Rabbi Eliot Feldman is the founding Rabbi of Kehillat Shaarei Torah (Toronto) and principal of The Toronto Heschel School. He was previously head of Tanach at the Tanenbaum CHAT. He was a member of the 2004 cohort of The Lookstein Center’s Principals’ Program.

If the research of Marvin Schick in his surveys of day school education (2005) is to be taken seriously, then it is not sufficient that the Jewish education experience be directed toward academic achievement. Repeated studies have shown that a primary reason for enrolment in Jewish day school is the belief that attendance will reduce the rate of intermarriage. For example, the publicity material published by the MetroWest Community Day School Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest, New Jersey. To the question of “Why Choose a Jewish Day School?” the brochure states, “Studies show that the more Jewish education a child receives, the more likely it is that he or she will lead an active Jewish life as an adult.” In recruiting students, Jewish day schools habitually distinguish themselves from private schools by emphasizing that Jewish beliefs and practices are incorporated into their core curriculum. Although there are the “good news” stories of graduates who are baalei hesed and Jewishly involved members of their community, with every announcement that a product of a day school education has chosen a path of unethical or unlawful behavior, comes the question – raised by parents, Jewish education professionals and community leaders – of the effectiveness of the Jewish educational system in meeting the stated or implied goal of Jewish commitment which parents who enroll their children in this system of education expect. Academic excellence is insufficient; to be outstanding for our community we must educate for commitment. (Note: we will not address here the nature and scope of “commitment,” as that will vary in differing situations.)

Reorienting the focus

Accomplishing this does not require a radical departure from current school programs nor a large expenditure of funds; what is necessary is a reorganizing of the formal and informal school offering already taking place. The benefits will extend to many areas of school life and culture.

This process begins with a change in the way we view our academic structure. In many school settings there is a clear separation between the formal academic course of study and the informal Jewish experiences that provide for the personal development of the emerging adult. Academic courses have clearly defined goals and benchmarks of achievement with linear outcomes – a student acquires facts and information and demonstrates proficiency through a paper-and-pencil test and/or research paper. Non-academic Jewish experiences, e.g., Shabbatonim, community rallies and hesed projects, tend to be less structured with benchmarks that are defined only vaguely, if at all. While alumni might fondly remember these informal experiences and even attribute their Jewish commitment to them, non-academic experiences tend to be optional choices at the discretion of the individual, and place second in priority behind the rigors of the academic classroom. If commitment is our goal then this division must be erased. If the oft-repeated student remark, “It’s all about the grades!” is an accurate reflection of school culture, then grading needs to include more than academic achievement.

Performance assessments

After taking inventory of the available formal and informal school programs, engineering a change in the design of the courses which we teach is the next step. Together with several colleagues, Howard Gardner (1994), professor of education at HarvardUniversity, developed the “Teaching for Understanding” framework. At the core of this research is the concept of “performances of understanding” as measurable outcomes of any learning program. According to Gardner, learning is only as successful as can be demonstrated in a performance of understanding. For example, a math lesson on percentages would be considered to have a higher level of achievement when the student not only can multiply properly, but can also calculate the sales tax on a recently purchased article of clothing. In the Jewish studies classroom, a class in the laws of honesty should involve not just the ability to regurgitate the different categories of theft, but also a performance of understanding where the student demonstrates, for example, that all computer software used on the personal devices of the student is properly licensed and the student identifies that using unlicensed software is inconsistent with acting ethically according to Jewish tradition.

To educate toward commitment, measures of achievement need to include not only product but also process, the acquisition of facts and the emotion of experience. Academic subjects should be coupled with a practical experience. By way of example, within the last ten years, some public school boards have moved toward a skills-based curriculum that includes performances of understanding beyond what can be measured in a paper and pencil evaluation. These encourage “final summative projects” and can embrace reports of life experiences, work place internships, and volunteer placements. While they must be individually created and closely supervised, and are harder for the teacher to evaluate than more traditional measurement tools, this approach can help foster a personal commitment to Judaism that can make the school experience truly a long-lasting one.

Linking the cognitive and the affective

Many school districts have already created these opportunities, they just have not linked them to the academic sphere. For example, to earn a secondary school diploma, many jurisdictions have a community service component – some Jewish schools call this a hesed program – requiring a minimum number of hours of volunteer work. Students satisfy this obligation outside of school hours at agencies that have a registered charitable status. For many students in Jewish schools, this can regularly be reduced to stuffing envelopes, participating in a telethon or being a synagogue usher during tefillah on Shabbat or Yom Tov. Several years ago, as part of a high school course on tefillah I taught, the “performance of understanding” asked students to imagine that they were on a Federation allocation committee to award grants to synagogues for improvement in their tefillah experience. Students were required to visit a synagogue – not their own – to meet with synagogue leaders (usually the Rabbi), attend at least one tefillah, arrange to do their community service at the synagogue in whatever way was mutually beneficial, and then offer suggestions for improvement based on what they had learned in class and what they saw as being within the mission of the synagogue. The members of the class were the allocations committee, and each presentation was analyzed for authenticity, creativity, and understanding of the mission of tefillah. In the course outline for this academic credit, there were clearly stated expectations, benchmarks for achievement and rubrics for evaluation. There was peer review, coaching, and journal entries. In short, the course of study with a performance outcome was as rigorous as other courses which only have final outcomes of a written exam or research paper.

The possibilities for formal combination of academic and experiential learning are many. Organizing program sessions for a class Shabbaton can be structured as a performance of understanding for a Humash course. Leadership in a Yom HaShoah program can be developed as the final performance outcome in a Jewish History course. Advocacy on behalf of Israel can become a performance of understanding for a Jewish culture course or even a general studies course in civics or modern history. Opportunities for cross-discipline integration should also be considered . The salient point is that a course for academic credit has a participatory aspect and uses an existing school experience to meet its goals. Thus, a change in course outline to include a component previously considered to be “extra curricular” need not be the cause of a seismic shift in the school calendar or in the time that students spend in school-related activities.

This concept is now being recognized in professional schools and the workplace. A recent front page article, ‘Getting into Med School Without Hard Sciences’ (The New York Times, July 30, 2010), highlighted a program by Mount Sinai Medical School in which students forgo organic chemistry, physics and calculus and agree to major in humanities or social sciences with the goal that students will develop a sense of mission and interpersonal skills to become well-rounded, caring and inquisitive healers. The article cites a recently published study showing that these students academic performance those who were traditionally prepared, and that by some measures the humanities studies were more sensitive doctors. Similar shifts in admission requirements necessitating work experience can be found in graduate MBA programs and some schools of education.

Making change happen

A major challenge is how to bring about this change. Forward thinking school leaders will realize that it is far better to be pro-active in carefully crafting course syllabi than to be re-active in response to outside forces. Harnessing the enthusiasm of teachers – in both Jewish and general studies – who want to make a difference in the lives of their students, and using the school’s mission statement as a base, a Head of School or principal can set the parameters and goals for bringing informal experiences into the realm of rigorous academic courses. Such a school leader can coordinate the available “informal” experiences with the ”formal” academic opportunities and thus provide for students a truly integrated school program leading toward commitment. Not every academic course requires change and not every out-of-the-classroom experience needs to be incorporated into an academic course. Selectivity is the key; authenticity of experience is the guide.

Sharing the enthusiasm for including life experiences in an academic curriculum with parents and lay leaders can be inspirational for them as stakeholders and contribute to a positive excitement within the school community. Parents who prioritize academic achievement and bristle at any attempt to dilute the allocated class time will need to be shown that what they consider to be ”non-academic” has the same rigor, skill development and standards of evaluation as any other academic course. With proper staff planning, this should pose no problem. Lay leaders charged with fiscal responsibility will likely be pleased at the relatively low financial cost for making these changes. Since these out-of-class experiences already exist within the school’s program, the only added expense is for the staff time needed to revise the course outlines. In many cases, it will be the classroom teachers, seeing the need for this approach and the benefit of implementing it, who will often volunteer to contribute their expertise in revising course materials.

Course titles and academic content remain the same. What changes will be the methods of evaluation – movement toward journals, blogs, PowerPoint, video and webcasting and away from a final exam or research paper. There is an added benefit to this shift – with the explosion of technology, a course outcome which requires the submission of yet another research paper can often become a test for the student in avoiding plagiarism and a challenge for the teacher in detecting it. Creating assignments which are somewhat unique essentially removes this temptation and can become engaging for all those involved – including parents who are often called upon to provide guidance and assistance.

Commitment as the sum of experience

Teaching toward commitment can be viewed as the sum of experiences and knowledge which becomes personally internalized. Thus, moving toward including experiences as part of the academic curriculum demands that the chosen experiences be carefully selected to allow students to internalize moral and ethical values. For example, in a Humash course which includes an environmental experience, perhaps as part of a school-wide Tu BiShevat program, the activity chosen should be one that demonstrates to students the fragility of the environment and human responsibility to maintain it properly.

It should be remembered that while commitment cannot be taught frontally, the classroom experience can influenced commitment. The classroom teacher’s enthusiasm while maintaining the rigor of the course is essential. Teachers should see themselves as role models and participants who join in the experiences of their students rather than as directors who stand at the side conveying information or giving instructions. In the ideal, the school will have a synchronized plan for student experiences, just as it has a progression for enrolling in academic courses. In schools where teachers understand the need to integrate formal and informal experiences, the Head of School or principal will be the conductor of the teacher orchestra; in schools where this understanding needs to be created, the Head of School or principal can convene a professional learning community to lead the faculty through professional development in this direction. As was once quipped, ”There is no significant learning without a significant relationship.” Teachers are in a unique position to establish these connections and maximize their effectiveness.

Not addressed here are the benchmarks for demonstrating commitment, and what the expressions of commitment are the desired outcomes. These are items that are best determined by individual communities based on local needs and circumstances, and should be developed through a consultative process with all interested stakeholders.

Hinukh vs limud

One need only look to the Pesah Haggadah to understand its approach to education and the significance of “educating for commitment.” After the four children have had their opportunity to present themselves and their life perspectives on being in attendance at the Seder, the Haggadah asks whether this experience must take place on this night, or could it be at any time from the beginning of the month of Nisan. The answer is dramatic: it can only take place when it can be experienced – when matzah and maror are present. The seder is not just a story; it is an experience. Participants in this experience are asked not only to react, but to act.

The Hebrew term for the system of Jewish education, hinukh, has the connotation of creating a path of behavior. This is different than limud , which connotes acquiring academic knowledge. Academic study can only take us to a certain level and yield objectively quantifiable results. If it is commitment that we want, we must make ‘experience’ part of our academic exercise. This combination led by skilled mehankhim can be our distinctive signpost toward excellence in hinukh.

References

Gardner, H. and Boix-Mansilla, V. (1994). “Teaching for Understanding in the Disciplines and Beyond.” Teachers College Record (96), pp. 196-218.

Schick, M. (2005), A Census of Jewish Day Schools in the United States, Avi Chai Foundation.