HaYidion: RAVSAK's Journal of Jewish Education: Size Matters

Source: HaYidion – Summer 2014

This issue of HaYidion is devoted to the effects of the size of Jewish community day schools on their impact. This issue of HaYidion will make the case that Jewish community day schools of all sizes have similar impact. They also have challenges, some in proportion to their size, others common to all. Unique to this issue is the inclusion of articles about schools outside of North America. One is a school enrolling more students than there are Jews in the country, and another that enrolls 80% of all Jewish children. There are several fascinating proposals advanced by our authors, including one that challenges funders to recognize the vibrancy and importance of small schools as a collectivity and to provide support nationally to ensure their continued vitality.

Regardless of size, however, day school leaders, both lay and professional, seek connections and networks. Luckily, for all of us, RAVSAK serves as the glue that binds us, and whether you are the only school in a small city or a large school with many colleagues in a major metropolis, you need those ties. Issues related to size as well as many other challenges are more easily handled when the experience and advice of others in similar situations can be accessed. Once again, RAVSAK plays an impactful role in facilitating these connections. And as we know, impact matters much more than size in the day school world.

• Small Schools, Big Challenges, Bigger Opportunities 
  N. Shira Brown 

  Forty-two of the 130 schools in the RAVSAK network of Jewish community day schools are considered “small,” enrolling fewer than 100 children. Yet the role they play in the bigger picture of Jewish education is just beginning to be recognized and appreciated.

• Small School Bigger Job
  Elaine Cohen

  Cohen describes the long list of expectations that small-school heads often confront, and the inner resources they need for their role. Her advice is geared especially for boards to help their heads succeed in this daunting work.

• Financial Challenges and Opportunities for Jewish Day Schools in Small Communities 
  Daniel Perla

  Small schools often find themselves in an economic bind, having much less revenue and comparable expenses compared to larger schools. Here is a diagnosis and some suggested remedies. 

•  18: The Chai Year Transitioning from Growth to Sustainability
  Mark L. Goldstein and Marilyn Forman Chandler

  In small Jewish communities, day schools and federations need to work together fully as partners that strengthen each other. Here are a number of important ways to connect these silos.

• Making the Most of Technology in Small Schools
  Russel Neiss

  The author argues that for all that they may lack in funding for technology, small schools may have an advantage in getting it right: introducing technology where and when it supports strong education.

• Jewish Learning for What?
  Jonathan Woocher

  The letter C appears to have assumed an especially prominent place in discourse about education today. There is, of course, the Common Core, the latest attempt to define and implement a set of national standards for what students should know and, even more importantly, be able to do with that knowledge, with a strong emphasis on so-called higher order thinking skills. And, there are, in various configurations, the four (or five, or six, or seven) Cs that name critical “21st century learning” skills, items such as creativity, collaboration, curiosity, communication, critical thinking, cross-cultural understanding, and others that have been suggested, seen as vital for students to be able to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

• A Small Jewish Community and Its Day School: A Jewish Social Contract
  Joshua Elkin

  While this portrait is adapted from a larger case study project developed for the AVI CHAI Foundation, which focuses on strengthening the Judaic mission of day schools, all articles in this section are studies of day school adaptability, ingenuity and foresight.

• A Small Jewish Community with a Big Educational Impact
  Raquel Katzkowicz

  The Jewish community in Quito, Ecuador, has found an original formula for education for all with a distinctly Jewish secular atmosphere.

• Meeting a Need by Addressing Special Need
  Interview with Ilana Ruskay-Kidd

  The head of a new school for students with language-based disabilities explains the kinds of conversations, choices and relationships that have informed the school’s vision and formation.

• A Primer for School Growth
  Daniel Alter

  The joy of watching a day school grow comes with a great many challenges that are often unanticipated and difficult to prepare for. Alter offers a roadmap based on his school’s own navigation of this process.

• School Grows in Washington: Insights on Opening a Second Campus
  Ronit Greenstein

  The move from one campus to two solves space issues while challenging a school’s sense of unity and intimacy among students and faculty. Greenstein describes changes and innovations her school developed to meet these challenges.

• Endowment A Strong Base of Funding for the Future
  Lynn W. Raviv

  Raviv portrays the different ways that a school endowment can strengthen a small school. Besides sustainability, endowments can drive educational growth, community building and much more.

• Tuning the Choir: The Multicampus School
  Geoff Cohen and David Ginsberg

  In this piece, the authors describe the administration of the largest RAVSAK member, Cape Town’s Herzlia with 10 campuses.

• Leading Large Jewish Day Schools: Seeking Answers Together
  Mitchel Malkus

  Malkus, a new head at one of the largest American day schools, has undertaken an initiative to engage leaders of large schools in a discussion to share challenges and successes. Here are some common threads thus far.

• Sizing Things Up: Two Leaders of Large Day Schools Share What Works
  Shana Harris and Cathy Lowenstein

  Two leaders of large schools in Canada exchange reminiscences about their careers and thoughts about the components that have enabled them to succeed and their schools to thrive.