Elevated by ElevatEd!
How Jewish early childhood education can lead to a more enriching life
An investment in Jewish early childhood education is an investment in engaging families with young children in Jewish life, Lisa Capelouto, the Russell Berrie Foundation’s chief program officer, said.
The Teaneck-based Berrie Foundation provides funding and strategic support to visionary local organizations, both in Israel and in North Jersey, that attempt to break new ground in meeting unfilled needs.
“People talk about day schools and synagogues and Hebrew schools, but actually, preschools are a very big access point, Ms. Capelouto said. “For a lot of people, if they give their children any Jewish education at all, it will be preschool.”
Sometimes parents make that choice for reasons of convenience, Ms. Capelouto continued. It might be that they need childcare anyway. They might pick a convenient preschool program that’s based at a local synagogue. They might decide based on what program has an opening.
But whatever the reason, parents are choosing Jewish early childhood programs. “So how can we capitalize on that and make preschools not just childcare but somewhere there is quality education, quality Jewish education, and not just for the children, but for the parents as well, so that it’s actually an engagement opportunity?” Ms. Capelouto said.
Parents of young children tend to be “at the stage of life where they’re looking for community, they want to be part of something,” she added. For young Jews who “sort of disappear after college and do their own thing, when they have kids is normally when they come back to the Jewish community.” So an investment in Jewish early childhood education is an investment in engaging the families who are already engaged with Jewish early childhood programs, and in attracting new families to those programs.
“And obviously the idea is that then when they finish preschool, they think about what’s next for their families in terms of their Jewish journey, whether that’s joining a synagogue, choosing a day school, being part of an informal community, getting involved with PJ Library, or whatever the angles are, but that they stay within the fold as they take their next step. It’s about people finding their community. If you find your community at this stage of life, then those tend to be your friends. Even if your kids go to public school, you stay in that community.
“So working with preschools, creating a better product, should result in more engagement with Jewish preschools. And providing teachers with training on ways to engage parents as well as children should also provide a good access point for parents to engage Jewishly.”
To further that effort, the Russell Berrie Foundation recently provided funding to bring ElevatEd to northern New Jersey. ElevatEd, a project of the JCC Association of North America, Jewish Federations of North America, and the Union for Reform Judaism, is an initiative designed to strengthen the field of early childhood Jewish education by recruiting, mentoring, and supporting teachers and supporting early childhood center directors.
ElevatEd piloted its teacher training and retention program in 2023 at early childhood centers in five cities across the country. The following year, it expanded to seven more locations. The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, with the funding from Russell Berrie, is now partnering with ElevatEd to implement the program in JFNNJ’s catchment area.
The ElevatEd program is tailored to early childhood professionals at different stages of their careers, Enid Anziska, JFNNJ’s community coordinator for ElevatEd’s regional program, said. One track focuses on training new teachers, another works with veteran teachers to provide them with the tools to mentor new teachers, and a third is geared to early childhood center directors. All Jewish early childhood centers in the area were invited to select teachers to participate.
The yearlong program, which began in September, includes a series of in-person and virtual sessions. Forty three educators from 13 local schools, representing all denominations, have joined the initial cohort. Participating centers include congregational preschools, independent preschools, a Chabad preschool, and a JCC preschool.
“Early Childhood Jewish Education is the engine of communal vitality,” Ms. Anziska said. “By empowering early childhood educators, ElevatEd strengthens the entire ecosystem of Jewish life, making Jewish education more joyful, accessible, and sustainable for families of all backgrounds.”
The ElevatEd program focuses on a wide range of areas designed to strengthen both early childhood centers as a whole and professionals in their roles as early childhood educators and Jewish educators, Kaarin Varon, the program officer at Russell Berrie overseeing this grant and the foundation’s community liaison for the project, said. Topics covered include early childhood development and education; curriculum design; Jewish values and culture; and attracting, supporting, mentoring, and retaining staff members. The program also brings local educators together to collaborate and network with each other and with professionals in other communities.
The ElevatEd program invests in teachers and gives them opportunities to grow professionally, Ms. Capelouto said. Only a few teachers from each participating preschool are directly involved in the cohort, but she expects the program to benefit all the schools’ teachers.
“The heads of school are being empowered by the program” to strengthen the schools, help the schools foster Jewish engagement, and support teacher development and training, she said. “One of the things that is important to us is that the early childhood professionals feel seen by the Jewish community and feel valued. We think that’s really important because they are important, they have an important role. The program gives teachers opportunities to grow in their positions and take on new roles.”
The program also gives schools and teachers the time and space to think “big picture about what can we do to make the school a better place, a more welcoming place? How can we engage more people?” Ms. Capelouto added. “It gives them that opportunity to sort of think a little bit and dream a little bit.”
Miriam Pedler directs the early childhood center at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, one of the preschools participating in the cohort. “It really brings us together as a community, which for me, seems very important right now,” she said.
Two of the JCC’s teachers are participating in the new teachers’ track and two others are in the track for veteran educators. Ms. Pedler, who is participating in the directors’ track, sees the ElevatEd training strengthening the JCC’s program. “The work elevates teachers’ professionalism in the field of early childhood education and inside the classroom,” she said. “And our school becomes a better school when we have more qualified teachers and more people who are qualified to strengthen other people’s skills. Everybody is elevated in that way.”
Ms. Pedler feels lucky to work with the professionals in the JCC program and with the professionals in the other schools that she’s encountered in the ElevatEd sessions. The ElevatEd program “is really an opportunity for us all to stand together and really strengthen us as a community overall,” she said.
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