Teacher Professional Development in Congregational Settings¹

¹The research upon which the article is based was generously funded by the Mandel Foundation. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency. We thank Sharon Feiman-Nemser for comments on the article and Mindy Hepner for editorial suggestions.

Abstract

This article describes the impact of sustained professional development programs in two Jewish congregational schools. This research suggests that contrary to common assumptions, part-time teachers in Jewish congregational schools will invest time in professional development when it is of high quality, interactive and engaging and based at their school. These programs have significantly affected teacher collegiality, knowledge of pedagogy and Jewish content, and reflection about teachers' own teaching practices and practice of Judaism. The role of the educational leader is a salient feature of the program success.

Notes

²Children attend programs in such schools 1, 2, or 3 times a week. Typical patterns of attendance: Younger children attend for about 2–2 1/2 hours; children 9 and older attend 2 or 3 times a week (4–6 hours).

³In many mainline Protestant settings, teaching is seen as a volunteer ministry. To qualify as a teacher, one needs faith, knowledge of the Bible, and care for children. Professional development would be a non-sequitur because of the centrality of the volunteer aspect of the enterprise. These same norms obtain in most Catholic settings although there may be some variation from one archdiocese to the next.

⁴Teachers received a modest stipend from federation for attending the seminar. No teacher mentioned the stipend as a motivation to attend.

⁵During our site observation the question was: “Imagine your students are now tenth graders—what do you hope they'll remember from their learning here?”

⁶Previously, professional development opportunities were of the one-shot workshop model. Frequently, they opened with a short study session led by the rabbi; they then focused on technical issues related to improving teaching strategies. The sessions were not connected to each other.

⁷The MTEI videotape package (2000): Reading the Classroom as Text: A Videotape Bank and Resource Guide for Investigations of Teaching and Learning, is a Project of the Mandel Foundation. It includes tapes and transcripts of lessons in congregational schools, textual and student curriculum materials relevant to each lesson, examples of student work, and suggested activities that professional developers could use in conjunction with these records of practice.

⁸Lucy is referring to the instructional triangle, a graphic that depicts the act of teaching by placing each of three elements (the teacher, the student, and the content) at one point on the triangle. See McDonald (1992).

⁹A recent study of the NESS (Nurturing Excellence in Synagogue Schools) project in Philadelphia, a three-year professional development program focusing on literacy strategies, found that although teachers were initially resistant and “expressed strong concern regarding the overall time commitment” to a 30 hours a year program, in the long run they valued their learning and actually changed their teaching practices.

¹The research upon which the article is based was generously funded by the Mandel Foundation. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency. We thank Sharon Feiman-Nemser for comments on the article and Mindy Hepner for editorial suggestions.