Improvement and Growth in Jewish Schools

A leader in innovation, BJE pioneered an Accreditation Program (including the publication of a School Accreditation Manual), now adapted by many communities throughout the country.  The accreditation process begins with candidate schools conducting a comprehensive self-assessment that reveals the degree to which schools achieve stated objectives within their existing programs and encourages strategic planning.  Instrumental in charting a course for improvement and growth, the accreditation process also validates a Jewish school's rationale and high achievements. Schools receiving accreditation (renewable up to every 6 years) are eligible for program enhancing grants up to $15,000. 

To date, 29 day schools have been accredited and all other BJE-affiliated day schools are in the process of accreditation.  Forty-two religious/supplementary schools and 10 early childhood centers have successfully completed accreditation.   Nearly $800,000 has been distributed to accredited schools for program-enhancing grants since the inception of the program in 1994-95.

Promoting Hebrew Language Literacy

L’shoneinu was established to foster Hebrew language fluency in early childhood and primary grades.  Made possible in part by a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, L’shoneinu brings early childhood and elementary teachers together for training in principles of language learning and immersion techniques.  Aviva Kadosh, BJE’s Hebrew Language Consultant, together with a team of educators, provide ongoing field supervision to teachers and evaluation tools to principals.  The six schools initially involved in the project include early childhood centers, day schools, and religious schools, and BJE’s initiative in bringing best practices in second language learning and teaching to these and other sites is already benefiting 1,000 young students.  



Strengthening Jewish Day Schools

Collectively, Jewish day schools in Los Angeles spend approximately $125,000,000 to provide quality Jewish education.  Enhancing the existing Jewish day school business operations is an important part of the services BJE provides through its new Day School Capacity Building Initiative.  Staffed by Miriam Prum Hess, through a grant from the Jewish Federation (which provides more than $1.5 million annually in day school financial aid) and chaired by Mark Lainer, this BJE initiative is committed to making significant headway in identifying and implementing four goals: establishing operational best practices; pooling schools’ purchasing power to save significant operational costs; joint marketing of Jewish education; and increasing each school’s financial resources.

An important dimension of day school capacity building is enabling more students to attend, through the provision of student scholarships.  Since 1988, the Milken Family Foundation has been a leader in this effort, enabling thousands of students to enroll in day schools through a matching grant scholarship program.  This year (2008-09), the Milken Family Foundation increased its funding for its pioneering program from $400,000 to $450,000.  The additional $50,000 gift, offered as a “challenge grant,” was matched by a group of BJE donors, and $500,000 is being distributed in support of more than 300 students at 35 day schools through this “capacity building” initiative.  

Enriching Adolescents’ Jewish Identity Through Community Service

Today’s teens are volunteering more than ever before.  With community service requirements a part of their school life and college admissions offices looking at students' communal involvement, our kids are helping others in ever-increasing numbers.  Our job is to help our teens better connect the “good works” that they are doing with the values and teachings of their Jewish tradition.  Whether they volunteer because they want to help others or because it looks good on their college resume, every teen can benefit from understanding how these tasks are rooted in core Jewish principles and values.  The tool for this job is an educational approach called Service Learning.  Service Learning combines the act of service to others with formal study and structured reflection.  This approach enhances both the study and the experience of service and connects both as part of the Jewish identity of the participant. 

BJE’s Center for Jewish Service Learning, SuLam, funded in part by a grant from the Covenant Foundation, launched its interactive website last fall providing resources to teens and youth educators to help them in all aspects of Service Learning.  The website offers complete resources for searching for community service projects or learning about the Jewish values behind each volunteer task, a library of printed and media materials devoted to combining service with learning, a service Learning council for educators, an annual conference to train youth educators in this technique and ongoing consultative support from the Coordinator of Youth Education Services, Pam Ganz. 

Connecting Teens with their past While Looking to the Future

BJE sponsors the Los Angeles teen delegation to participate in the March of the Living, an international program that brings Jewish teens from more than 50 countries to Poland and Israel.  Accompanied by a few survivors, a doctor, a licensed clinical social worker and staff, students commemorate Yom HaShoah by marching from Auschwitz to Birkenau.  A week later, their experience culminates with a celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Day of Independence) in Israel. 

Holocaust education must be more than the acquisition of knowledge – it asks learners to make the subject matter part of who they are and how they live their lives.  Learners are expected to behave differently than they did before they were educated. 

During the March of the Living experience, the Holocaust, the birth of the State of Israel and the reality of “Am Yisrael” (Jewish peoplehood) are no longer simply aspects of history, they are part and parcel of who that student has become.  The LA delegation is led by Monise Neumann.

For more information about how your gift can help make these programs and services available to more students, please contact Stacey Barrett at (323) 761-8612.