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 three-year, whole-school, on-site intervention, custom-designed
to meet the needs of each synagogue school. All sixty-one
schools in the Greater Philadelphia area were invited to apply.
Through a rigorous selection process, six schools were chosen
to pilot the program. Selection was based on diversity of
size, location, movement, experience of the educational director,
and the challenges presented by and the assets of the schools.
What is learned from this pilot program will provide 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
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.
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 five educationally sound components that together can create
school change.
•
An innovative collaboration
of secular and Jewish educational institutions [ACAJE, FOUNDATIONS,
Inc., and the Penn Literacy Network of the Graduate School
of Education of the University of Pennsylvania] 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 their educational directors
which incorporates innovative teaching strategies, cutting-edge
curricula, technology-based resources, 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 and
mentor teachers.
•
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 at each school.
•
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.
This will afford the opportunity to make adjustments as the
program proceeds, as well as to provide 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.
Five
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. NESS/PLN
(Penn Literacy Network of the University of Pennsylvania)
Professional Development Seminar
2.
NESS/PLN Rabbi Samuel T. Lachs Mentor Teacher Seminar
3.
Jewish School Assessment School Improvement Process (J-SASIP)
4.
Leadership Development Seminar (LDS)
5.
Program for Organizational Development (POD)
The
six NESS pilot schools are:
