Assessing The Schools Jewish education operates with little outside evaluation, but that may change. JULIE WIENER Report Card - Winter 1999 St±iffWriter A JEWISH DAY SCHOOL s Jewish federations around the country begin to invest more heavily in education, they are demanding some- thing in return: accountability. In Los Angeles, for example, the Bureau of Jewish Education soon will require all area day schools, congrega- tional schools and early childhood programs seeking Federation alloca- tions to first successfully complete an extensive accreditation process. The New York-based National Board of License for teachers and principals in Jewish schools, founded in the 1940s, says it is now stepping up efforts to certify Jewish educators throughout the country. Currently, fewer than 15 percent of Judaic stud- ies teachers are licensed. And with the formation of a corn- mission responsible for defining Detroit's overall vision for Jewish edu- cation, expectations of educational institutions may be changing here as well. Touting themselves as the remedy for Jewish continuity woes, day schools are growing in number. The United States had 625 of them in 1994, the last year for which reliable data is available. The schools' visibility and requests for community funds is also growing. Most operate with minimal scruti- ny from government regulators and Jewish federations, leaving parents to rely on word-of-mouth assessments from friends or their own impressions from visiting the schools and talking with teachers and principals. But that may change. A major national service organiza- tion for schools, the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA), is now recommending that federations link day school funding to educational quality. JESNA recently completed a highly critical report on the education support programs offered in Detroit, but that report did not address the Julie Wiener may be reached by phone at (248)354-6060 ext.247 or by e-mail at jwiener@thejewishnews.corn. . Teachers . EXCEEDS - Expectations MEETS Expectations BELOW Expectations • Support philosophies, goals of school Possess adequate formal academic training and experience Participate in ongoing staff development Curriculum - Gives instruction in Hebrew language, Bible, prayer, Jewish life and observances, rabbinic literature, Jewish values, Jewish history and social studies Has a challenging, coherent, relevant program providing all students with suitable courses of instruction and expectations Offers variety of teaching strategies that actively engage students Using a variety of data, school examines how well students perform and regularly informs all its constituencies of results Some of the standards the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education uses to evaluate Jewish day schools. issue of evaluating individual schools for funding purposes. According to Dr. Steven Brown, assis- tant dean of the Jewish Theological Seminary's graduate school of education, Conservative day schools are increasing- ly seeking accredita- tion through organi- zations like the Teacher Nancy Lauer works with students in Yeshiva Independent Schools Beth Yehudahs kindergarten._ Association of Central States (ISACS), many throughout North America, said he of which can incorporate evaluations of would like heightened scrutiny of day Judaic studies offerings. schools. The Solomon Schechter network of "There's a tendency to use the Conservative day schools mandates mantra that day schools and anything religious policies and number of class- associated with day schools is labeled room hours of its schools, but does good, but their intensity and quality not involve itself in other issues, like vary," said Prager. "We need to think staffing or curriculum. about norms." Torah Umesorah, the association of Miami's Central Agency for Jewish Orthodox day schools, has an accred- Education and Los Angeles' Bureau of iting program, but officials were not Jewish Education both address Judaic available this week to discuss how it studies in their accreditation pro- operates and what standards it sets. grams. Yossi Prager, executive director of The Los Angeles program, devel- the New York-based Avi Chai oped in 1993, works together with a Foundation, which provides over $3 secular accreditation agency that had million a year to Jewish day schools already accredited a number of area day schools, but it adds a Judaic com- ponent and assesses Hebrew schools and nursery schools as well as day schools. The program, through which 41 schools have been accredited, requires schools to provide detailed information about their curricula and describe how they address such topics as Hebrew, Bible, prayer, rabbinic literature and Jewish history. It also looks at issues such as parental involvement, board composition and faculty qualifications. To be certified, schools must hire only licensed Judaic studies instructors and compensate them according to the Bureau's pay scale, which bases salaries on an instructor's amount of experi- ence, level of education and participa- tion in professional development pro- grams. The Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education allocates $1.8 mil- lion of federation funds and $800,000 from other sources to 160 Jewish edu- cational institutions. Of that, $1.2 mil- lion goes to.the area's 37 day schools. Miami's 15-year-old accreditation program deals only with day schools. According to Dr. Raymond Bloom, director of the day school and teachers' services department at Miami's Central Agency for Jewish Education, schools "must provide us with a well-sequenced, well-structured Judaic curriculum. "We don't interfere with philosophy but expect that structure of program is appropriate and all Judaic studies teachers must be licensed by the National Board of License," he said. Miami's Jewish Federation allocates approximately $1.6 million to 10 day schools in southern Florida and con- tributes $400,000 for teachers' benefits. "This community has decided that support for day schools means not just providing money but ensuring deliv- ery of service," said Bloom. Founded in the 1940s, the National Board of License certifies Jewish instructors and has branches in 14 Jewish communities, generally under the auspices of bureaus for Jewish edu- cation. "Licensing does not guarantee good practice, but it is at least some assurance," said Dr. Alvin Schiff, a board member of the Board of License and a professor at Yeshiva . 1/8 19c, Detroit Jewish News 9