JDS+Conference+Proposal+Response

The DeLeT Alumni Leadership Group is looking for partners and participants to help articulate our new vision for Jewish Day Schools of the 21st Century. In a rapidly changing world, Jewish Day schools must continually renew and reinvigorate themselves, while staying true to their core missions. As day schools are struggling with the day-to-day challenges of economic survival, they also face more profound existential questions of purpose. How can Jewish day schools demonstrate their relevance and worth to parents and other financial supporters? What contributions do Jewish day school graduates make to the future of the Jewish people? We believe the answer to these questions lies in a better understanding of the current role and potential impact of Jewish curricular and structural integration. The Delet leadership group aims to propose a model for a fully integrated school, where integration is not limited to classroom curriculum, but is applied throughout a school system. We believe that in moving beyond building curricular bridges between 'Jewish studies' and 'general studies,' educators can instill in students integration as a habit of mind. Graduates of this Integrated School will understand integration as a cognitive and affective process rather than a product. We seek to understand the ways in which schools have utilized, supported and measured the impact of integration. We posit, that in the coming years, the need for integration will become even more potent. However, we approach integration in a new manner. We propose an integration model that relies on a fully integrated school system, where integration is not limited to classroom curriculum, but is transparently utilized throughout a school system, from codes of conduct, to professional development to classroom management, etc. All of this aims to develop a standard within the school that clearly defines the goals of developing within students the habit of mind to integrate. In this model, schools will develop methods to foster integration as a cognitive and affective process rather than a product that is student centered rather than teacher driven. To develop this model, we are investigating the current goals, methods, impact, and support systems for integration in Jewish Day Schools, using a series of surveys, interviews and a curriculum bank. The network of Delet alumni, teaching at day schools across the country makes up the backbone of the wide-reaching and diverse research team. The data we are collecting from this research is ensuring that our new day school vision is grounded by the current reality in day school classrooms, while we are finding intellectual guidance from the academic literature already published on this topic. We believe that an effective Jewish Day School's mission aims to produce graduates that are not just successful professionals, but also active citizens, engaged with the world as members of the Jewish people and the world at large. Schools are learning how changes due to globalization, the Internet, communal restructuring and family life impact how students will study Torah, participate in social action, connect to God, engage in Mitzvot and engage with the modern world. Most of these organizations focus on what it will take to develop students to be able function professionally and socially in the 21st century. So far, Integration has served Jewish Education primarily to address issues of Jewish identity and the cognitive relationship between Jewish studies and other disciplines. We believe that a fully integrated school can serve its students and the Jewish future in equipping our students with tools that will help them to understand and function in their world, to deal with the technology and complexities of the 21st century and to apply Jewish values and find meaning and relevance in living a Jewish life.
 * __The "Proposing New Models of Integration for Jewish Day Schools" Project:__**