MEF Principal Leadership Program Concludes

On Tuesday evening, August 3, the Menachem Education Foundation’s Principal Leadership Program came to a conclusion following 16 full days of leadership training and additional hours of mentoring and collaborative work.

A festive dinner was hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Shlomie Drimmer in their beautiful home for the participants of the program.

Rabbi Zalman Shneur, Executive Director of the Menachem Foundation, presented awards to the key facilitators of the program, Mr. Mark Moskowitz and Ms. Gabrielle Steinhardt of the NYC Leadership Academy, in appreciation of their efforts to making this program into a tremendous success.

Rabbi Hershel Lustig, Principal of Oholei Torah, delivered a d’var torah relating to the importance of education and on the priority of improving Chinuch. The participants all felt that the program was too valuable to just come to an end, and they formed a “working group” that will remain connected to each other and meet periodically to discuss goals, action plans and results. Rabbi Eyal Bension, Principal of Darchei Menachem will lead the team, and Rabbis Simpson and Greenbaum will assist with the coordination of activities.

The Principal Leadership Program has already had a tremendous impact on many schools across the United States by providing principals with tools they can use to lead and improve educational practice. These tools include learning walkthroughs – a new method of collecting data on student learning, creating buy-in and focusing on standards and assessments.

One of the actual outcomes of the program was the creation and development of a set of standards and assessments for first and second grade Chumash. These standards are being adopted by a number of the participants in the Principal Leadership Program and are going to form the basis of a new pilot program called “Data-Driven Instruction for Jewish Education”.

The Menachem Education Foundation is committed to raising the bar of Jewish education. The Foundation expects to launch a Principal Leadership Program for Women in the coming weeks. You can learn more about the Foundation by visiting http://mymef.org.