As an education school dean and a district superintendent who have had a longstanding conversation about the virtues of applying education research to the improvement of practice, when an invitation to join CASJE’s advisory board came our way, we both immediately answered, “Hineini (Here I am).”
Why is CASJE so special to us? For Dr. Feuer, CASJE is a bridge connecting two of his passions: applied social science research for education and the advancement of Jewish life and learning. For Dr. Goren, CASJE provides a reconnection to his Jewish roots and offers a new opportunity to think about the reciprocal relationship of research and practice.
While we know that our prior and ongoing experiences will contribute to CASJE’s complex goals, we are grateful for a healthy “balance of trade”: contemplating the definition of leadership in Jewish day schools, for example, and helping craft research questions and metrics to guide improvement, provides a new lens through which to examine issues in our rather more secular settings. Similarly, thinking about Hebrew language instruction or about Jewish camping has both obvious and subtle implications for some of the toughest questions facing education policy, practice, and reform generally. We are honored to be part of this venture and humbled to work with our brilliant colleagues.
