As Prizmah, the network for Jewish day schools, marks its tenth anniversary, the organization is celebrating Jewish day schools and the leaders and educators who power the field, and sharing important lessons from its first decade. Born out of a merger of five organizations, Prizmah has worked to grow and advance the field, strengthening day schools and yeshivas throughout North America.
Early on, Prizmah navigated similar challenges to any new organization. It had to establish its culture, find the right founding board, re-design and create new programs, and much more. Today, one of the most important distinctions of Prizmah is its role as a network organization:
When Prizmah was getting started, there were many times when we needed to agree on definitions, and “network” was one of the most important. On a core level, network refers to the more than 300 Jewish day schools and yeshivas Prizmah exists to support, along with the people who lead, govern, teach, and sustain these schools. But the network is more than the sum of its institutions. It is also the relationships among those people, the connections Prizmah helps cultivate, and the opportunities we create for learning, collaboration, and support. Embedded in that understanding of the network is a belief about how it should work: everyone should have something to contribute and something to gain. A network mindset means recognizing that the field becomes stronger when people share knowledge, experience, and resources across the differences among schools and communities. – Debra Shaffer Seeman, Prizmah’s Senior Director of Network
Prizmah’s “network mindset” can be seen in nearly all of its offerings. Its Reshet Communities, for example, provide online peer-to-peer opportunities for day school and yeshiva leaders to connect, ask questions, share advice, and learn with other colleagues in similar roles at schools across North America. Another example is its role-alike (such as school admission professionals) and school alike (such as small schools) meetups, where colleagues from different schools connect online on a regular, ongoing basis. These can be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or bi-monthly virtual gatherings. They are an opportunity for peer-to-peer conversations and connections, enabling concrete knowledge-sharing and peer-supported problem-solving.
Now, heading into my sixth year as head of school, I honestly can’t remember how I first found Prizmah’s Reshet Communities—but I can tell you they’ve been invaluable. Each head of school brings a unique area of expertise, and every one of them is ready, willing, and able to help a colleague. The head of school Reshet Communities—both for small-schools and all-schools—gave me access to professionals who took time out of impossibly busy schedules to jump on a call and lend an ear. – Johanna B. Shlomovich, Head of School, Tucson Hebrew Academy
Over its first decade, Prizmah has helped advance affordability, enrollment, and endowment initiatives, offered a wealth of professional and leadership development opportunities, collected and shared field-wide data to support strategic decision-making, and identified specific ways to address the challenges of building the educator pipeline. Prizmah’s recent report showing the first increase in day school enrollment in decades reflects a more cohesive and sophisticated day school field than ever before.
Throughout this school year, Prizmah will highlight lessons learned in its first decade. Its latest issue of Kaleidoscope, focusing on “10 years of building a network,” kicks off the first in a series of thought leadership pieces from educators, leaders, and Prizmah stakeholders that delve into the impacts and trends across the field. In March, more than 1,200 leaders from over 300 Jewish day schools and yeshivas will come together for the Prizmah Conference to continue to learn and connect with each other.
I sometimes have to pinch myself when I look back and see how far Prizmah has come—growing and maturing into the powerful, transformational organization it is today, just ten years after our founding. Alongside that growth, we’ve seen remarkable increases in enrollment and excellence in day schools across North America. I was honored to co-chair our 10th anniversary celebration as a tribute to the many lay and professional leaders whose shoulders we stand on—those who believed in and steadfastly supported day schools for decades, even when their popularity waned within the Jewish community and the future felt uncertain. The tide has turned, and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this milestone with the entire Jewish community. In a year when we so deeply need reasons to celebrate, this is one worth celebrating. – Ann Pava, co-Chair of Prizmah’s tenth anniversary celebration
We look to the next decade with incredible optimism. This is a time when we will not simply continue the existing, positive trends for day schools. We will work tirelessly to support every school with the resources, expertise, and colleagues you need to thrive. And we will work together to accelerate all the growth in excellence and enrollment and to move the needle on affordability. I am excited about what is to come and grateful to each of you for every single student whose life you transform. – Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah
The Jim Joseph Foundation is a supporter of Prizmah. Learn more at prizmah.org
there were many times when we needed to agree on definitions, and “network” was one of the most important. On a core level, network refers to the more than 300 Jewish day schools and yeshivas Prizmah exists to support, along with the people who lead, govern, teach, and sustain these schools. But the network is more than the sum of its institutions. It is also the relationships among those people, the connections Prizmah helps cultivate, and the opportunities we create for learning, collaboration, and support. Embedded in that understanding of the network is a belief about how it should work: everyone should have something to contribute and something to gain. A network mindset means recognizing that the field becomes stronger when people share knowledge, experience, and resources across the differences among schools and communities. – Debra Shaffer Seeman, Prizmah’s Senior Director of Network
Prizmah’s “network mindset” can be seen in nearly all of its offerings. Its Reshet Communities, for example, provide online peer-to-peer opportunities for day school and yeshiva leaders to connect, ask questions, share advice, and learn with other colleagues in similar roles at schools across North America. Another example is its role-alike (such as school admission professionals) and school alike (such as small schools) meetups, where colleagues from different schools connect online on a regular, ongoing basis. These can be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or bi-monthly virtual gatherings. They are an opportunity for peer-to-peer conversations and connections, enabling concrete knowledge-sharing and peer-supported problem-solving.Now, heading into my sixth year as head of school, I honestly can’t remember how I first found Prizmah’s Reshet Communities—but I can tell you they’ve been invaluable. Each head of school brings a unique area of expertise, and every one of them is ready, willing, and able to help a colleague. The head of school Reshet Communities—both for small-schools and all-schools—gave me access to professionals who took time out of impossibly busy schedules to jump on a call and lend an ear. – Johanna B. Shlomovich, Head of School, Tucson Hebrew Academy
Over its first decade, Prizmah has helped advance affordability, enrollment, and endowment initiatives, offered a wealth of professional and leadership development opportunities, collected and shared field-wide data to support strategic decision-making, and identified specific ways to address the challenges of building the educator pipeline. Prizmah’s recent report showing the first increase in day school enrollment in decades reflects a more cohesive and sophisticated day school field than ever before.I look back and see how far Prizmah has come—growing and maturing into the powerful, transformational organization it is today, just ten years after our founding. Alongside that growth, we’ve seen remarkable increases in enrollment and excellence in day schools across North America. I was honored to co-chair our 10th anniversary celebration as a tribute to the many lay and professional leaders whose shoulders we stand on—those who believed in and steadfastly supported day schools for decades, even when their popularity waned within the Jewish community and the future felt uncertain. The tide has turned, and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this milestone with the entire Jewish community. In a year when we so deeply need reasons to celebrate, this is one worth celebrating. – Ann Pava, co-Chair of Prizmah’s tenth anniversary celebration
next decade with incredible optimism. This is a time when we will not simply continue the existing, positive trends for day schools. We will work tirelessly to support every school with the resources, expertise, and colleagues you need to thrive. And we will work together to accelerate all the growth in excellence and enrollment and to move the needle on affordability. I am excited about what is to come and grateful to each of you for every single student whose life you transform. – Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah