Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education

NESS

Overview

Nurturing Excellence in Synagogue Schools (NESS) is the Philadelphia Jewish community's response to the crisis of escalating student drop-out rates from synagogue schools. In 2002, Dr. Sharon Ravitch, then a consultant at the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education (ACAJE), conducted research that demonstrated that escalating drop-out rates are a direct result of students' school experiences prior to becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Such attrition puts these children “at risk” for not developing and maintaining a positive Jewish identity.

In Philadelphia, 85% of children who receive a Jewish education do so in synagogue schools. Therefore, the future of Jewish life in our community depends on how successful children's experiences are in these schools. These experiences, starting early in a child's life, will make a difference in whether a child grows into an adult who wants to be active in his or her Jewish community, who sees Jewish learning as a life-long endeavor, and who sees his or her Jewish identity as something to be cherished and passed on to the next generation.

To address this challenge, the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education, in consultation with FOUNDATIONS, Inc., a national non-profit organization that specializes in extended day enrichment programs, prepared a proposal for a program that would foster excellence in synagogue schools. A panel of experts from secular and Jewish education was invited to respond to the proposal, the results of which became the NESS Initiative.

NESS is a four-year, whole-school, on-site intervention, custom-designed to meet the needs of each synagogue school. All schools in the Greater Philadelphia area were invited to apply. Through a rigorous selection process, six schools were chosen to pilot the program from 2003 - 2006. Selection was based on diversity of size, location, movement, experience of the educational director, the challenges presented by, and the assets of each school. What was learned from the pilot program provided an invaluable and unique opportunity to understand how synagogue schools throughout the country can improve and succeed. It is for this reason that NESS is seen nationally as a cutting-edge model for change, one that is being supported by national as well as local donors.

The Initiative has expanded to a second cohort of schools that is reaping the benefits of standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

The goal of the NESS Initiative is to strengthen synagogue schools through professional development for teachers, leadership development for educational directors, and training in organizational development strategies for synagogue and school lay leaders.  NESS achieves this goal by strengthening synagogue schools within a holistic systemic model of supplementary school education.  It is a system that enables the entire synagogue school system to envision, create, and maintain long-term change.  While other change inititiatives may have included some, or even many, similar components, NESS is unique because of the planned, systemic interconnection of these components, which leads to a well-aligned, unified, and focused program that can effectively and efficiently reach its goals.  The program promotes a change in the very culture of the school and synagogue.

By redesigning our approach to synagogue school education, we will: (1) provide our youth with an engaging, meaningful, and enjoyable Jewish education; (2) help our youth develop strong Jewish identities and increase their commitment to active involvement in the Jewish community; and (3) encourage our youth to continue their Jewish learning and involvement beyond their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Through NESS , we can produce a generation of Jewish youth who are proud to be Jews and eager to participate in the Jewish world.

 

What is most unique about the program is its comprehensiveness. NESS incorporates :

•  The deliberate integration of six educationally sound components that together can create school change.

•  An innovative collaboration by a secular and a Jewish educational institution [ACAJE and FOUNDATIONS, Inc.) that have designed the program.

•  An assessment of a school's assets and limitations through a standardized instrument that generates individualized recommendations for school improvement and tracks the school's progress.

•  An ongoing, intensive training program for teachers and educational directors incorporating innovative teaching strategies, cutting-edge curricula, and Jewish content, as well as techniques for integrating them appropriately, in order to capture the interest of today's students.

•  Opportunities for teachers to practice these newly acquired strategies under the guidance of NESS-trained educational directors.

•  Ongoing professional training for educational directors, enabling them to become more effective leaders and change-agents in their own schools.

•  The intentional creation of a community of learners among the NESS professionals and lay leaders.

•  The active involvement of the synagogue community – the rabbi, cantor, educational director, education committee, synagogue board, parents, and students – in the process of planning for and implementing school change.

•  Generous stipends or college credits for teachers and educational directors, compensating them for their professional time.

•  Ongoing, intensive, external evaluation of the entire program, as well as of each of its components, throughout the duration of the program, affording the opportunity to make adjustments as the program proceeds, as well as providing information that will facilitate replication of the program in Philadelphia and other Jewish communities throughout the United States .

•  The active, continuing involvement of a carefully selected advisory committee of Jewish education professionals and lay leaders.

The six components of the NESS Initiative are seamlessly woven into a well-aligned and unified program. The Director of the Initiative is in regular contact with the facilitators of each of the program components, working with them to design each of the components, sharing materials and techniques, and making certain that each component reflects the focus of the Initiative as a whole. These components are:

 

1. Professional  Development Seminar for Teachers

2. Leadership Development Seminar (LDS)

3.  Program for Organizational Development (POD)

4. Curriculum Development Project

5. Parent and Family Engagement

6. Jewish School Assessment School Improvement Process (JSASIP)

 

 

The six NESS pilot schools were:

Adath Israel (Merion Station), Beth Israel of Chester County (Uwchland), Old York Road Temple-Beth Am (Abington), Congregation Or Ami (Lafayette Hill), Shaare Shamayim-Beth Judah (Philadelphia), Temple Judea of Bucks County (Doylestown).

The second cohort of NESS schools includes:

Beth Am Israel (PennValley) , Beth David Reform Congregation (Gladwyne) , Beth Sholom Congregation (Elkins Park), Har Zion Temple (Penn Valley), Temple Sinai (Dresher), and Tiferet Bet Israel (Blue Bell).

 

 

 

Please direct all questions to Anita Block, Director of the NESS Initiative, at 215-635-8940, ext. 1235 or ablock@acaje.org.