Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education

Organizational Development

Designated School Program

Designated School Program:
A Multi-Year Intensive Consultation Program

If your synagogue is interested in getting involved in an intensive, multi-year process to restructure and strengthen your supplementary school, you might be interested in ACAJE’s innovative consultation service called the Designated School Program. Please read the description that follows and feel free to contact ACAJE for more information.

Introduction:
The main goal of the Designated School Program (DSP), is to work intensively with lay and professional education leaders to improve their religious school’s infrastructure. This is accomplished through engaging in program components such as achieving shared vision and mission statements, improving School Committee functioning, teacher education and leadership development. The DSP process prepares the synagogue for planning and implementing improved direct Jewish educational programs and services in the supplementary school.

Educational theory and experience suggest that several organizational and programmatic factors have mediating roles in the improvement process. With this in mind, the DSP model consists of ten stages that are designed to build and/or restructure the educational organization’s infrastructure (described in the following pages). Only those areas which the educational lay and professional leadership deem in need of review and change become a part of the process to achieve a committee’s stated goals. Success of the DSP is contingent upon the willingness of all participants to "buy-in" to the need for the DSP and the process of working together to improve the educational organization.

The DSP model is based in part on a "systems" model of organizational development, which works from the perspective that every synagogue group and each individual member have a role in helping the congregation to achieve its shared vision and mission. Therefore, every congregant is offered the opportunity to participate in shaping these statements. In turn, their "buy-in" to the change process is more likely; their connection to their synagogue community enhanced. People are the synagogue’s richest asset and need to feel that they can relate to the educational vision. Cooperation, communication, community and inclusion are among the values emphasized in all DSP processes. A high premium is placed upon unifying people, groups and programs. The shared educational vision and mission must also be compatible with those of the general congregation.

The DSP Steering Committee (DSPSC) is comprised of a representative group of educational professional and lay leaders from within the synagogue. The DSPSC is mandated by the synagogue’s Board of Directors to carefully consider all aspects of the religious education program and determine areas in need of change. The DSPSC then proposes educational areas on which to focus its attention. The congregation’s newly created and/or revised shared educational vision and mission statements guide all of the DSPSC’s discussions, recommendations and action planning.

The following is a list of the components of the DSP, designed to assist the synagogue school in achieving its goals:

Creating/Revising a Shared Educational Vision and Mission
Setting goals: Synagogue Educational Self-Review
(i.e., Ask "What do we have?" "What do we want?" "How do we achieve the difference?")
Restructuring the Religious School Committee
Teacher Education: Creating a Classroom Kehilla (Community)
Curriculum Review and Revision: Structure, Process and Implementation
Developing Educational Staff Performance Materials
Developing/Expanding Family Education Programs/Committee
Committee and Leadership Development: Volunteerism, Partnership and Succession
Integration (i.e., Becoming an Educational System; Creating and Implementing a Supraeducation Committee)

The DSP Steering Committee creates an action plan for school improvement, aligned with mission and educational goals.

General Overview:
The Designated School Program (DSP), a unique concept in Jewish education designed by ACAJE, assists selected supplementary schools in their efforts to develop/improve their educational organization’s infrastructure in preparation for planning and implementing improved educational programs and services. Each Designated School works intensively with an ACAJE consultant over a two-year period. Through the completion of DSP components, the following goals can be accomplished:

The religious school will be integrated into the larger system and the mainstream of synagogue life;
The synagogue education organization will function as a system in which all committees work collaboratively to advance the synagogue’s educational mission. Planning and implementing educational programs and services will become more process-oriented and will be characterized by effective communication and shared decision-making. These qualities will be valued, practiced and institutionalized throughout the educational organization;
Family education curriculum and programming will be designed to reflect the need for the synagogue to engage adults as well as children in Jewish learning so that parents confidently embrace their role as their child(ren’s) first and primary teachers and as the school’s partners in the religious education enterprise.
Program planning/implementation processes will be collaborative, which is consistent with a systems orientation and culture;
A strengthened infrastructure will enable religious school education to begin its evolution toward the shared vision and mission. This achievement is an outcome of careful program evaluation, planning for improvement in agreed upon area(s), and, finally, implementation of the short- and long-term goals;
A plan for a cooperative effort to sustain improvements made through work in DSP will be put in place and organized to address future goals (this comprises a third year of the DSP);
Teacher education will teach supplementary school faculty the classroom skills that will help them to create a classroom kehilla (community). The course is based on the theory that learning occurs most effectively within the context of relationships.

The DSP Steering Committee (DSPSC) is the engine that drives this process. This group is comprised of committed professional and lay education leaders that represent a cross section of the synagogue’s diverse membership. The DSPSC meets as a whole at least once per month with smaller groups working between meetings on tasks that are designed to advance DSP work. The DSPSC is a process-oriented group that functions collaboratively and that serves as a role model for all education-related synagogue groups.

We welcome inquiries about ACAJE’s Designated School Program as well as requests for an introductory presentation at your synagogue. DSP Consultant Contact Information:

Debra Brosan,
Consultant, Educational Leadership & Organizational Development.

Phone: (215) 635-8940, ext. 1228
E-mail: dbrosan@acaje.org
Fax: (215) 635-8946