Distributed for Brandeis University Press
Teaching and Learning in Jewish Day Schools
Examines how day schools are educating diverse Jewish youth in a variety of content areas.
Teaching and Learning in Jewish Day Schools offers an important analysis of Jewish day school classrooms today. In light of difficulties initiating, evaluating, and sustaining educational innovation, this volume takes stock of what is happening among students and teachers in contemporary Jewish day school classrooms. The authors of this volume confront and question several bedrock principles of Jewish education to address how day schools intersect with broader societal issues including race and gender. They point to themes and topics that scholars and practitioners are grappling with to explore new potential pathways to evaluating student learning and learning outcomes: assessing core subject areas; understanding the ways social and environmental factors contribute to learning; and studying how race, ethnicity, class, and gender shape student learning and school culture. The chapters address topics relevant to educators working in contemporary Jewish day schools including Zionism, the outcomes of Israel education, Jewish engagement, the experience of Latinx students, community building, and more.
Teaching and Learning in Jewish Day Schools offers an important analysis of Jewish day school classrooms today. In light of difficulties initiating, evaluating, and sustaining educational innovation, this volume takes stock of what is happening among students and teachers in contemporary Jewish day school classrooms. The authors of this volume confront and question several bedrock principles of Jewish education to address how day schools intersect with broader societal issues including race and gender. They point to themes and topics that scholars and practitioners are grappling with to explore new potential pathways to evaluating student learning and learning outcomes: assessing core subject areas; understanding the ways social and environmental factors contribute to learning; and studying how race, ethnicity, class, and gender shape student learning and school culture. The chapters address topics relevant to educators working in contemporary Jewish day schools including Zionism, the outcomes of Israel education, Jewish engagement, the experience of Latinx students, community building, and more.
400 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2025
Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education
Education: Comparative Education, Curriculum and Methodology, Philosophy of Education
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Learning the Language of Zionism
Chapter 2: Knowledge and Connection as Outcomes of Israel Education
Chapter 3: Intercomprehending in Action: Text-Based Discussion in a 7th Grade Bible Classroom
Chapter 4: Connected but not Con?dent: The Gender Con?dence Gap Regarding Israeli Politics and History
Chapter 5: Understanding Attitudes of Jewish Day School Students: A New Typology of Jewish Engagement
Chapter 6: Responsive Classrooms Meet the Rabbis: The Impact of Delet on Teachers’ Community Building Practice
Chapter 7: What do Parents Want from Hebrew Studies in Jewish Day School Education?
Chapter 8: Three Conceptions of Rabbinics: Understanding Teachers’ Thinking
Chapter 9: Four Approaches to the Instruction of Halakha
Chapter 10: Signature Pedagogy and Constituent Authenticity: A New Model of Authentic Activity in Jewish Day School Classrooms
Chapter 11: Orienting Students to Engage with Pluralism: A Cultural Approach
Chapter 12: Designing Schools Around Five Dimensions of Community
Chapter 13: Sometimes Seen: The Experience of Latinx Students in Jewish Day Schools
Conclusion: What We’ve Learned about Teaching and Learning in Jewish Day Schools, and What We Still Need to Learn
Chapter 1: Learning the Language of Zionism
Chapter 2: Knowledge and Connection as Outcomes of Israel Education
Chapter 3: Intercomprehending in Action: Text-Based Discussion in a 7th Grade Bible Classroom
Chapter 4: Connected but not Con?dent: The Gender Con?dence Gap Regarding Israeli Politics and History
Chapter 5: Understanding Attitudes of Jewish Day School Students: A New Typology of Jewish Engagement
Chapter 6: Responsive Classrooms Meet the Rabbis: The Impact of Delet on Teachers’ Community Building Practice
Chapter 7: What do Parents Want from Hebrew Studies in Jewish Day School Education?
Chapter 8: Three Conceptions of Rabbinics: Understanding Teachers’ Thinking
Chapter 9: Four Approaches to the Instruction of Halakha
Chapter 10: Signature Pedagogy and Constituent Authenticity: A New Model of Authentic Activity in Jewish Day School Classrooms
Chapter 11: Orienting Students to Engage with Pluralism: A Cultural Approach
Chapter 12: Designing Schools Around Five Dimensions of Community
Chapter 13: Sometimes Seen: The Experience of Latinx Students in Jewish Day Schools
Conclusion: What We’ve Learned about Teaching and Learning in Jewish Day Schools, and What We Still Need to Learn