Transforming Mid-Week Religious School: The Shaare Torah Story

By Jacob Blumenthal, Shaare Torah, Gaithersburg, MD

The Challenge:

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Over the past 18 months, Shaare Torah has been undergoing a "2020 Reflections" process, talking with our congregants as we determine the radical changes needed to become a 21st century synagogue community. We identified six "pillars" for synagogue transformation -- Connection, Empowerment, Ownership, Vitality/Sustainability, Relevance, and Experience -- that we hope to introduce into every aspect of synagogue life over the next 5+ years.

Even six months into the process, lay leadership and staff could see some of the directions the conversations were taking us. As a first example, the deep dissatisfaction with the mid-week religious school program being expressed by our families led us to initiate an experiment guided by the "six pillars" to see how we could transform the program.

Previously, our 6th and 7th graders met for two hours on Tuesday afternoons and 3rd-5th graders met on Thursdays. While we had introduced arts programming on these afternoons, students were limited to 2 or 3 choices. Families were dissatisfied with the choices and many were frustrated because they were "forced" to drive on both afternoons.

Besides arts programs, the other piece of the mid-week program was 50 minutes of Hebrew reading and tefillah skills, for which each grade was divided into two sections, usually with 12-14 students in each. We faced all the usual challenges in classroom management. Student achievement -- measured by reading proficiency and prayer skills mastery -- were below the expectations of families, lay leadership and professional staff.

Behavior, achievement, and satisfaction were all tanking.

Crafting a Solution:

With the six pillars in mind, we redesigned the program from the ground up:

  • Extended Religious School Hours
    We extended the hours of religious school to 3 afternoons a week, with students able to attend for about 2 hours any time between 3:15 and 6:30 (right after public school or after sports practices -- families could decide).
  • Arts & Electives
    Our education director, Lisa Pressman, arranged for a set of very high quality (relevant, experiential) arts and experiential "elective" sessions from which families could choose, like cooking, sculpture, newspaper, dance, etc. A Judaic curriculum was set up to be taught by that modality, leading to classes like Jewish heroes through the Newspaper and Jewish Holidays through Art.
  • Teen Educators
    While we retained our "master" reading/tefillah educators, we replaced many others with teen educators who had outstanding skills either from supplemental school, day school, or Camp Ramah, recruited and trained by our education staff.
  • Maximum Hebrew/Tefillah class size is now 5; most classes are one or two students. 
  • Community Time
    Each day we have 15 minutes of "community time" in the middle of the afternoon -- a holiday celebration, a tefillah experience, a video about current events in Israel, etc. -- that all students attend.
  • Flexible Registration
    In late spring or early summer families receive a registration packet including all elective sessions for the coming year. They choose electives and Hebrew/tefillah times, deciding whether their children's first-choice electives or having everyone attend on the same afternoon is the priority. 

Success:

This program has proven to be wildly popular, transforming our mid-week school.

  • Our teen educators have been outstanding: they are creative, take risks with their students, and take incredible responsibility for their learning. The students have created close connections with the teens, often requesting specific teachers in subsequent semesters. Further, the experience has encouraged many of them to pursue leadership opportunities in our teen programs.
  • Because of the small class size students take ownership for their learning -- no hiding behind 10 other students.
  • Families love the flexibility and choice and students, by and large, are excited about their electives because they chose them based on their interests. Now parents decide whether the priority is the interests of their children, or their carpool schedules.
  • Students encounter real content in their electives, master prayer skills more quickly, are more accountable and really enjoy their activities.

Overcoming Challenges:

Event with the success of the program, we still have our fair share of challenges:

  • The administrative demands of the program are very intensive. Since electives are offered in trimesters, students need to be reassigned every few weeks which sometimes requires changing their Hebrew classes as well.  
  • Registration is first-come, first-served so some electives are oversubscribed quickly. Families now return their registration forms quickly but there is sometimes disappointment.
  • Working with teens requires regular training and oversight.
  • Our biggest challenge now is our Sunday program that still largely follows a standard classroom routine. It previously seemed "just fine" but now feels "flat" and unengaging.

Next step? We'll be applying our six pillars to that program over the coming year, for implementation in the next!


 

Jacob Blumenthal began his association with Shaare Torah by leading the startup congregation’s first High Holiday services in 1996, and he began monthly visits in 1998. Following ordination at JTS, he began as Shaare Torah's full-time rabbi in July, 1999.

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