A Decade of Learning at Mandel Teacher Educators Institute (MTEI)
Recent evaluation indicates how MTEI has made significant strides toward changing the face of Jewish education as a profession.
A Time to Act
The Mandel Teacher Educators Institute (MTEI) has been at the forefront of Jewish education in North America for 13 years. Established in 1995 by the Mandel Foundation, MTEI has made significant strides toward changing the face of Jewish education as a profession. Improved learning opportunities and professional development for Jewish educators are central to this enterprise.
The impetus for this initiative was the report, A Time to Act, of the Commission on Jewish Education in North America convened by the Mandel Foundation in collaboration with various major Jewish organizations. Citing severe deficiencies in the Jewish education system and the need to strengthen Jewish identity, the report called for a massive program in order to revitalize Jewish education. Subsequent studies revealed that there was a missing tier in the educational leadership structures. While there were institutions charged with the training of teachers, principals, and other communal leaders, there were no programs that taught these individuals how to provide powerful professional development, even though this is a central part of their role and crucial to the success of their schools and institutions.
Galvanizing Change
MTEI has been at the forefront of Jewish education in North America for 13 years |
The Mandel Foundation rose to the challenge and founded the Mandel Teacher Educators Institute, under the directorship of Dr. Gail Dorph. "The strategy was simple", says Dr. Dorph. "Cultivate a national core of professional developers capable of delivering substantive and innovative educational opportunities to educational leaders - heads of schools, central agency personnel and others - and enable them to become increasingly skilled at their work." |
Dr. Dorph adds that the basic assumption was that graduates of the program would be agents of change and professional role models "who would infuse new energy, vitality, and expertise into Jewish education." Such an investment would reap major dividends in terms of Jewish education, identity, and continuity - as an educating system is only as good as its teachers.
"A Decade of Learning"- from theory to practice
After more than thirteen year of developing Jewish Education leadership in North America, MTEI has called Prof. Susan Stodolsky, who has served as senior researcher for MTEI since 1998, to conduct evaluation research in order to document accomplishments to date as well as highlighting some enduring challenges. Her findings and analysis were have been reported in "A Decade of Learning", an in depth evaluation report of the first five national cohorts and one community-based program of MTEI.
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This report addresses the history of the MTEI program, the reasons it has been established, its philosophy and the challenges in Jewish education the program has been addressing since its inception. The findings of the evaluation indicate that there is strong evidence that the MTEI program has been successful in cultivating a significantly strengthened leadership corps in Jewish education in North America. MTEI alumni are working in various levels of the North American Jewish education infrastructure including universities, bureaus of Jewish education, day schools, supplementary schools, early childhood, and on-going adult education. |
Graduates of MTEI are agents of change and professional role models
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As "A Decade of Learning" describes, MTEI has accomplished the following core objectives:
Developing Key Leaders. Serving in senior roles in national and community Jewish organizations and in schools, MTEI alumni are positioned as key leaders of new generations of educators and lay people. Their reach extends to those who teach tens of thousands of students in Jewish schools.
Transforming Educational Leadership Practices. MTEI alumni have learned and adopted practices for the professional development of educators as currently understood as the best in the field and have thereby expanded their capacity for serving as powerful educational leaders.
Infusing Jewish Content into Professional Development. MTEI alumni are more fluent in strategies for integrating Jewish content into their professional development work, and are as a result effectively infusing these new understandings into their work with teachers and other constituents.
Development of Resources to Support Training. MTEI has created articles and videos, which are being widely used in training new Jewish educators and educational leaders and in developing educational policy."
For more information about MTEI see:
www.mandelfoundation.org/MTEI
Email: rachel.mtei@gmail.com
