AVI CHAI concluded its general grant making on December 31, 2019.

Jewish Day School Thought Leadership Roundup via eJewishPhilanthropy

Posted by: Deborah Fishman

January 16, 2019

Are you looking for what’s trending in Jewish day school thought leadership? Look no further than eJewishPhilanthropy, where day school leaders have contributed many inspiring articles of late. We recommend you add the following to your reading list.

  1. “Unlocking the Potential of Jewish Day Schools” by Paul Bernstein

Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, shares Prizmah’s new five-year strategic plan. The focus is on “unlocking the potential of the inherent link between communities and Jewish day schools to secure a strong Jewish future.”

  1. “The Empowerment of the New Jewish Superhero” by Rabbi David Saiger

How do you teach your students to listen in the Judaic studies classroom – both to the texts, and to their peers? Rabbi David Saiger of Milken Community Schools in Los Angeles participated in the Pedagogy of Partnership (PoP) Day School Educator’s Institute at Hadar and shares thoughts on how “PoP helped me imagine a new reality in which our Torah study changes lives by modeling an essential practice in the world of civil discourse – true, open, listening.”

  1. “College Admissions and ‘Measuring’ Students: A Different Approach for Day Schools” by Alanna Kotler

What do you think about standardized testing, and its role in education and child development? Alanna Kotler argues that it’s time to re-think this role and suggests some innovation in how we define success and learning for our students. As one potential model for Jewish day schools to consider, she talks about the Mastery Transcript Consortium which has been adopted by Gann Academy in Boston.

  1. “In the Face of Tragedy: 10 Lessons Learned by a New Head of School” by Mark Shpall

There have been two mass shootings and a massive forest fire since Mark Shpall, Head of School of de Toledo High School in West Hills, California, assumed the headship at the start of the school year. Mark has helped lead important physical and spiritual services to local families and institutions so that people both within the school and the wider community can start the healing process.

  1. “Re-digging the Wells of the Day School Field” by Deena K. Fuchs

AVI CHAI’s Deena K. Fuchs reflects on the first-ever Day School Investor Summit, convened by Prizmah. Through wisdom from Rabbi Marc Baker of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Deena shows the power of “re-digging the wells” of the day school field, through which the convening “unearthed innovations in day schools across the country, we unpacked new paradigms for effective lay leadership, we revisited messages on day school impact, and we surfaced new philanthropic models for day school investment.”

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