Measuring Success

Federation commissions an evaluation of the Agency for Jewish Education.

JULIE WIENER

Staff Writer

I is report card time, but not for
tilt kids.
Next week, professionals
from the New York-based
Jewish Education Service of North
America (JESNA) will launch a three-
month study to assess the Agency for
Jewish Education's (AJE) success in
carrying out the recommendations of
+-he Giles Report, which was issued six
years ago.
The 1992 Giles Report — issued
by the Jewish Education Planning
Committee of the Jewish Federation

announced his resignation, Neistein
said it is "propitious timing" to launch
the evaluation while the community
searches for a new director.
"If there are new things to commu-
nicate to a new person, then we'll be
able to start fresh," he said. Gelberd
took the helm of the AJE in 1992,
several months after the Giles Report
was released.
A number of Giles Report recom-
mendations, such as "strengthening"
the Midrasha (adult education depart-
ment) and continuing to offer college-
credit courses, have not been carried
out. In addition, although the Giles
Report recommended maintaining a

Students at Temple Kol Ami: A new study will evaluate AJE's services.

of Metropolitan Detroit — outlined a
strategy for recasting the AJE from the
direct service model of United Hebrew
Schools to an agency that works pri-
marily through other service providers.
'Among the Giles Report recom-
mendations was a call for an assess-
ment later," said Howard Neistein,
Federation's director of planning and
agency relations. 'And it's later."
Although the evaluation had been
planned before February, when AJE
Executive Director Howard Gelberd

centralized high school program,
Detroit's community high school was
disbanded in 1993, leaving synagogues
to plan their own teen education pro-
grams.
However, other recommendations
— such as professional development
workshops for teachers, Israel trips for
teens and expanded special education
resources — have been implemented.
Leora Isaacs, JESNA's director of
research and evaluation, praised
Detroit for launching the study.

"We'll be looking at where you are,
where you thought you'd be, and •
whether the old goals are still the right
goals," she said. "It's a very healthy
thing for a community to do."
Isaacs said she will solicit informa-
tion from Detroit's educational and
congregational leadership as well as
parents, teachers and students affected
by specific AJE projects.
Federation President Bob Naftaly
said the evaluation is part and parcel
of the Federation's ongoing assess-
ments of its services. "All our services
need to be looked at periodically to
make sure they're serving the public
efficiently," he said. 'As we go into the
21st century, we
v , need to know if we
are providing ser-
vices that the syna-
gogues and educa-
tional community
need."
AJE President
Lynda Giles, whose
husband Conrad
chaired the commit-
tee that drafted the
Giles Report, said
the evaluation will -
not just benefit the
AJE, but the entire
community.
"The process has
two prongs: one,
showing how effec-
tive we are, and two,
letting the commu-
nity look at itself in
terms of the value
it's placed on Jewish
education and the
role education
should be playing. I
think we'll learn a
lot," she said.
The study has been commissioned
by Federation, said Neistein, but the
oversight will be shared between AJE
and Federation, and the final evaluation
will be presented both to the AJE board
and Federation's planning division.
Independent of the evaluation,
which will cost $7,000 plus expenses,
JESNKs director of human resources
and development has begun assisting
the AJE in its search for a new execu-
tive director. El

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3/13
1998

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