel subsidy award program. Moshe is assistant professor at the Azrieli School of Jewish Education and Administration at Yeshiva University. I look forward to working with Moshe in the coming months. In an effort to make the application process as simple as possible the form is available online and can be submitted electronically. You can access it at http://www.nrje.org/annual-conference/2013-conference/. Please note the April 22, 2013 deadline. As in previous years, first priority will be given to graduate students and individuals presenting papers who have no institutional sources of funding.
I hope that everyone has had an opportunity to surf our newly redesigned website at http://www.nrje.org/. We have worked hard to make it both attractive and user friendly. In the coming months we hope to add more content, including an enhanced graduate student network section and a blog. Discussions are also underway about creating a more robust online component of the Journal for Jewish Education. Likewise, we have tried to create a more convenient conference registration process by moving to an online electronic submission process with secure online payment through Paypal. Remember that membership runs from January-December and that you must be a 2013 member in order to register for the conference.
Behind the scenes, we have also been tending to the business side of the NRJE, including moving our account to a more convenient bank with better customer service and lower fees. Much of the credit for the website, accounting, and day-to-day operations goes to my invaluable partner at the Network, our administrative coordinator Beth Lutzker-Levick.
As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch with any suggestions and concerns. I look forward to greeting you in June!
Best, Jonathan KrasnerNRJE Chair
FROM THE CHAIRJONATHAN KRASNER | [email protected]
from the NRJE Chair
JONATHANKRASNER
▶ Our next themed issue – this one on Jewish Early Childhood Education – is in the works. We received the highest number of intents to submit we have ever received for a themed issue and are looking forward to publishing an issue that will be a valuable contribution to the field.
▶ Because of the Journal’s impressive reputation, we have been approached by the Covenant Foundation to underwrite the cost of our themed issue on Jewish Early Childhood Education. We are proud that both the Mandel and Covenant Foundations recognize our successes through their financial support.
▶ We are pleased to announce that, thanks to our Covenant Foundation support, this year we will be able to offer not just a one issue gift to all 2013 graduates of Jewish Education programs (as we have done the past two years), but a full one-year subscription to all new graduates.
▶ Looking ahead…During 2014 we will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Journal. Special articles and issues are being planned, as well announcement of a new Journal project and a celebration at the 2014 NRJE conference.
Journal of Jewish EducationUpdateSUE KITTNER HUNTTING | [email protected]
REFLECTIONS
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <3>
from the NRJE ChairCONFERENCE OF THE NRJE
OFRA BACKENROTH |[email protected] KATZ | [email protected]
NRJE AWARDS COMMITTEECAROL INGALL | [email protected]
As most of you know, we bestow two awards to members of our professional organization. The Emerging Scholar Award is given to a student who is working on his or her doctoral dissertation. Our newest award is the NRJE Research Award, created to honor the author of an outstanding article or book chapter that makes a signal contribution to the research literature in Jewish education. Both awards are not only prestigious, but include monetary recognition as well.
If you are a doctoral student whose dissertation research is underway or if you mentor doctoral students, please consult the NRJE for information about
the application process. If you have read a research article or chapter written by a scholar or practitioner who received his or her doctorate within the past 6 years, please encourage that author to apply for the the Research Award. If you are in that category (untenured scholar/practitioner who has received a doctorate in 2007 or later) and have written an article that you think meets the criteria for the Research Award, you are welcome to self-nominate. Please consult the NRJE website for the requisite forms (http://www.nrje.org/awards/). Application for both awards must be made by April 7, 2013.
Members of the Awards Committee include Isa Aron, Shani Bechhofer, Shira Epstein, Carol K. Ingall, Miriam Heller Stern, Harold Wechsler, and Sivan Zakai.
27th Annual
The Davidson/JTS community is looking forward to welcoming you to the 27th Annual Conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education this June 2-4 in New York. The conference program is quickly taking shape and draws on the rich diversity of perspectives of our members. Many thanks to those who submitted proposals and participated in the review process in order to enhance this year's program.
Conference registration materials are now available at www.nrje.org and are due by May 20. Spread the word among your colleagues and students! Please note that conference participants must be current in their NRJE membership. An application for a limited number of travel subsidies can also be found under the “Conferences” menu on the Network website.
With any further questions contact Meredith Katz, Program Chair ([email protected]) or Ofra Backenroth, Local Arrangements Chair ([email protected]).
Looking forward to seeing you in June!
AT THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK
June 2-4, 2013
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <4>
Students explore and engage with Israel
The Davidson School's Visions and Voices of Israel Seminar took place this January for the eighth time.
This year's trip was, as usual, fascinating, envelope-pushing, inspiring, and challenging; and even more topically-charged than ever, with the Israeli elections taking place just days after its end. One of the core goals of Visions and Voices is to expose students to a variety of Israeli voices and to open up issues that they may not have thought about before. As we walked through Barta'a, an Arab town in the Galilee which was bizarrely split in two by the Green Line, as we watched Israeli kids do morning yoga in their school classroom, as we met educators working to empower under-privileged youth, as we explored Tel Aviv using constructivist educational approaches, as we heard a Russian TV journalist talk about her life and work, as we watched an Arab-Jewish youth circus demonstrate a different model of co-existence education, as we grappled as a group with our own complex and differing reactions to male-female segregation by Ultra-Orthodox Jews on Egged bus lines, as we sang and prayed together at the Robinson's Arch section of the Kotel, and as we spent Shabbat with a group of Israeli students from David Yellin College... as we did all those things, and more, we expanded our thinking about Israel and deepened our relationship with it.
Developing a complex relationship with Israel is not
always easy. When you see a tapestry from above, you only see one simple picture. But when you see the tapestry of Israeli society from ground level, from within and inside the tapestry itself, you get to see the individual threads, the different colors tied together, the warp and the weave of the cloth. You can feel the quality of the thread with your fingers, but you also get to touch the bits of dust and dirt
that have accumulated. Ultimately, we have faith that this kind of educational engagement with Israel will lead to stronger and more robust connections with it. In the words of one student, reflecting at the end of the Seminar: "My relationship with Israel is more complex and complicated than it was before, and I know that I need to keep exploring this relationship." That's what Visions and Voices is about.
You can read more of our students' reflections on Visions and Voices at the Davidson School in Israel blog: http://davidsonschoolinisrael.wordpress.com.
News from the Davidson School
OFRA BACKENROTH | [email protected]
“My relationship with Israel is more complex and complicated than it was before, and I know that I need to keep exploring this relationship.”
Students on the Davidson School's Visions and Voices of Israel Seminar in January.
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <5>
SHARON FEIMAN-NEMSER’s book, Teachers as Learners (Harvard Education Press, 2012), received an Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book category from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. The book’s essays trace Sharon’s impact on the development of the field of research on teacher education and teacher learning as a field of scholarly inquiry in the educational research community. She recently delivered the Distinguished Educator Lecturer at the annual meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators.
JON A. LEVISOHN delivered the Aaron-Roland Lecture at Stanford University in January, titled "Who's Afraid of Assimilation? Rethinking the Purposes of the Jewish Education for the 21st Century." The talk was based on his recent article, "Rethinking the Education of Cultural Minorities to and from Assimilation: A Perspective from Jewish Education," in Diaspora and Indigenous Minority Education (DIME) 7:1 (2013). He has
also contributed the entry on "Jewish Educational Philosophy" to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy. In February, he delivered a paper, "Jewish Education as an Education in the Practices of Judaism,” at the Melton Coalition’s Conference on The Transmission of Jewish Culture Outside the Classroom.
ERAN TAMIR, director of the Delet Longitudinal Survey and the Choosing to Teach Study has recently published the article, What keeps teachers in and what drives them out: Findings from a longitudinal comparative case-based study of beginning teachers in urban-public, urban-Catholic, and Jewish day schools [Teachers College Record 2013, 115(6)].
ORIT KENT and ALLISON COOK of the Beit Midrash Research Project have recently launched a design experiment with 7th graders in a Jewish supplementary school to study how these students are inducted into havruta inspired pedagogy and a curriculum focused on Jewish text based learning in dyads.
FROM THE MANDEL CENTER FOR STUDIES IN JEWISH EDUCATION AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITYNEWS
SUSANNE SHAVELSON |[email protected]
News from Yeshiva University – Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration
SUSAN ROSENBERG |[email protected]
Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration launched an online program in Jewish Education this spring. Students residing in Santiago, Chile, Canada, and all over the United States have entered the online classrooms enabling them to study with Azrieli professors from their home computers. Azrieli Online brings Jewish Education into the 21st century.
Azrieli is still accepting applications for the next cohort of students to enter the Accelerated Master’s Program in the fall of 2013. The one year, full time program balances intensive course study alongside practical teaching experience in Jewish Day School classrooms. Generous scholarships are awarded through the Jim Joseph Foundation.
Other master’s opportunities, e.g. the part-time Jewish Education program, NYS teacher certification programs, and the dual MS/MA degree with Bernard Revel Graduate School, offer real-time and blended online coursework.
Detailed information on all Azrieli Master’s programs and the online application can be accessed at: http://yu.edu/azrieli/
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
SHIRAH W. HECHT, PH.D. is currently teaching Educational Research: Practice and Theory online for the Graduate Program at Gratz College, with students pursuing their Ph.D. in Jewish Education.
THE DAVIDSON SCHOOL IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS THROUGH
MAY 1, FOR KESHER HADASH FOR JANUARY 2014.
Please click here or contact Davidson School Director of Admissions Abby Eisenberg at 212-678-8022 or [email protected]
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <6>
LEORA ISAACS | [email protected]
On January 29th, JESNA launched the first in a series of convenings on "Creating the Future of Complementary Education," bringing together a broad range of stakeholders to explore innovative models and build networks of change leaders across the field. Held in New York City, this first convening drew a capacity crowd of more than 100 on-site participants and another 130 participants on-line. At the convening, JESNA also unveiled the InnovationXChange, an interactive online compendium of new program models and resources.
The next convening, entitled, "It Takes a Community," was held in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 19th and was co-sponsored by the BJE in Los Angeles and the LA Federation. Increasingly, we are recognizing that it takes a community effort to create an "ecosystem" of high quality learning opportunities geared to our diverse population in order to make complementary education a compelling and rewarding
experience. This second convening explored how stakeholders are joining in new configurations to forge a better future for complementary education, and how the lessons they are learning can be put to work in your community.
The final convening in this series is planned for May 22nd in Montreal and will focus on putting the pieces from the first two convenings together to begin to build a network for systemic change in complementary education.
The convenings are being held as part of the Jewish Futures series of conferences and convenings, co-produced by JESNA and the Jewish Education Project. Co-sponsors are the Association of Directors of Central Agencies, National Association of Temple Educators, Jewish Educators Assembly, Reconstructionist Educators of North America, NewCAJE, Builders of Jewish Education and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
Please visit our webpage www.jesna.org to see a recording of our first two convenings.
SHARON AVNI | [email protected]
We are pleased to announce the publication of a special issue titled Rethinking Jewish Education in the Journal of Diaspora, Minority, and Indigenous Education (Volume 7, Issue 1, 2013). Co-edited by Sharon Avni and Zvi Bekerman, this issue includes an editors’ introduction and four thought-provoking articles that challenge long-standing assumptions about the content and purpose of Jewish education.
The first article by Kelly Train looks at the history of the establishment of a Sephardic day school in Toronto as part of a communal effort to re-signify “Jewish” by tracing the asymmetric social relations between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews through school-instituted speech, texts, clothing and other pedagogical practices. Moshe Krakowski focuses on the socializing mechanism by which ultra-Orthodox communities in the United States construct and reproduce highly restrictive boundaries for being Jewish while at the
same time confront modernity and its concomitant openness. In the third article, Ben Jacobs argues against traditional types of Jewish citizenship education, and calls for Jewish educators to turn their attention to “Jewish cosmopolitan education,” which entails preparing Jewish youth to become not only good citizens of the Jewish community, but also of the world. In the final article, Jon Levisohn explodes the myth that assimilatory practices are inherently disruptive and dangerous to Jewish life and argues that Jewish educators should question whether these practices can also be a pathway to communal growth, creativity and innovation.
As a whole, this issue makes a significant contribution to Jewish educational scholarship, and also contributes to the broader discussion within diaspora and minority education that grapples with the intersection of cultural and religious reproduction and educational practices as they change and react in the fluxes of the broader discourses of religious/cultural education in modernity.
JESNA launches series of convenings to explore innovation and build networks
Announcing special issue of Journal of Diaspora, Minority, and Indigenous Education
spring 2013 >>> the network for research in jewish education <7>
Announcing special issue of Journal of Diaspora, Minority, and Indigenous Education
C ASJE is excited to announce its most recent development: The launch of a working group looking at the economic
sustainability of the Jewish educational enterprise. The working group, co-chaired by Professors Ari Kelman (Jim Joseph Chair in Education and Jewish Studies, Stanford University School of Education) and Rachel Friedberg (Senior Lecturer, Brown University Department of Economics) launched in early December 2012. Working group members include: Eric Bettinger (Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Education); Gary Gross (Co President, Gross Builders); Gil Preuss (Vice President of Strategy and Planning, Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies); Harlene Appelman (Executive Director, Covenant Foundation), Jeremy Fingerman (Chief Executive Officer, The Foundation for Jewish Camp); Jonathan Krasner (Associate Professor of the American Jewish Experience, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York); Mark Charendoff (President, Maimonides Fund); Michael Bohnen (Chair, Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education); Rob Reich (Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University School of Education); Sandy Edwards (Associate Director, Jim Joseph Foundation); Toby Rubin (Founder and CEO, UpStart Bay Area).
The mandate of this working group is to explore the broad question: Does Jewish education in North America have the resources and infrastructure it needs to continue serving people and communities in the 21st century? Jewish education, particularly the kind that relies on intensive experiences (summer camp, day school) is very resource-intensive for both consumers and producers. The emergence of “free” alternatives or supplements (Taglit-Birthright, PJ Library, and so on) have altered the landscape somewhat, but they are not exactly “free” either, though they appear that way to consumers. By looking at the entire network of stakeholders in Jewish education – families, schools, camps, foundations, researchers, communal institutions, innovators, museums, synagogues, and so on – we aim to better understand the dynamics between them, asking: can the constellation of consumers, producers, funders and institutions continue in its current form? Does it need to be changed? If so, how? How might other environmental concerns about the economic status of Jewish families in North America impact how Jewish education should look in the future?
The working group is grounded in an exploration of the
financial solvency of Jewish education. Most current thinking takes a microeconomic perspective: affordability from the perspective of families; fiscal health from the perspective of institutions. The working group’s charge is to consider things from a macroeconomic perspective, to consider the entire ecosystem made up of families, communities, funders, and providers of Jewish education (schools, camps, etc.). Each of these groups must make decisions about how best to allocate
their resources in the face of changing demographics, levels of engagement, finances, etc. To think about sustainability, they will need to think about issues such as:
• Incentives the system currently presents• Opportunity costs of decision-makers • Externalities• Spreading fixed costs over many users• Which parts of the system are subsidizing others• Which interventions have the highest return on investmentCurrently, the working group is reaching out to its networks
to help develop high impact areas of focus. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a robust research agenda that outlines pressing questions and methods for examining them. The challenge is to stay focused on applied research and generate usable knowledge for those stakeholders whose actions can positively impact the ecosystem as a whole.
CASJE
Since its launch nearly two years ago, CASJE has connected to over 350 practitioners, funders and researchers in Jewish education. Even as the Sustainability group begins its work, the pilot, “design experiment” phase of CASJE nears its end. We are currently planning for the next phase of the project and we are hopeful that we will receive the support to move CASJE forward as the hub of an effort to build the capacity for, production of, and dissemination of high quality applied research in Jewish education.
Introducing CASJE Working Group on Sustainability of Jewish EducationRAFAEL CASHMAN and FRAYDA GONSHOR COHEN [email protected]|[email protected]
CONSORTIUM FOR APPLIED STUDIES IN JEWISH EDUCATION (CASJE)
Does Jewish education in North
America have the resources and
infrastructure it needs to continue
serving people and communities
in the 21st century?
Recommended
