Research In Jewish Education Research Articles

What We Talk About When We Talk About Research in Jewish Education: How References Produce a Field

ABSTRACTCitations are one of the ways that scholars engage one another in dialogue, debate, and discussion. As such, they represent a powerful way in which practitioners constitute themselves and others within a scholarly field. This article studies the citational practices of articles published in the Journal of Jewish Education over a 10-year period in order to discover how scholars have constituted the field of research in Jewish Education. Using social network analysis and qualitative examination, this article presents an unprecedented portrait of the field of knowledge including its strengths and new directions for scholarly investigation and analysis of how the field of research in Jewish education has been formed, and how citational references have shaped how scholars and practitioners understand what we know about Jewish education.

Shared Power, Risk-taking, and Innovation: Participatory Action Research in Jewish Education

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors describe and discuss applications of the Group-Level Assessment/Understanding (GLA/GLU) process, an innovative participatory action research methodology. The authors first describe the GLA/GLU application in the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute (MTEI) and the creation of an MTEI interpretive community to deeply analyze the collected data. The authors then describe adaptations of the process in their home communities to address community-identified dilemmas, tensions, and problems. The article concludes with reflections on common themes that emerged in the GLA/GLU applications–shared power, risk-taking, and methodological innovation.

Teaching Sacred Texts in the Classroom: The Pedagogy of Transmission and the Pedagogy of Interpretive Facilitation

ABSTRACTEmpirical research in Jewish education has found almost exclusive use of transmission pedagogy among Jewish studies teachers. This study hoped to fill out the empirical landscape by studying Jewish studies teachers who prioritize student-driven interpretation. It followed six Jewish studies teachers in four different Jewish elementary schools who all professed a commitment to student-driven textual interpretation. It found that in such classrooms there was a clear pattern of teaching moves. This article offers a detailed portrait of the previously undocumented Jewish studies pedagogy, interpretive facilitation.

Technology: So Pervasive in Jewish Living, So Absent from Jewish Educational Research

ABSTRACTThe Jewish world, like the world civilization that hosts it, is awash in new technologies. Appropriately, there is a great deal of attention paid to how to improve the Jewish world and Jewish identity through technology. Paradoxically there is a paucity of literature characterizing the relationship of Jews and Judaism to technology. This article examines this relationship through a portrait of a 3-year Covenant-Jewish Education Center of Cleveland project entitled Text Me: Ancient Jewish Wisdom Meets Contemporary Technology. Seven areas of future research are suggested out of the exploration of these two sources.

The New Journal of Jewish Education at Ten: An Appraisal

This article documents the Journal of Jewish Education’s acquisition by the Network for Research in Jewish Education, in 2004, and evaluates the contribution of the re-launched Journal to the field of Jewish education. I explore how the Journal contributed over the past decade in three discrete yet often overlapping areas, thereby realizing its editors’ vision. First, the Journal of Jewish Education became the venue for conversations between researchers, practitioners and funders about the direction of Jewish education research and policy; second, it became an outlet for the sharing of research and other Jewish education scholarship; and third, it became a venue where scholars introduced research and theoretical constructs from the field of general education and sought to demonstrate their relevance to Jewish education. Finally, I suggest some reasons why the editors had less success in realizing a fourth goal for the Journal; that is, making it a forum for new ideas and the charting of new directions in research and practice.

A Grammar of Jewish Educational Research

A Grammar of Jewish Educational Research

Contemporary Concerns, Assessments, and Aspirations in Jewish Educational Research

This essay reviews the Vision and Practice section of the International Handbook of Jewish Education published in 2011.

Across the Divide: What Might Jewish Educators Learn from Jewish Scholars?

This article explores the possible contribution to Jewish education found in the resources of Judaica scholarship. It begins by exploring the complex and often uneasy connection between the world of the university and the world of education and then offers an alternative to this tension by suggesting ways that Jewish subject matter scholarship might both help expand Jewish educational research and improve the actual practice of education. Four models are offered as means of implementing these ideas. These models are explored through specific examples and analysis of the potential advantages and challenges embedded in each. Barry W. Holtz is the Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. A shorter version of this paper was delivered at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, February 18, 2004 upon the author's assuming the Theodore and Florence Baumritter Chair in Jewish Education. I wish also to acknowledge the Mandel Foundation for its generous support during the writing stage of this project.

Annual Research Update

Each year, the Journal of Jewish Education will publish an annotated bibliography of research in Jewish education that has been produced in the past year. (The first update includes research produced from 2003–2005.) Criteria for listing in the annual update include that the research contains data relevant to Jewish education and that a report on the research is available to scholars, either online or through the author and/or sponsoring agency. Researchers and institutions wishing to have research reports included in future Research Updates may submit information about how to access the research reports to JournalofJEd@aol.com. Leah Strigler is a doctoral student at the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University and a long-time professional in Jewish education.

Ideas and Ideals of Jewish Education: Initiating a Conversation on Visions of Jewish Education

Journal of Jewish Education 711Tayl r & FrancisTaylor and Francis 325 Chestnut StreetPhiladelphiaPA191060021-62491744–0548 UTEH Network or Research in Jewish Education 52603 10.1080/00216240590924033 2 05 In imagining the relaunching of the Journal of Jewish Education, the editors wanted to offer its readers the opportunity to engage in ongoing discussion of significant issues in Jewish educational research and scholarship. The conversation would be sustained over time, by diverse participants, producing a polyphonic inquiry, a give and take from issue to issue in the spirit of Mikraot G’dolot. We are delighted to introduce the first such conversations based on Visions of Jewish Education, the important book edited by Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler, and Daniel Marom. Jon A. Levisohn opens the discussion here; in coming issues, several academicians and practitioners will offer brief responses to his essay. Although Levisohn will offer the last rejoinder in print, the editors are confident that the conversation will be sustained as readers of he Journal continue to discuss among themselves the role of existential and institutional visions of Jewish education.

THE LANDSCAPE OF JEWISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichael ZeldinMichael Zeldin is Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College and immediate past‐Chair of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.Alisa Rubin KurshanAlisa Rubin Kurshan is Vice President for Planning at UJA‐Federation of New York and was the Program Chair of the 2001 Conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

INTERVENTION PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH IN JEWISH EDUCATION: Issues and Concerns*

*Keynote presentation at the annual meeting of the Network for Research in Jewish Education, New York, June 2000. This article deals with the following issues related to the problem posed here: • development of a conceptual framework for research in Jewish education • consideration of the various functions of research in Jewish education • provision of examples of intervention and research programs in Israel and the Diaspora • identification of some missing research questions and modes of doing research • asking where we could go from here

LEARNING RITUALS AND COLLECTIVE JEWISH IDENTITY: A Look at One Attempt to Join Orthodox and Non‐Orthodox American and Israeli Jews Through Text Study1

1An earlier version of this paper was presented at The Network for Research in Jewish Education Conference, The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, June 6, 2000. I want to thank Steven Cohen, Moti Bar‐Or and Mellila Hellner Eshed for their enthusiasm, support and feedback at various stages of the research project. I also wish to thank Alex Pomson and the anonymous reviewers of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

INTERVENTION PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH IN JEWISH EDUCATION: Issues and Concerns

INTERVENTION PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH IN JEWISH EDUCATION: Issues and Concerns

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS: Why Doesn't the Model Change?

Introduction Any fully functioning educational system needs a serious approach to the professional development of the teachers who work in its domain. Without improving what Richard F. Elmore has called “the core of educational practice,” (1996)—namely, the teaching and learning that occurs in actual living classrooms—no long term solutions to educational problems are likely to occur (Little, 1993; Darling-Hammond, 1997). Certainly this is true in Jewish education, where the weakness of teachers’ backgrounds and general lack of preparation for the field are well known phenomena (Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education, 1994). Therefore in Jewish education, it could be argued, a focus on professional development is even more important than in general education (Gamoran, Goldring, & Robinson, 1999). In research previously reported upon, we presented the findings of a study of professional development opportunities for teachers in five North American Jewish communities (Holtz, Gamoran, Dorph, Goldring & Robinson, in press). Our goal in this paper is to explore the implications of the findings from our earlier article. In that article we reported on the current situation of professional development in the communities studied and made general recommendations about improving the situation of professional development, both at the school level and at the level of the community. Here we wish to examine possible reasons why most contemporary professional development in Jewish education looks the way that it does. We wish to thank and acknowledge the insights of many participants at the Conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education in June, 1999 who attended our “Spotlight” session where these data were first presented and who helped us “think outloud” about the problems we wish to address in this paper. Before we turn to interpreting the study, let us first review some of the key findings.

SIX METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN FORECASTING THE IMPACT OF JEWISH EDUCATION ON JEWISH IDENTITY1

1 Revised from a paper presented at the conference on Research in Jewish Education, Stanford University, June, 1995. The author would like to thank Joseph Reimer and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on previous versions of this paper.

LOOKING AHEAD: Recent Research in Jewish Education

LOOKING AHEAD: Recent Research in Jewish Education

Jewish supplementary schooling misperceived

Jewish Supplementary Schooling was a large-scale assessment of supplementary schools in greater New York. It consisted of interviews, on-site visits, and an Inventory of Knowledge, Involvement, and Attitudes. The main finding was that the schools were failing in all three areas the main recommendation, to reorient the schools to family and informal education. A close examination of the research and the study report revealed that the data were deeply flawed, and the recommendations unrelated to the data. Flaws included poor Inventory items and scoring system, the absence of a comparison group, and a mistaken design. A closing discussion of assessment strategies highlights the need to conceptualize more clearly the nature of supplementary education, to develop relevant evaluation criteria, and to design a study process which capitalizes on supplementary schools ’ unparalleled autonomy. The weaknesses in the study were shown to be typical of research in Jewish education.

Toward an Agenda for Research in Jewish Education

As urgent as the desire to improve Jewish education may be, it would be unwise to rely on research aimed at ameliorating the current situation without first examining the foundations on which such research must rest. The areas in which the foundations are weak must necessarily limit the contribution research can make, at least until such time as these weaknesses are adequately addressed. Five such problematic areas are outlined below, followed by a brief sketch for improvement in one of the areas.

The Politics of Research Design: A Reply to Mornell

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Politics of Research Design: A Reply to MornellGary OrfieldGary Orfield Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 87, Number 3May, 1979 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/443482 Views: 3Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in The School Review (1893-1979), which is continued by the American Journal of Education (1979-present). Copyright 1979 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:David A. Resnick Toward an Agenda for Research in Jewish Education, Jewish Education 50, no.22 (Mar 2008): 24–28.https://doi.org/10.1080/15244118208548015W. A. V. Clark Judicial intervention as policy: Impacts on population distribution and redistribution in urban areas in the United States, Population Research and Policy Review 1, no.11 (Jan 1982): 79–100.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125394