Center for Studies in Jewish Education And Culture

The Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture (CSJEC) research agenda seeks to advance our theoretical understandings of culture, relationship, and teacher identity and develop new models for teachers' professional development. The center also offers rigorous courses of study including a Graduate Certificate in Jewish Education focused on developing and improving educators' pedagogical skills and the acquisition of general content knowledge of Jewish culture and history.

Check out our partnerships with the Mandel Teacher Education Institute and the Jewish Court of All Time project.

The Center for Studies in Jewish Education is pleased to announce the publication of the book Professional Development in Relational Learning Communities: Teachers in Connection (2017, Teachers College Press) by Miriam Raider-Roth, founding co-director of CSJEC. This book, based on a decade of research at CSJEC, examines how teachers learn about Jewish history and culture in the context of relational learning communities. Raider-Roth offers an innovative approach to teacher professional development that builds on the intellectual strength and practical wisdom of practitioners. Focusing on nurturing relationships between and among participants, facilitators, subject matter, texts, and the school environment, this book helps educators create a repertoire of teaching approaches founded on sustained, deep, democratic, local, and active learning. The author demonstrates that, within the context of trustworthy relationships, teachers can better connect with all that they know about teaching, learning, and their own identities. This, in turn, enables them to act on what they know in the best interest of their students and leads to the kinds of lasting change and commitment that can move the teaching profession beyond training for a particular skill set.