Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools Unveils Catalog of Offerings

Across North America, Jewish day schools now can turn to Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools  to support their efforts to educate students and engage families in lifelong Jewish learning and living. Prizmah is an unprecedented integration of five of the leading day school organizations—PARDeS (Day Schools of Reform Judaism), PEJE (the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education), RAVSAK (Jewish Community Day School Network, Schechter, and Yeshiva University School Partnership—designed to leverage proven models of success to meet the diverse needs of Jewish day schools today.

Prizmah will serve close to four hundred day schools across denominations—and in turn their nearly 100,000 students—through services that:

• Advance excellence in education;
• Promote greater affordability and more effective student recruitment; and
• Address the diverse needs of different denominations, geographic areas, school size, and other points-of-distinction.

A critical benefit of Prizmah is its integrated structure that will more easily allow for scaling of programs and services within the day school network. A full catalog of Prizmah’s offerings is now available, focusing on areas such as educational excellence and leadership; governance, affordability, and development; and other opportunities to help schools improve. On an ongoing basis, through donor convenings and field-building activities promoting research and innovation, Prizmah will elevate the place of day schools within the Jewish communal agenda and beyond.  And in February, the Prizmah North American Jewish Day School Conference will harness the “Power of Story”— as participants will learn about crafting, telling, listening, and responding to the powerful stories in their work and community in order to be more effective and to lead their schools forward.

Led by Founding CEO Paul Bernstein, Board Chair Kathy E. Manning, and other professionals with vast experience in the day school field, Prizmah is determined to make day school education the first choice for Jewish families. It envisions a thriving, passionate, engaged, and committed Jewish community nurtured by Jewish day schools for generations to come.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded up to $2 million to Prizmah.