Professional Development for Jewish Educational Institutions

Build A Professional Learning Plan Aligned to School Priorities

Support the academic, emotional, and psychological needs of students and staff at Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivas.

BetterLesson has been in partnership with Jewish Educational Institutions since 2016. This year, we support the professional development of teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches in hundreds of schools through virtual and in-person workshops and one-on-one coaching. Year over year, Jewish Day Schools, Congregational Schools, Federations and Foundations look to us to support their teams in a variety of mission-critical areas, including:

Early-career teacher development: classroom culture and management, instructional planning and design, and family engagement
Instructional leadership: improving teacher and leader practice, designing PD, and facilitating PLCs
Transformational Learning: flexible learning models, personalization, and integrating instructional technology purposefully
Essential pedagogical methods and strategies for teaching all Judaic Studies subjects and Hebrew as a second language
Student-centered Math and Literacy practices

Instructional Leadership Focus Areas

Improve instruction and learning for teachers and students by building your skills as an instructional leader.

Leading Through Change: Lead the improvement of teaching, learning, and overall school climate to enhance student achievement and success.

Instructional Coaching: Provide teachers with personalized coaching cycles that support them growing and developing their teaching practice.

Collaborative Professional Learning: Develop a collaborative professional culture to support student-centered teaching and learning.

Feedback and Observation: Create an authentic, replicable observation and feedback cycle that promotes alignment of student-centered goals and non-evaluative conversation.

Principalship: Equip new leaders to meet the specific demands that come with the first three years of serving as a building principal.

Inclusive and Responsive Practices Focus Areas

Build an equitable learning community where all students can be supported, celebrated, and successful.

Social-Emotional Learning: Prepare students with the self-awareness, relational, and decision-making skills they need to succeed in school and in life.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning: Develop learning communities that honor diverse student backgrounds and experiences.

Trauma-Informed Practices: Approach learning with an understanding of the impacts of trauma and adversity on students.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Create inclusive educational ecosystems by examining structures, systems, and beliefs informed by race and identity.

English Learners: Enable all English Learners to grow and thrive in their learning environments with differentiated support.

Students with Disabilities: Support students with disabilities to learn and grow in their learning environments.

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Flexible Instructional Models Focus Areas

Find unique ways for all students to learn, communicate, and solve meaningful problems.

Accelerating Growth: Accelerate student growth and provide differentiated support for all learners to create a student-centered learning environment.

Formative Assessment and Differentiation: Provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and guide their future learning.

Blended Learning: Create effective and efficient blended learning systems that sustainably drive student learning.

Competency-Based Learning: Create personalized learning paths that allow students to progress toward goals and demonstrate competency in flexible formats.

Teachership: Empower new teachers to become high-quality educators through professional learning, mentorship, and leadership support.

Curriculum and Academic Content Focus Areas

Use learning tools and curriculum to create a student-centered classroom.

Student-Centered Math: Create transformative mathematics classrooms where students engage in problem-solving, discourse, application, and critical thinking.

Student-Centered Literacy: Develop students’ literacy skills by supporting student ownership of evidence-based reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

OUR K-8 Math: Integrate the instructional routines and resources embedded in the OUR K-8 Math curriculum.

$IM-K-5-Math$ IM K-12 Math: Strategically implement the IM K-12 Math curriculum to support student-centered math instruction.

EL Education: Strategically implement the EL Education K-8 Language Arts curriculum to support student-centered literacy instruction.

OpenSciEd: Help students make sense of scientific phenomena by harnessing the full power of the OpenSciEd platform.

Odell Education: Understand and implement the Odell Education curriculum to equip students with essential literacy skills.

Why BetterLesson

Serving thousands of educators and leaders in Jewish Day Schools to personalize instruction for students.

BetterLesson has been a trusted source of professional development for Jewish Educational Institutions for almost a decade. In 2015 we partnered with The Avi Chai Foundation to provide coaching and workshops to help educators shift to a blended learning model. Since then, we’ve worked with thousands of educators and leaders in Jewish Day Schools to personalize instruction for students.

Meet Our JEI Coaches

"BetterLesson has empowered our Jewish Studies and General Studies teachers to embrace student centered learning in so many creative and engaging ways. We love working with BetterLesson!"

Rabbi Meir Cohen

Torah Day School of Atlanta

"The teachers in Houston’s Jewish day schools have experienced top notch professional development through the workshops and coaching of BetterLesson. Our partnership is a collaborative effort to continually meet the needs of our Judaic, Hebrew and general studies teachers and foster growth, innovation, and excellence in our schools. We welcome future opportunities to work together to support our teachers."

Lisa Klein

Managing Director, Jewish Federation of Houston.

"As classrooms were changed by COVID, BetterLesson provided valuable training to teachers in our Day Schools in concurrent learning. More recently, they trained and coached Congregation School leaders in adapting their approaches. Participants regarded their offerings as very highly quality. It is also a pleasure to work with the BetterLesson team."

Karen Sponder

Director of Community Strategic Initiative, Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey

Smadar Goldstein

Director of Partnerships, Jewish Educational Institutions

Smadar Goldstein is the Director of Partnerships of Jewish Educational Institutions at BetterLesson. She’s served as a BetterLesson Instructional Coach, working with Judaic and General Studies teachers and leaders to increase student engagement and creativity. Smadar believes that student engagement stems from piquing natural curiosity blended with personal student pathways to learning. Over the past 20 years, Smadar has supported thousands of teachers in more than 15 countries to promote student-centered learning. Smadar is a trained EdTech Integrator, Judaic Studies teacher, curriculum designer, and Instructional Coach. Smadar holds a BA in Jewish Studies and an MA in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University, as well as five certificates in Educational Technology and Digital and Blended Learning, as well as BetterLesson certificates in teaching Culturally Responsive Classrooms and Social Emotional Learning.