Section archive - Trends in Jewish Education

Pam Edelman writes about programs created by a small but growing vanguard of families addressing the Jewish educational needs of their children. She asks: Who are the parents behind these initiatives? What do they have in common? How might their actions inform the transformation of Jewish education?

Eran Tamir, a senior research associate at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, criticizes research methods currently employed in evaluation research of Jewish education initiatives. He suggests that researchers should build on each other’s work and create over time well-established and validated measures, ultimately yielding more dependable information regarding program impact, inform funding decisions, and advance knowledge and understanding.

There are two key issues associated with assessment in educational settings: the goals of assessment and the techniques employed in assessment. In this paper, Levi Cooper explores some of the stated goals of formal assessment in traditional Jewish educational institutions.

Since its establishment in 2006, Jewish Spirit (Ruach Yehudit) has become Israel's largest and leading educational program in the field of Jewish identity. The central goal of the program is experiential learning of basic Jewish values through emphasis on the Zionist dimension and the relevance of Jewish values to modern society. The Jewish Spirit staff is comprised of young academics, trained in Jewish philosophy and culture, who work in full collaboration with the schools’ professional staff. The program is currently working in over 60 schools across the country.