I blogged here about what the impact of my successful completion of my Ed.D. from JTS might mean for my work as a practicing Head of School. What I did not do, at that time, is share my work. That is because although I had technically earned the degree with a successful defense of my dissertation, I was required to make “minor revisions”. Those revisions were made over Winter Break, submitted, and accepted. The dissertation is complete.
The final step in the process, is having that dissertation “published”. Doctoral dissertations are published through ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing and when you submit your dissertation you are required to choose between “Traditional” and “Open” publication. “Traditional” means that only your abstract is available to read or download – anyone wishing to access the entire dissertation would need to pay. “Open” means that the entire dissertation is available for reading or download. Our school’s attitude towards transparency might lead you to conclude that I would have opted for “Open”. I did not.
I may change my mind, but because I am unsure as to whether or not I wish to see my research published in another form, I have opted – somewhat uncomfortably – for the “traditional” mode of publication. I write this with all due hubris; I am quite confident that there is no line of people awaiting my dissertation’s publication. And I am very aware of the mild hypocrisy involved with insisting my school’s “product” be completely open and transparent, but my own “product” reserved only for those who choose to pay. So, as I said…I might change my mind.
However, in honor of my dissertation’s official publication, I will post here, its abstract and offer anyone who might actually wish to read it, the opportunity to email me directly. I would be happy for anyone who might be interested in this topic to have a chance to take from it what value there is to be found.
Next week? Updates on edJEWcon 5772.0 and the results of our first-ever survey on bullying and its impacts.
THE FOUNDING OF THE “ZION ACADEMY” DAY SCHOOL,
2002 – 2007
ABSTRACT
JON MITZMACHER
In this study, I examine the founding and first five years of the Zion Academy Day School, which was created in 2002 as a new Schechter Network Day School to serve as the third Jewish day school for the Jewish community of San Marino, a fast growing community located in the Southwestern region of the United States.
The questions I sought to answer through this study were how theories of educational leadership impacted the founding of the school, and how the head of school’s understanding and implementation of leadership theories impacted growth.
To answer these questions, I examined all minutes and published documents of the school, interviewed many of the key stakeholders connected to the school to learn about its history, mission, and changes over its first five years, and analyzed the personal journals and autoethnographic writing selections of the founding head of school (the researcher). I framed my research in the context of the relevant literature. First, I placed Zion Academy within the history and current state of Jewish day school education and San Marino within the history of emerging Jewish communities; I then examined my data through the lenses provided by the literature on educational leadership, institutional politics and organizational culture.
My analysis of the data addresses the reasons behind Zion Academy’s founding and examines how and why Zion Academy grew and emerged over its first five years. I found that over the course of Zion Academy’s first five years that its vision and culture were largely determined by best practice as determined from the university and professional programs that provided credentials to its founding head of school. I found that Zion Academy’s culture was profoundly shaped by its relationships to other schools and institutions in its local community. I also found that leadership sometimes required spurning best practice and that risk-taking may also contribute to successfully founding a new Jewish day school.
