I feel similarly to how many synagogue presidents must feel heading into Kol Nidre this evening as I prepare to write my first business blog nearing the eve of Yom Kippur! The rationale is hardly the same. Synagogues reserve Yom Kippur for their annual “High Holiday appeals” because this is the time they have the most people in the seats, not necessarily because the message of fundraising fits with the theme of atonement. I do not presume that as families are preparing for the holiday that I will have a similarly huge burst in blog readership!
A personal note…
…apropos of the time of year. Let me take this opportunity to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone whom I may have hurt or offended over the past year. Let us forgive each other (and ourselves) for our all-too-human foibles and pledge to make this new (Jewish) year one of growth and community-building.
And now to the topic at hand…
I have been asked by our good friends at the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) to become a guest blogger on the topic off “How 21st century Jewish education is an issue of financial sustainability?” First off, thanks to my new, good (and for now virtual) friend Ken Gordon, PEJE’s fantastic Social Media Manager for the opportunity! I’m excited to wrestle with that question and share my thoughts with colleagues in the field. [My posts with PEJE will appear here on their home page for blogs impacting the Jewish day school field. I recommend the page for regular viewing or subscription if you are interested in the field. I am cross-posting this first one in my own blog as a trial run.]
From PEJE’s 2009 strategic plan, they define “financial sustainability” as “increasing the resources available to schools and professionalizing the development capacity”. This is part of PEJE’s overall shift in mission from an organization dedicated to growing the number of Jewish day schools to an organization dedicated to sustaining Jewish day schools. (I’m oversimplifying a bit.) So…how can being a 21st century Jewish day school increase resources and professionalize development capacity?
As I have been thinking about this question, my initial reaction is to try to avoid providing obvious answers. If this is, however, to be my introductory blog post on this topic, I do want to share my initial thoughts on the subject because they may be crossing your minds as well. This was my off-the-top-of-my-head response when Ken first asked me to blog on the topic:
…to me it fits very much with why we feel 21st century learning is so vital – with increased competition from Hebrew charter schools, independent schools, and suburban public schools AND a perilous economy – we have to brand Jewish day schools as being the kind of school most likely to provide a high-quality 21st century learning experience – that we are the future of SECULAR education because we are JEWISH.
Totally flips the script on prospective parents. “Too Jewish?” No such thing. Parents looking for excellence in 21st century education should be more concerned with “Jewish enough?”
Now the truth is that I could not be more passionate about this idea. Over the last year and change of my current headship, I have seen firsthand the power of 21st century learning in action and have been convinced that this is the only viable path forward for Jewish (particularly non-Orthodox) day schools. To be financially sustainable really only (!) requires two consistent streams of revenue: tuition and fundraising. You can only increase tuition revenue by adding students. You can only add students if you have a great product. So if embracing 21st century learning values increases the quality of your product, being such a school should drive enrollment and, thus, tuition revenue up.
And I absolutely believe this to be the case. But as a philosophical concept, it doesn’t really answer the question. Because all I’ve done is suggest that if you want your school to be really successful it should be a really good school. You don’t need me to point that out. The more interesting question, to me, is how being a 21st century Jewish learning institution impacts the business of schooling? What I am interested in exploring through these occasional blog posts is how we can apply the pedagogies of 21st century learning to the managerial and business aspects of running a Jewish day school to ensure they maximize financial sustainability as defined above.
[Disclosure: I have been the head of two Jewish day schools owned and operated by synagogues. Neither school has a dedicated “Development Director” or a “Business Manager” or a “Department of Institutional Advancement.” Both schools outsource a fair amount of their business functions. I do have an MBA from the American Jewish University, which has come in extraordinarily handy in light of those two prior sentences. So the good and the bad is that I have, as a head of school, had a fair amount of experience doing development and business operations without a lot of the training. I am particularly interested in seeing how development directors, business managers, fundraisers, etc., respond to the ideas I am proposing.]
What are the 21st century pedagogies I am suggesting be applied to the business of schooling?
Transparency, collaboration, technology, reflection, global connectedness, authenticity, and prosumerism (which I will define as the paradigm shift wherein the learner is the producer, not the consumer, of content.)
How can these ideas increase the sustainability of Jewish day schools?
Please lend your voice to the conversation – comment freely and often or email me directly ([email protected]) if you are still a bitsocial media shy. With your feedback, I look forward to exploring these and other ideas at the nexus of 21st century learning and financial stewardship that will be focus of this yet-to-be-named blog to be published however-often!
