It's More Than A School.

Over at the PEJE blog, the author mentions some interesting research being done at Brandeis University about the differences between independent schools and religious private schools. I found this fascinating, since PEJE and ISM are geared toward independent schools, with the former urging Jewish private schools to emulate the best practices of independent schools, and ISM being, well, "Independent School Management" advises independent schools.

Much of what we've done at Kadima in recent years has been to professionalize, modernize, and improve the school so its academic and social environment is competitive with the best of independent schools. We've always believed--and still believe--that we can only attract the best students if we offer what the best independent schools offer academically and socially, and also offer the additional benefits of an education deeply steeped in Jewish thought, values, and religious tradition. We think our educational product is better, and it has to be better if we are to survive.

Professor Renee Rubin Ross, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, recently examined communities at an independent school, a Catholic school and a Jewish Day School. Professor Rubin writes:

In contrast [to the independent school], parents at Jewish Day and St. Cornelius also spoke about the fact that these schools were a good fit academically and socially for their children, and how meaningful it was to support and be involved with a community institution; how they celebrated religious holidays with other families from the school; how families supported one another in times of need; and how they trusted the other families to help them raise their children. When I interviewed parents at each of the three schools, I asked the same questions, but the interviews with Jewish Day and St. Cornelius consistently took longer, because these parents had many more ways of connecting with the school (emphasis added).

As a result, parents of Jewish Day Schools had a far deeper emotional connection to the school than parents of independent schools. The latter's connection was academics; the former's connection was academics and community. Thus, Professor Ross found:

It may not be surprising that families connected to a Jewish or Catholic school had more to talk about than academics. But what was a little more surprising was that this different kind of relationship helped to buffer conflict between administrators and parents when it inevitably occurred. For example, when several students at College Prep were reported to have fallen behind, parents were angry, some to the point of being litigious. In contrast, when students at Jewish Day were reported to have not met curricular standards, parents were also angry, but they worked with the school to find solutions and improve teaching and learning.

At Kadima, we saw the emotional connection our parents have to our school explode recently, when a group of parents believed that we were significantly changing our school, and they did not understand what the changes were, or why they were happening. We also saw, at the Bagels with Jack and Bill meeting, that we were able, largely, to have a reasoned and productive discussion with our parents about these issues precisely because they all care deeply about the school and want it to succeed. Simply put, because of that emotional connection, the parents came to the meeting wanting to stay at Kadima and to understand our improvements. They didn't just leave.

Professor Ross's study also reveals something more with regard to Kadima. Kadima is, in some sense, a bi-cultural (or multi-cultural) environment. We are all Jewish, but many of us come from different places; as a result, we sometimes have different expectations of how a school should run, how to live our lives, and more importantly, how we view the goals of the institution. Recognizing this, the Board has carefully and clearly delineated its Mission and Core Beliefs to reduce misunderstandings and so everyone knows who we are and what are striving to achieve. Nonethless, when you combine the cultural differences between an American Jew and an Israeli Jew with Professor Ross's study showing that attendance in Jewish Day School involves emotional commitments, and you also recognize that parents in Jewish Day Schools are also looking for communities, you can see that you have a mixture that, if not carefully ministered, can be combustible, but if managed correctly, can be incredibly rich and valuable.

We think that Kadima has the incredibly rich and valuable version.

Shabbat Shalom.