Professional Development for Jewish Educational Institutions

Professional Development for Teachers and Leaders

BetterLesson and the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) are excited to announce their continued partnership in the 2023-2024 school year. Throughout the past three years of the partnership, BetterLesson coaches have supported over 500 teachers, leaders, and instructional coaches from more than 100 Jewish day schools to create and sustain personalized, learner-centered environments.

This year, the Mayberg Foundation will fund 50% of the cost for any Judaic Studies teacher or leader who wishes to participate. General Studies teachers and leaders can participate in coaching and workshops but will need to be fully funded by their schools. Leaders can apply to have their schools participate in this year’s partnership by filling out the form on the left by Sunday, July 30.

Virtual Coaching

Participants will engage in 1:1 virtual coaching from August or September 2023 through June 2024. Participants will meet with their coaches for 30-minute virtual meetings every two weeks. During these meetings, participants will share their teaching and learning goals with their coaches, discuss high-quality strategies, and bring back and reflect on highlights (e.g., quotes, sample work, videos) of new strategies they tried in the classroom in between meetings. There is no maximum number of meetings, but participants are expected to meet with their coaches at least 10 times throughout the year, excluding Jewish and American holidays.

Virtual Coaching for Teachers

The Focus Areas for teacher coaching this year are Formative Assessment and Differentiation, Accelerating Growth, and Competency-Based Learning. Teachers will work with their coaches to innovate their practice toward goals like:

Using formative and summative data to provide timely, personalized, and actionable feedback to students
Designing instruction that is meaningful and challenging for various learners.
Differentiating how students engage in and reflect on the learning process.
Differentiating the ways students demonstrate their understanding.

Virtual Coaching for Leaders

Participating instructional coaches and school leaders can also work in the Focus Area Leading Through Change, including goals like:

Using data and feedback from stakeholders to drive progress in student learning outcomes.
Building connections with families and caretakers to work together to support student learning experiences
Giving teachers focused, actionable feedback on their practice
Implementing social emotional learning practices to support the emotional needs and wellness of the team.
Creating systems that enable teachers to use trauma-informed practices to support student learning.

NEW THIS YEAR: Learning Walks

While not a requirement for the grant, the Mayberg Foundation will work with interested schools to support onsite Learning Walks. During these full-day experiences, a BetterLesson facilitator will guide school leaders through a replicable, non-evaluative, and low-stakes walkthrough process as they build capacity in supporting teachers to implement strategies that advance best practices for Formative Assessment and Differentiation or Accelerating Growth. For more information on Learning Walks, please contact Smadar.Goldstein@betterlesson.com.

What are the costs for this program?

The Mayberg Foundation grant will subsidize 50% of the cost for Judaic Studies teachers and leaders to participate in coaching. Below are the costs to the school for participation for the 2023-24 school year:

Unlimited Leader coaching is $3500. The grant will subsidize 50% for Judaic Studies, so the cost to your school is $1750.
Unlimited Teacher coaching is $2500. The grant will subsidize 50% for Judaic Studies, so the cost to your institution is $1250.
Workshops and Learning Walks are also subsidized by the Foundation. Please contact Smadar.Goldstein@betterlesson.com. for more details.

If cost is an issue, please reach out anyway and see if we can help.

Does BetterLesson work with Title Funds?

Yes. Please prepare any forms that BetterLesson can complete to assist you in accessing Title Funds. BetterLesson is already a certified provider for the states of NY, GA, CA, FL, IL, TX, WI, and more. Please contact Smadar.Goldstein@betterlesson.com for more information.

How do I apply?

School leaders should use this form to apply to have you or your teachers participate in coaching and workshops.

For questions about the partnership or to learn more, contact Smadar.Goldstein@betterlesson.com or schedule a meeting with her here.

What happens after I apply?

Once you’ve completed the application form, here’s what you can expect:

BetterLesson will reach out to school leaders to confirm their roster.
The school leader will sign a contract with BetterLesson.
A Customer Success Manager will send all participants from your roster a coaching registration link. This 3-minute process will allow us to learn more about participants’ roles and available times to meet and will be used to match them with their coaches. This process MUST be completed in order to begin coaching.
Each participant will be matched with a coach who is an expert in their field, including Judaic Studies.
The coach will email the participants directly to set a mutually convenient date and time for coaching, and the coach will send a Zoom link directly to the participant. The Zoom link will also be in the participant’s workspace in the BetterLesson Lab. The Lab provides access to thousands of instructional strategies across a variety of Focus Areas, and a participant’s workspace is a private space dedicated to capturing notes, favorite strategies and reflections between the participant and the coach.
The coach will ask participants for highlights of progress to be shared with administrators and the Foundation throughout the year. These might include growth reflections, short meeting clips, or artifacts from a strategy the participant has tried. This is also significant for the participant to assess growth and development throughout the year and to gather a portfolio they can revisit after the coaching is completed.

Is coaching provided in any other languages?

BetterLesson can provide coaching in other languages such as Hebrew, German, Spanish and Dutch. If you would like coaching in another language, please share in the Google Form or in your consultation with Smadar Goldstein. To ensure your needs are met, it's best to schedule as early as possible.

"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