The Significant Possibilities of “From Census” in Transforming the Landscape of Part-Time Jewish Education

ABSTRACT

In 2023, the Jewish Education Project published a report, A Census of Jewish Supplementary Schools in North America, 2019–2020, as a follow-up to the 2006–2007 AVI CHAI census of Jewish supplementary schools. Its companion report, From Census to Possibilities: Designing Pathways for Jewish Learners, presents new supplementary learning models and describes a better understanding of the motivations and aspirations of the field’s stakeholders. This article offers insight into the Pathways report and website—from ideation and decision-making to data collection and imputation of missing data and to the findings of this report—and examines the questions our team is still asking.

KEYWORDS:

• Jewish supplementary schools
• new learning models
• school census

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Bryfman

David Bryfman is CEO of the Jewish Education Project. His doctoral work focused on the identity development of Jewish adolescents. E-mail: [email protected]

Dena Klein

Dena Klein received her Rabbinic Ordination and Masters of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. She is Chief Jewish Education Officer at the Jewish Education Project. E-mail: [email protected]

Amanda Winer

Amanda Winer a social psychology scholar and applied statistician, is Director of Research and Evaluation at the Jewish Education Project and at RootOne, LLC. E-mail: [email protected]