Addressing the Educator Shortage: ElevatEd Draws on the For-Profit Sector to Advance the Field

When the groundbreaking, collaborative ElevatEd initiative launched in the summer of 2023, it immediately began to develop a far-reaching strategy to attract, train, and support more early childhood Jewish educators (ECJE) in the field. Over the last year, the initiative, led by JCC Association of North America, Jewish Federations of North America, and the Union for Reform Judaism, has collaborated with funders, practitioners, educators, and community leaders to address the critical educator shortage and work to expand the field of early childhood Jewish education in North America.

The three-year ElevatEd pilot focuses on 11-12 pioneer communities, with a goal of recruiting, training, and credentialing up to 30 educators in each community, amounting to more than 300 emerging early childhood educators in total. The five initial communities—Boston, Denver-Boulder, East Bay (California), Houston, and Long Island—will be joined by a second cohort beginning this school year, including Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis. Educators from these communities work in JCCs, synagogues across all denominations, and a diverse collection of other Jewish educational settings that reflect the unique demographic makeup of their area.

ElevatEd’s multi-pronged approach to recruitment and retention is designed to address the field-wide educator crisis in a strategic, scalable way. By drawing on best practices, techniques, and new technologies from the for-profit world, ElevatEd supports these directors through numerous resources and offerings, in an area in which most of them have little if any training.

The realization that we are always learning and the connection between director and staff is one of the most important components of a healthy working environment. Supporting staff at all stages of their journey is a crucial part of keeping teachers motivated and committed to the field. – Debbie Neuschatz, Director, Long Island

Launched last year, ElevatEd’s Director’s Year-Long Course in Recruitment offers curriculum in talent acquisition and a stipend for participants. The course covers topics such as using AI/ChatGPT, creating personas for targeted recruitment, constructing engaging job descriptions, creating and using a SWOT analysis to understand one’s local job market, and creating an employment value proposition to attract top talent.

This past spring, to provide immediate support to directors, ElevatEd contracted with a recruitment process outsourcer (RPO). A recruiter from the RPO drives traffic to open positions in ElevatEd communities, supporting the “top of the hiring funnel” through ads on Indeed and posts on social media and job boards. The aim is to have more people looking at ElevatEd job ads than would otherwise occur. In some cases, the recruiter connects with schools that have several open positions, then handles all the sourcing and screening of candidates before the director conducts a final interview and hire. It is streamlining the interviewing and hiring process, saving time and energy for local center directors.

ElevatEd has given a voice and brought attention to the fact that my role as a Director of ECE includes many hats. In particular, even though I had no desire to be in recruiting…whether we like it or not, we are doing recruiting work. They said, ‘so here are some ways to be more effective’ since almost no one in a role like this has training in this area. They noticed an area of the job that we were trying and failing to do and gave tangible steps and training to help us improve. – Courtney Ludlow, Director, East Bay

Another key offering is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), which increases the efficiency of the talent search process. A single post links to 12 free job boards, including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, Glassdoor, Talent.com, and more. Each school can customize their workflow and create personalized automated emails to streamline the hiring process. Schools can also create “knock-out” questions to ensure they only spend time screening candidates who understand the job post and are eager and excited about the job prospect.  

Along with these offerings, ElevatEd offers “Recruitment Labs,” which are drop-in coaching hours, an employee referral program, a digital marketing campaign toolkit launching this fall, and a dedicated careers website that is designed to act as a centralized location for early childhood positions across the country.

The educator pipeline crisis is significant, so our response to it must reflect that. By drawing on best practices from outside of the Jewish world, leveraging technologies, and building professional competencies among directors in this critical area, we can help ECJE communities attract new talent in new ways, in a manner that’s sustainable for the long-term. Throughout the recruitment season, we are assessing which strategies are most effective and cost-efficient. We seek to share these learnings with ECJE centers across the country and with the field of Jewish communal service at large. – Orna Siegel, Executive Director, and Sasha Kopp Hass, Senior Director of Education, ElevatEd

ElevatEd is a pilot initiative funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, and the Samuels Family Foundation, as well as from local Federations, foundations, and local philanthropists in each pioneer community. Visit elevatedtogether.org for more information.