Think Tank No. 4 "A Rising Tide Raises All Boats!"

I thought that today would be our fourth and final Think Tank session on synagogue education. I thought today would be the last time I wrote an entry into this blog! Instead, today became a historic moment for Jewish education in the Greater Palm Beaches. Thankfully, after today's SSEI Community Wide Think Tank on Synagogue Education, today is the first day of our Think Tank's decision to forge ahead together...to the future and beyond! The title of today's blog is, "A rising tide raises all boats." Coined by John F. Kennedy, it describes the idea that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it. Today, our Community Wide Think Tank appropriated this expression to describe our own momentum to establish community support for synagogue school education. How apt! Creating a "well-performing economy" of commitment, collaboration and constructive ideas for synagogue school improvement, we are a tide that can raise all the synagogue boats!

Representing our education leaders, lay leaders, and clergy at yesterday's meeting, we listened to three community voices for synagogue education. After hearing our three representatives speak most about what has been meaningful to them about this year's Think Tank, the Synagogue School Enhancement Initiative, and more, the whole group agreed to pursue the following:

• Create a lay/clergy/professional team task force to explore the pros and cons between making our classrooms "fun" versus making them "serious," i.e. where learning is taken seriously
• Create additional task forces which tackle issues such as community wide goals/objectives for students, the “linking” of all the parts to make the whole in synagogue life, developing better professional support networks for teachers...the kinds of issues that we know will help us show that there is a “return on the investment” in synagogue education
• Keep the Think Tank going during the 2010-11 school year... “our continued visible involvement with the issue of synagogue education will show how committed we are to working together”
• Propose more synagogues create visions of congregational engagement
• Use the Think Tank to explore expansion of existing collaborations such as the group marketing strategy currently being developed by Congregation Beit Chaverim, Temple Israel, and Temple Beth El
• Create a community wide marketing and public relations strategy for Jewish education in our community... “a rising tide raises all boats!”

And to top it off, the Think Tank unanimously passed a motion to explore financial support of synagogue school education that includes the signatures of all the supporters--a historic moment for all!

I think I don't need to say anything more here; the Think Tank has said it all! Thank you everyone! Hag Pesah Kasher V'sameah...best wishes for a healthy and happy Passover!

Lynne

Think Tank Digging Deeper to Find What "Works" in Synagogue Schools

When it comes to schools, and everything for that matter, we are living in the age of choice. We are all part of the "consumerist" generation. Parents want what they want, and they know that they just need to find the right "fit" for their child when choosing their child's activities, and that means their child's religious education, too. And, personal relationships with families are what make their children's religious education meaningful to them. Since October, a group of lay, clergy, and professional leaders from Palm Beach community synagogues have been wrestling with the realities, the challenges, and with new ideas for improving synagogue education.

On Wednesday, February 3rd, the Think Tank presented the LIST FAMILY SCHOLAR event at Traditions of West Palm Beach. Sixty lay, clergy, and professional leaders representing twelve area synagogues, the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, CJE, and the JCC participated in the third session of the Synagogue School Enhancement Think Tank. Wednesday's session was highlighted by the List Family Endowment Scholar in Synagogue Education, Professor Jack Wertheimer. Professor Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of North America. For the past three years, he has conducted a complete census of synagogue schools in the United States and ferreted out what makes a great synagogue school. Professor Wertheimer's keynote presentation was "Schools that Work." He spoke about those characteristics common to the synagogue schools he has found in his research over the past three years that make them great schools. Common traits are found in schools which intentionally work to:

1. Develop a community among their students, staff, and parents
2. Take the study of Judaism seriously
3. Create opportunities for students to engage in experiential Jewish education
4. Align all their efforts with school goals
5. Value themselves and their students
6. Regard families as allies and clients

Overall, Professor Wertheimer noted that these traits are not effective one by one, rather only in combination together. He stressed the double meaning of the word, "work." Schools that work also work hard, he said! During the session, participants worked together in teams at their tables to discuss and share answers to these questions:
1. Do you have clearly defined objectives for your educational program?
2. Do you have a mechanism for assessing how you are meeting your objectives?
3. What are the obstacles that prevent you from having either the objectives and/or the assessment?

Everyone knows that answering these questions is no easy task. Why? Because before such questions can begin to be answered, everyone must agree that regardless of all their different possible opinions, motives, and pre-conceived thoughts on goals and objectives, they can and will come to a consensus regarding their priorities and from there, craft the answers. Once over the "consensus hump," forward movement is all "downhill!"

Professor Wertheimer inspired participants to do just that, and we look forward to meeting again on March 24th to determine together one or more action strategies we can implement collectively as a community to enhance synagogue school education in the coming year. Post your action strategies here or email us!

The Re-Imagine Tomorrow's Synagogue Education Today Think Tank met for the second time on Wednesday, December 9th. Lay, clergy, and professional leaders from the community synagogues were greatly inspired by the energy, creativity, imagination, and determination exemplified in Dave Eggers' "Once Upon a School," an after school "writers' workshop" which provides homework and tutoring assistance to children in a fun and relevant way. The Think Tank group discussed how the ideas in "Once Upon a School" might be applied in the synagogue school setting. To watch Dave Eggers receiving the TED Award for “Once Upon a School”, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaSF1gPBKrA.

The group also discussed what schools say are the most important educational goals for one’s “Jewishness” versus what students and parents say is most important for one's Judaism. We learned what the research says, too!

In “A Census of Jewish Supplementary Schools in the United States 2006–2007,” (Avi Chai Foundation 2008, see pages 5 and 21) Professor Jack Wertheimer reports that when schools were surveyed about their goals for education, the five top answers were:

1. 31% giving students positive Jewish experiences

2. 18% Hebrew reading for participation in prayer services

3. 11% teaching about holidays and ritual

4. 10% preparing children to live as decent people, i.e. to be menschen

5. 9% inspiring children to observe rituals

Schools’ sixth top goal was:

7% preparing students for bar or

mitzvah.

We also know from the research that, though not separately surveyed, it appears as if parents of supplementary school students place a very high priority on the bar and bat mitzvah since there is a precipitous decrease in student enrollment immediately following seventh grade (see page 10). Meeting in focus groups during the 2006-07 year of the Synagogue School Enhancement Initiative, parents were asked why they end their children to synagogue school. The predominant answer was: “I send my kids to synagogue school to learn Jewish values.” In addition to parent focus groups, 68 sixth grade students in three synagogue schools were asked to rate the most important ideas/aspects contributing to the strength of their “Jewishness” using this list of identity markers:

1. Being part of a Jewish community

2. Caring about Israel

3. Observing Jewish law (Halakha)

4. Celebrating the holidays

5. Celebrating Shabbat

6. Making the world a better place

7. Going to synagogue

8. Believing in God

9. Learning about Jewish history and culture

10. Learning Hebrew

11. Giving Tzedakah

12. Going to Hebrew School

13. Having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah

14. Hanging out with other Jews

The students responded with the following markers as their top five choices:

1. 86% belief in God

2. 86% care for Israel

3. 80% achieving a bar or bat mitzvah

4. 80% making the world a better place

5. 78% celebrating Jewish holidays

Our SSEI Think Tank is a positive, exciting community wide forum that is helping us discuss facts and issues related to synagogue education. It is the involvement and efforts of our lay leaders, clergy, and professionals who will create the Jewish education of the future for over 70% of our children. Be part of creating the change! Join us at our next Re-Imagine Tomorrow’s Synagogue Education Today session on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 when Professor Jack Wertheimer will be with us in person.

Re-imagine Tomorrow's Synagogue Education Think Tank Launched!

Tomorrow's synagogue school can't look like today's synagogue school! The strength of our community's synagogue school education programs lies in our ability to work together to create exciting, innovative, and compelling programs. We are creating the synagogue school of tomorrow!

On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 the Friedman Commission for Jewish Education's Synagogue School Enhancement Initiative launched a community wide Think Tank about the future of Jewish Education in synagogues in the Greater Palm Beaches (GPB). THANK YOU to all the lay, clergy, and professional leaders of our community's synagogues who joined together at CJE to begin the conversation. As we continue our series in the Think Tank, I invite you here to brainstorm, comment, discuss, and blog your thoughts about how our community can best meet the needs of educating its children.

On Oct. 28th we reviewed the current state of synagogue education in the GPB. We took a hard look at our community's general demographics as well as the recent enrollment statistics, our teachers, and some program elements. After the presentation we began by asking ourselves some not-so-easy questions:

What did we think and how did we feel about the demographic information and enrollments stats? What works in our synagogue schools? What could be improved? What are our biggest challenges? How can we work together collectively to improve the quality of Jewish education?

And, we took notes about what everyone said:

Our reactions were:
"Relief regarding the demographic numbers...Each of us is not alone...Reduction in enrollment related to global decrease in birthrate?...Many more kids on financial assistance now...Worry about the 58% who are not coming...Parents don’t care...Our area has always been seen/understood as 'under-engaged'"

We said this about what works:
"Aggressive outreach...One to one outreach...Quality programs, parents and kids together...Engaging...Invite parents into classrooms..Feeling, spirit, charisma"

We can work together on:
"Collaborate together with existing example of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El...Changing the 'mindset' about synagogue education in our community...To understand what parents want...Create cutting edge, community wide curriculum (with technology) to share...Make 'community' compelling...Make Jewish education a priority in the community...The quality of the teachers’ skill set...Create community investment in building Jewish education through synagogues and synagogue participation"

We also said we'd be willing to come back to continue the conversation! The second session is on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at CJE when we will look at a radical and very innovative model for "school!"

Meanwhile, see Professor Jack Wertheimer's recent work on the state of supplemental Jewish education in North America by accessing these articles: "Recent Trends in Supplementary Jewish Education," "A Census of Jewish Supplementary Schools in the United States 2006-2007," and "Schools That Work."

So join me here in this blog by adding your thoughts, comments, ideas, and suggestions! And join us live at the Think Tank and Re-imagine NOW!

Create the change; don't react to the change!

Lynne