Together for the Journey and the Win

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The internet is pretty unsure who first developed this little bit of wisdom, but most of us can agree that it makes sense. Working together seems promising. But as anyone who has ever written a group term paper or […]
Supporting the Search for Community

As a person who is passionate about supporting a vibrant, growing and inclusive Jewish community, I have always been interested in investments that help create systemic and lasting impact. The early childhood space is a pivotal inflection point for families, and support of this area in particular can have a lifelong impact on families, as […]
Salads, Supervision and Schooling: Demystifying the Work of the Early Childhood Collaborative

What’s it like to participate in Chicago’s Jewish Early Childhood Collaborative? We could tell you about our long-term vision for making positive systemic change through our communal work. Or we could tell you about the hard stuff—like learning new ways to communicate data about our programs. But instead we want you to know that being […]
Betting on Jewish Early Childhood Education, Redeeming Our World

By Anna Hartman “The voice of children learning (tinokot shel beit rabban) preserves the world;through these children, the world is saved.”Zohar, introduction, with parallel messages in Talmud Shabbat 119b The rabbis of the Talmud understood something about the magic of childhood. The fate of the world, they said, rests on the existence of children and their learning. […]
The Wonder Years: Inside the Field of Jewish Early Childhood Education

“What would it look like if we bet on Jewish early childhood education for the long-term, as our tradition instructs? The task might seem large, but the reward, we know, is great (Pirkei Avot 2:15).” Read the full article here!
Final Report: Exploring Associations Between Jewish Early Care, Education and Engagement

This project examined whether Jewish early care and education (ECE) enhances Jewish engagement among families raising Jewish children, particularly among those who are initially less engaged. The research team examined the relationship between Jewish ECE and Jewish engagement among families with young children in a systematic and rigorous fashion, using multiple data collection approaches. The […]
New Study Shows We Must Support Early Childhood Educators

As a new round of young children is about to begin their Jewish early childhood experience, it is time, once again, to acknowledge that the educators who give these children the strong starts they need for successful transitions to kindergarten are some of the lowest-paid educational professionals. Speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy last year about the state of child […]
Compensation And Credentialing In American Jewish Early Childhood Centers

In early 2022, local and national Jewish organizations came together to better understand the compensation and educational backgrounds of the professionals in Jewish early childhood centers (ECCs), as well as the interplay between the two. Specifically, the study was designed to answer: Read the full article here!
Ensuring a Future for Jewish Early Childhood Education

Source: Here!
The Importance of Vision in Early Childhood Jewish Education

Exemplary early childhood Jewish education is to be found in schools that are intentional about their vision and how it translates to ordinary moments in the daily life of the school. The moment families enter the school, they see writing and images that welcome them and declares the vision and philosophy of the school. The […]