Columbus Jewish Federation
Jewish Education and Identity Department Executive Summary of the WOW Initiative Fall 2011 Background The concerns about the current model of Jewish supplementary education are national. The Jewish Educational Services of North America (JESNA) in consultation with the Association of Central Agency Directors (ADCA) saw a number of trends and indicators across the country that needed to be addressed. • • •
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Substantial number of children who receive no Jewish education Growing number of families who seek and make alternative programs or arrangements whose quality varies dramatically Number of families who “settle” with programs they find less than optimal but who see no viable alternative Relative scarcity of options that look and operate substantially differently than most of today’s supplementary programs Alternative providers are small in numbers, lack visibility and external educational support, and are highly variable in quality. Many major national initiatives, movement-led projects, Central Agency led programs, and entrepreneurial initiatives of individual institutions have been attempted. Endeavors to strengthen supplementary Jewish education do not address systemic problems since they operate on a program-by-program basis.
Rather than approaching the situation the same ways as previously done, JESNA developed a model for developing a more diverse system of supplementary Jewish education, more closely tailored to the needs and desires of the “market,” that would be able to produce higher levels of participation, satisfaction and greater measurable impact. Not only was accomplishing this goal an ambitious proposition, it also required a completely different process for getting it accomplished. These goals and the process to accomplish them became the WOW project. Previous Approach • Guiding question: How to fix broken schools? • Focus on needs of individual institutions • Similarity between programs • Programs as silos
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Analysis of existing programs and their shortcomings and developing solutions.
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The WOW Way New Question: How to develop a system of programs that meet our needs? Focus on needs of learners Diverse options Partnerships & coalitions of the willing Establishing a community vision and realizing it
The Columbus Pilot Program In order to make WOW a reality, JESNA looked into piloting the project in several communities. In respect to the national trends, Columbus is not exceptional. Columbus can point to highlights and strengths within many of our Jewish supplementary education programs but our rabbis, educators, /mnt/conversion/splitting/120214192447-8c229c1335c049dba270ebaf1248e118.file
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Columbus Jewish Federation
Jewish Education and Identity Department community leaders and families were in agreement that we also have room for improvement. As a resource and the convener for community conversations concerning education, the Jewish Education and Identity Department (JEdI) of the Columbus Jewish Federation was uniquely positioned to address this need to dramatically rethink how supplementary Jewish Education is addressed in our community. Being selected as the first partner to pilot this initiative was in keeping with the great educational endeavors that have emanated from Columbus, Ohio throughout our community history. The WOW initiative would enable Columbus to develop an enduring, cooperative, and excellent quality educational vision that would result in a more dynamic and collaborative programs. The first phase of this initiative has been funded by the Federation and JESNA. Federation will continue to support the WOW initiative and the Columbus Jewish Foundation is also providing initial program funding. Our Process At its core the WOW initiative’s mission is as follows: Engage greater numbers of children and families in satisfying and impactful supplementary Jewish educational experiences by enhancing what exists and developing a broad range of program options using both traditional and non-traditional approaches. In order to achieve this, the WOW initiative follows a dynamic process of building a vision of what meets the needs of our community and then working to realize the programs needed to realize it. The process is iterative. It is not problem based or specifically focused on any particular institution. In the long term, there will be multiple initiatives that might have different coalitions of participants in order to serve the variety of needs in our community. The WOW initiative began with focus groups, surveys and meetings in the community and is led by a Steering Committee with representatives from across the community. The Steering Committee distilled the information collected from the community and established the needs of the community, the outcomes to be achieved, and the value system within which we would work. With that foundation in place, the committee set out to educate itself about educational change initiatives, innovative models of supplementary education across the country, and how to manage educational change in Columbus. With the process solidly in place and the Steering Committee educated and prepared for change in supplementary education, the steering committee then chose to focus its initial efforts at grades 3 through 5/6. They then turned to a task group of local educators to advise them on programs that met their criteria and were most likely to have a significant impact and be successful in Columbus. With the recommendations from this group of experts, the Steering Committee is now turning its focus to three possible ideas from which to choose to start. The ideas are a day camp alternative model, a retreat concierge, and a merit badge/social app model. Community Presentations We will be reviewing the WOW initiative and the three ideas that we are currently considering with various agencies and supporters in the community. As key leaders and partners in our community, we are asking for your thoughtful feedback. Your input about what interests you, the impacts on our /mnt/conversion/splitting/120214192447-8c229c1335c049dba270ebaf1248e118.file
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Columbus Jewish Federation
Jewish Education and Identity Department community and perspectives we should consider will help us be successful as we begin piloting our programs.
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