Learning & Resources Category: Research

How People Learn in Jewish Education

Jewish education has taken shape around two primary questions:

1. What do people need to know in order to live Jewish lives?
2. What is the best way to deliver the answer to Question #1?

Jewish communities have differed greatly in their responses to both with some favoring knowledge that emerges from Jewish textual traditions, while others prefer to emphasize other dimensions of Jewish life, from the embodied to the expressive. Despite the creativity and diversity of responses to these questions, the focus on these two questions has left a decidedly one-sided Jewish educational landscape informed primarily by concerns about the provision of knowledge: what to teach and how to teach it. The result has been a profoundly lopsided landscape populated by countless pedagogies and curricula, but utterly devoid of any insight or understanding of how people learn in Jewish education.

Although the phrase “Jewish learning” is fairly common, it refers most often either to studying (usually text), or, ironically, to teaching (often text). This report is an attempt to shift the conversation about learning in Jewish education away from these uses and toward a more systematic, research-and-theory-grounded understanding of learning as a distinct Jewish educational phenomenon. It is also an attempt to advance a third question to join the first two: How do people learn in Jewish education?

If, as Hebrew etymology indicates, teaching and learning share a common root, what can Jewish education gain by accounting more explicitly for learning as a unique but somewhat independent practice? What are its mechanisms? Its contours? How do people do it? How might a better understanding of how people learn improve Jewish education?

This report extends and deepens Jon Woocher’s proposal for a “learner centered Jewish education” by shifting the focus from an approach to Jewish education that caters to learners to one guided by an understanding of learning. It offers a challenge, a charge, and a provocation to Jewish educators and supporters of Jewish education to imagine what might happen to the field if we shift its focus from what Jewish education teaches and instead explore how people learn.

What follows is not a theory of learning in Jewish education; for that, we will need a good deal more research. Instead, the report begins with an overview of some basic approaches to general theories of learning to establish a framework for exploring their implications for the field of Jewish education. Hopefully, it will serve as an invitation and an instigation to consider what Jewish education might look like if it places the ways that people learn at the center.

Read the research: How People Learn in Jewish Education, Ari Y Kelman, Ph.D., November 2024

Read more insights in eJewish Philanthropy from the Foundation’s Stacie Cherner and Yonah Schiller

Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences: Mixing the Personal and Collective to Make Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences

The Jim Joseph Foundation has prioritized investment in Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences (PJLE) in its effort to enable “all Jews, their families, and their friends to lead connected, meaningful, purpose-filled lives and to make positive contributions to their communities and the world.” This commitment is advanced by signature grantees—BBYO, Foundation for Jewish Camp, Hillel, Birthright Israel, and Moishe House—that provide powerful educational experiences to young people.

Over the last few years, the Foundation has partnered with the team at Rosov Consulting to bring a consistent research lens to the experiences provided by these various organizations. The goal of this partnership has been: (1) to identify both the distinct and common contributions made by each organization to participants at different stages of their young lives, and (2) to identify the components of the experiences they provide that make them so powerful. Researchers set out to learn what special ingredients animate powerful Jewish learning experiences within the context of Jewish youth-serving organizations, Jewish overnight camps, Jewish student organizations at college, Israel experiences, and self-directed settings for emergent Jewish adults. And researchers tried to identify what outcomes such experiences produce.

Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences: Mixing the Personal and Collective to Make Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences, Rosov Consulting, September 2024

Read more insights on this cross-portfolio evaluation by Stacie Cherner, the Foundation’s Director of Research and Learning.

U.S. College Students and the War in Israel: Jewish Engagement and Social Tension on Campus

New research conducted by Dr. Eitan Hersh provides key insights on the impact of October 7th and subsequent rise in antisemitism on Jewish college students on campus. In particular, the research examines whether and how Jewish college students are experiencing changes in Jewish identity and participation, and increased social tension, on campus. Students also answered survey questions regarding their changing views about Israel and the extent to which their own mental health has been affected in recent months.

This research is unique in that it includes survey responses from Jewish college students who also participated in a study conducted by Dr. Hersh in 2022. As Dr. Hersh notes, “The panel of students surveyed both years provides a link between pre-October 7 Jewish life on campus and post-October 7 Jewish life on campus. If we observe attitudinal changes in the panel, we know it’s not because of sampling variation but because students felt differently in 2023 than 2022.”

These new findings represent a mid-point in the research. A series of focus groups will be conducted in the spring, as well as another survey. Both of these data collection efforts will allow for continued examination of change over time. A full report will be available in summer 2024.

Dr. Hersh shares interim findings from the research in the three-part essay series below:

About the Researcher:
Eitan Hersh is a professor of political science at Tufts University. His research focuses on US elections and civic participation. Hersh is the author of Politics is for Power (Scribner, 2020), Hacking the Electorate (Cambridge UP 2015), as well as many scholarly articles. Hersh earned his PhD from Harvard in 2011 and served as assistant professor of political science at Yale University from 2011-2017. His public writings have appeared in venues such as the New York Times, USA Today, The Atlantic, POLITICO, and the Boston Globe. Hersh regularly testifies in voting rights court cases and has testified to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the role of data analytics in political campaigns. In addition to work on elections and civic engagement, Hersh has written on topics ranging from antisemitism and the political consequences of terrorist attacks to politicization in health care delivery and the opioid crisis. His next book is about the civic role of business leaders.

Brief Study Background:
The study was funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation. The survey itself was administered by College Pulse, a survey and analytics firm specializing in the college student population. Dr. Hersh, who has conducted a number of studies on civic engagement, young adults, and antisemitism, worked with the Foundation and College Pulse to organize this research project and analyze the results.

To receive the full data set of the study when it’s available, please email [email protected] with “data set request” as the subject line.

Media Coverage

 

Enrollment Trend Report: The Impact of the Israel-Hamas War on Jewish Day School Enrollment in North America

In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, the landscape of Jewish day schools and yeshivas in North America has experienced significant shifts. This second Enrollment Trend Report delves into the influx of temporary Israeli students and an emerging trend of interest from public and independent school students for mid-year transfer to Jewish day schools during this time.

Covering the period from the start of the war in October, 2023 to December 8th, 2023, this report presents a snapshot of the responses from enrollment professionals and heads of school from 110 schools in the United States and Canada. Data collection was open for two weeks from November 27th, 2023 through December 8th, 2023. While the sample is not fully representative of the field of Jewish day schools and yeshivas, it clearly depicts that the trends reported herein are happening amongst one-third of the Prizmah network of schools.

The report highlights a significant increase in inquiries and temporary enrollments1 from Israeli students and transfer students from public and independent schools into Jewish day schools and yeshivas in North America following the Israel-Hamas war.

The surge in inquiries from Israeli students has prompted Jewish day schools and yeshivas to swiftly address the evolving needs of these students and their families. The collective resilience of the schools, combined with the collaborative efforts of local Jewish organizations, illustrates a community-driven approach in delivering comprehensive support for the incoming students.

“Enrollment Trend Report: The Impact of the Israel-Hamas War on Jewish Day School Enrollment in North America,” Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, January 2024

Enrollment Trend Report: Israeli Transfers to Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivas During the War in Israel

This is a trend report of a Pulse Survey Prizmah distributed to enrollment professionals and heads of school, representing a snapshot in time of the week of October 20-27, 2023. The report includes both the enrollment data and the essential support that schools urgently require at this time.

The findings of the survey shed light on the profound impact of the ongoing war in Israel on Jewish day schools and yeshivas in North America. The influx of inquiries from Israeli students has prompted Jewish day schools and yeshivas to adapt swiftly and effectively to meet the emerging needs of the students and their families. The collective resilience demonstrated by the schools, coupled with their collaborative efforts with local Jewish organizations, reflects a community-driven approach to providing comprehensive support for the incoming students.

However, the identified resource gaps, including critical supplies and specialized staff requirements, highlight the pressing need for immediate collective action and support from the broader Jewish community. By addressing these challenges collaboratively, Jewish day schools and yeshivas can continue to foster inclusive and nurturing environments, ensuring the holistic wellbeing and academic success of all students during this critical period. The landscape continues to change rapidly and may be significantly different within a few weeks time. Prizmah will continue to monitor and share findings to assess and support the needs of the field.

“Enrollment Trend Report: Israeli Transfers to Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivas During the War in Israel,” Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, November 2023

Build Grant Evaluation Summary

The Jim Joseph Foundation is committed to fostering compelling, effective Jewish learning experiences for young Jews, their families, and their friends. To enhance this work, the Foundation developed Build Grants to invest in the capacity of Jewish education organizations to dramatically scale their programming to reach larger and more diverse audiences.

The Foundation’s Build Grants include two targeted capacity building strategies. The first, Capacity Build Grants, provides short-term resources to stand-out Jewish organizations for specific interventions that enhance their ability to grow over time. Organizations use these resources for business and strategic planning, infrastructure and operational support, or measurement and program evaluation. The Capacity Build Grants that the Foundation offers are a steppingstone to the second area of support, the Scaling Build Grants. Scaling Build Grants are focused explicitly on organizational growth, providing larger one-time, multiyear investments meant to expand the organization’s reach, increase their effectiveness, and strengthen their ability to generate revenue and sustain an expanded budget. The Foundation is interested in deepening its understanding of its Build grantees’ successes and challenges to further iterate on the Build Grants structure and strategies. To glean insights, the subsequent questions guided the evaluation:

● What was the grantee experience?
● What were some of the key impacts of the Foundation’s Build Grants?
● What were some of the core challenges of the Foundation’s Build Grants?
● What lesson can we learn to improve the grantee experience and grant impact?

The evaluation outlines major themes on the structure, impacts, and challenges of Build Grants to date.

Build Grant Evaluation Summary, Third Plateau, June 30, 2023

 

Beyond A Jewish Library: Findings From A 2023 Survey of Users in North America

Launched in 2013, Sefaria is a free, living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation and a global leader in enabling Jewish learning and teaching in an open and participatory way. In 2022, Sefaria reached a total of five million users, with a monthly average of 598,000 users. Half (51%) of these users are in the United States (48%) and Canada (3%), and this report focuses on this North American subset of Sefaria’s users.

In 2022, Sefaria completed a five-year strategic plan which set forth ambitious goals of further expanding its reach, including “develop[ing] a universally accessible digital library experience [and] power[ing] new pathways to digital Torah beyond the library.” As it sets forth toward these goals, Sefaria has partnered with Rosov Consulting to conduct a survey of its users in order to better understand:

1. Who are Sefaria’s users in 2023? Where do they live? How do they identify? How proficient are Sefaria’s users in Jewish text study, and how many of them are relative newcomers to Jewish text study?

In addition to the evident benefit of easier access to Jewish texts online, what other benefits do users derive from engaging with the Sefaria content, especially when it comes to their comfort and confidence participating in Jewish life more broadly?

2. What attributes (of the users and of their experience with Sefaria) may contribute to or correlate with
these outcomes?

This report relays the findings from a 2023 survey of Sefaria users and offers some suggestions as to how these findings could inform ways in which Sefaria could proceed toward its ambitious strategic plan.

The report begins with a broad overview of all Sefaria’s users in North America (United States and Canada) and their demographic profile; it then narrows down on a large subset of the users and describes Sefaria’s impact on a user subset of particular interest: young North American users (ages 18-44) excluding Jewish educators.

Beyond A Jewish Library: Findings From A 2023 Survey of Users in North America, August 2023, Rosov Consulting

 

One2One: Online Encounters Between Jewish Teens Around the World

Started in 2021, in the midst of the global pandemic, ENTER: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance (ENTER) launched One2One, an online mifgash (educational encounter) between Jewish high school aged teens who live in Israel and North America. To date 7,200 teens have participated in an online mifgash, which involves two teens, meeting once a week, over five weeks for at least 30 minutes each meeting.

This report focuses on One2One’s development of “the online mifgash” since its inception in 2021, the contribution to the field of Israel education, to One2One’s strategic partners and the participating teens.

The Virtual Mifgash
“The Mifgash” is an educational methodology developed in the 1980s by travel programs bringing Diaspora Jewish teens to Israel. The Mifgash has since taken root as a basic component in many of the educational venues involving Diaspora Jews traveling to Israel, and Israelis traveling abroad, including programs aimed at adults.

One2One’s innovation is the development of an online mifgash. The in-person mifgash requires travel, which is costly and involves high levels of organizational and communal investment. The goal of the online mifgash is to enable the beneficial outcomes associated with in-person mifgashim, without requiring international travel. Until One2One there was no systematic development of the online mifgash in a manner that can reach large numbers of participants.

The report shows how One2One utilizes three elements to enable online mifgashim, 1) technology to enable the online meetings; 2) organizational partnerships which are essential for recruiting the participating teens and enabling the online mifgashim to contribute to broader educational processes; and 3) appropriate educational design.

One2One: Online Encounters Between Jewish Teens Around the World, Ezra Kopelowitz Ph.D., Research Success Technologies, Ltd., July 23, 2023

Learn more about the program’s impact and its contribution to the broader fields of Israel and Jewish education in this essay in the Peoplehood Papers by Yael Rosen, One2One Program Director, and Dr. Scott Lasensky, One2One Senior Advisor

 

Cohort-Based Experiences Initiative: Phase II – Emerging Outcomes & Implementation-focused Reflections

Launched in early 2022, the Cohort-Based Experiences (CBE) Initiative – spearheaded by the Jim Joseph Foundation in collaboration with Maven Leadership Consulting – was developed based on the belief that cohort participation can lead to learning, connection, and enrichment that can ultimately contribute to employee retention within the Jewish communal sector. The Initiative was designed to: 1) unlock the power of cohort experiences; 2) understand the factors contributing to their success; and 3) explore ways to democratize and expand access to cohort experiences within the Jewish communal ecosystem.

The planning and implementation of the first phase of the Initiative (January 2022-July 2022), was documented by Meredith Woocher, PhD on behalf of Rosov Consulting. Documentation of the Aleph Cohorts demonstrated “the importance of momentum, trust, and reputation for cohorts to succeed.” Conversely, Woocher also observed that uncertainty about the future of the cohorts disrupted the momentum of trust and relationship building that contributes to the impact of the experience.

More than 120 Jewish professionals participated in 12 cohorts during the second phase of the initiative, which took place between October 2022 and May 2023. Based on lessons learned, the CBE team made several programmatic adjustments. A new model of recruitment was explored, which relied on crowdsourcing and self-identification. In addition, external facilitators were trained to lead the Bet Cohorts. The CBE team continued to support Aleph Cohorts’ professional development. Two Gimel Cohorts were also supported.

Cohort-Based Experiences Initiative: Phase II – A project of Maven Leadership Consulting in collaboration with the Jim Joseph Foundation, by Tobin Belzer, PhD, June 16, 2023

 

Getting There: Challenges, Opportunities, and Outcomes – RootOne 2022 Evaluation Report

RootOne was launched in 2020 with the goal of maximizing the number of Jewish teens who participate in an Israel experience and maximizing the impact of those experiences. In its first two years, RootOne has approached these goals by means of three primary strategies: providing eligible teens with vouchers that make programs financially more accessible and incentivize participation; building up a continuum of newly-created educational and social experiences before and after the program in Israel; and investing in the professional development of the educators who staff the programs.

Since its inception, RootOne has committed itself to developing a robust program of research and evaluation. For 2022, the scope of this endeavor has included: surveys of participants shortly before and after their time in Israel, as well as a year after their return home; a post-trip survey of trip leaders; real-time observation of Early Experiences (pre-trip programming) and on-the-ground, in-person observations during participants’ time in Israel; observations of staff training; content analysis of program itineraries; and interviews with program staff and organizers, North American participants and their parents, and some of the Israeli teens who joined programs. These efforts have been designed not only to document the immediate and longer-term outcomes produced by programs, but to identify what impedes or enhances those outcomes, with the goal of enabling the RootOne team to continually improve its efforts.

This report synthesizes the data collected during the 2022 calendar year. It provides a sense of who the teens are that RootOne currently reaches. It describes how recent changes in the social-emotional needs of teens both challenge and provide opportunities for RootOne and their partners. This document unpacks the narratives conveyed about Israel by immersive summer experiences, and some of the logistical and educational logjams associated with those narratives. And, against this backdrop—one that depicts the challenges RootOne seeks to overcome—it charts the positive Jewish, Israel-related, and personal outcomes being created by programs supported by RootOne. The report concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for those partnering and planning to partner with RootOne as RootOne seeks to turn its aspirations into reality.

Simon Amiel, Executive Director of RootOne, adds, “By design, this report leads with lessons learned rather than with accomplishments because if we’re going to be a leading organization, we must first be a learning organization. The insights in this report help us chart our path forward as we engage a more diverse population of Jewish teens to connect meaningfully with Israel and their own Jewish identity.”

“Getting There: Challenges, Opportunities, and Outcomes – RootOne 2022 Evaluation Report,” Rosov Consulting, April 2023

 

Atra’s Rabbi Experience Research

This research, the first of its kind in a generation, explores the impact of rabbis on Jewish young adults (ages 18 44) in the United States. This study examines their experiences with rabbis and how those experiences have influenced their connections to Judaism and Jewish communities, shaped their perceptions of rabbis, and their ideas of what a rabbi should be.

Atra conducts research regularly to better understand what the Jewish community needs from its rabbis and in turn, what leadership models and tools will help these leaders be most successful. This research informs the organization’s approach to continuing education to support rabbis as well as advance the field of Jewish spiritual leadership. In an effort to build the field of applied rabbinic training, Atra set out to create a baseline understanding of how young American Jews experience rabbis and what they want in a rabbi. The goals of this inaugural study were to:

  1. Develop a comprehensive picture of what “rabbi” means to American Jews aged 18 44
  2. Explore young Jews’ experiences and interactions with rabbis (past and present)
  3. Learn about what young Jews want from a rabbi going forward

The Rabbi Effect: The Perception and Impact of Rabbis Among American Jews 18-44, Executive Summary, Benenson Strategy Group, March 2023

Rabbi Experience Research, Full Report, Benenson Strategy Groups, March 2023

 

 

 

 

Capacity Building Grantmaking Best Practices

Jim Joseph Foundation “Build Grants” invest in the capacity of Jewish education organizations to dramatically scale their programming to reach larger and more diverse audiences. The Foundation commissioned Third Plateau to deepen its understanding of fieldwide capacity building best practices to further iterate on the Build Grants structure and strategies. Throughout the research, Third Plateau found deep connections between best practices in the field and the Foundation’s strategies and practices for Build Grants. Key findings from the research, the overlap with the Foundation’s existing practices, and considerations for future work are shared below.

  • Capacity building is loosely-defined, and language is evolving. There is no standard definition or set of strategies that funders consistently use for capacity building. However, both nonprofits and foundations generally agree that any investment that supports the long-term sustainability of an organization can be considered capacity building. The term itself is being discussed and debated as organizations focused on creating more equity in philanthropy have adopted and championed “building resilience” as an asset-based alternative.
  • There are five major best practices associated with successful capacity building grantmaking. Across existing research and interviews with field experts, five elements routinely were identified as effective strategies for capacity building: supplementing grants with non-monetary support, developing trusting relationships with grantees, offering multi-year, flexible funding grants, taking an ecosystem-wide approach, and utilizing a DEI framework.
  • The Foundation is implementing many strategies that are considered best practices through its Capacity Build Grants. Foundation staff are a significant resource to Capacity Build Grant recipients, developing trusting relationships, carrying an open dialogue, and helping them identify areas for learning, growth and potential interventions. The Foundation’s Scaling Build Grants provide multi-year flexible funding to support grantee growth capital, and they have specific giving areas and strategies where investments in the capacity of multiple organizations might support overall growth in the field.
  • There are strategies, tactics, and adaptations of current practices that the Foundation can explore, as well as other ways to consider investing additional resources. The Foundation could further support the organizations through wrap-around services, such as building peer networks for organizations receiving Build Grants or providing external coaching support for leaders navigating growth and change processes at their organizations. They could utilize a DEI framework to improve grantee experiences and enhance the overall impact of the grant. The Foundation could offer an anonymized evaluation process to gather more information on grantee perceptions of Build Grant support, which could enhance the Foundation’s understanding of additional needs.
  • The Foundation’s efforts to shore up organizational capacities in advance of providing Scaling Build Grants is aligned with the field’s recommendations. Assessing readiness for scaling is complicated, and there is no one assessment tool or set of metrics that support an understanding of an organization’s readiness to scale its programming. Several sources indicated that scaling is most effective in organizations with solid infrastructure, particularly those with talented staff and strong financial resources.
  • Organizations should define scaling success metrics. Many question if increasing organizational reach (participant numbers) should be the primary way to evaluate successful scaling efforts. The Foundation has an opportunity to define success in partnership with grantees, ensuring the goals of the Foundation and its organizational partners are met.
  • A nimble approach to a mixed methods evaluation is key to evaluating capacity building grantmaking strategies. The use of causal design, equitable and culturally-responsive, or rapid cycle-change methodologies can help foundations understand the complexities of capacity building work and its effectiveness. The Foundation can learn from the field by examining lessons learned from developmental, formative, and summative evaluations of capacity building initiatives.

“Capacity Building Grantmaking Best Practices,” Third Plateau, January 2023