Early childhood education

The Jewish Community Federation is spearheading a new initiative to engage Jewish families with young children in meaningful Jewish life and community. We know from national and local research that families with young children are particularly open to and interested in engaging with their Jewish community. Research also shows that Jewish engagement at this stage of life has a tremendous impact on families’ subsequent Jewish choices.

According to a Federation commission study of the “State of Jewish Early Childhood Education” in the region (JESNA 2006), our community is severely constrained in its ability to provide sufficient Jewish programming to this population because of the lack of qualified professionals.

Through our new Early Childhood Education Initiative, our community aims to develop a top-tier recruitment and training program for Jewish early childhood educators. The initiative will also address other key challenges facing our Jewish preschools including staff retention and professional development.

Program goals in the first three years include:

• Creation of a model for recruitment and training of young Jewish adults into the field of early childhood education.
• Introduction of 36-40 newly trained, qualified educators into the system.
• Further training for 8-10 current educators to prepare them to assume leadership positions.

The Federation is working on all fronts, locally and abroad, to promote these goals.

Jewish education for parents

Based on the highly successful Ikkarim ( “Essence”) program in Boston, JCF is launching Roots and Wings, an adult education program combining basic Jewish literacy with an examination of issues, joys and challenges of contemporary parenting.

This eight-week course covers “big Jewish ideas,” spirituality, ethics, child development and everyday parenting tips. The program will also include community-building activities such as Shabbat dinners and family picnics.

Roots and Wings will be based at Jewish community campuses with multiple Jewish institutions, allowing the organizations to collaborate. Both a rabbi and an early childhood educator will be involved in leading the sessions.

Drawing upon proven models from other communities, Roots and Wings represents one of the most high-impact models for engaging families in Jewish life.

Professional development for teachers

The Israel Education Initiative, launched by the Israel Center and the Bureau of Jewish Education in collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel, has the goal of making Israel education an integral part of the community’s educational agenda. Continued support for the Initiative will sustain these critical activities:

• Continue the Education Leadership Institute (ELI), a year-long program for senior educators from congregational schools, day schools and other central educational agencies to learn about Israel, culminating in a two-week Israel experience. ELI participants receive follow-up professional development.
• Develop the network of Israel educators in the community. This network would meet on a regular basis for enrichment and development.
• Develop a community-wide teachers’ professional development program (tentatively entitled Morim Laderech or “Teachers’ Birthright Trip”), with the objective of giving every Jewish educator in the Bay Area a chance to travel to Israel to deepen his/her knowledge and teaching skills.
• Promote Israel education programs through strategic planning. Day schools and synagogue religious schools engage in a planning process to define or revise the school’s mission statement regarding Israel, including goals and measurable objectives; develop curricula derived from the mission; and evaluate the success of the curricula.