Hebrew at the Center Leads Collaborative Effort with Educators and Funders to Advance Inclusive Hebrew Instruction
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The Pritzat Derech/Hebrew for All pilot program kicked off its community-wide stage in Washington, D.C. last week. The transition began in April, when staff from the Mayberg Foundation’s partner, Hebrew at the Center, brought together the initiative’s planning team—including members from Gateways, Prizmah, Scott Goldberg Consulting (MaDYK/Even Kriah), and the Shefa Center—at the Foundation’s offices. Pritzat Derech is designed to support Hebrew language learners with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences (LBLD).
Seventy-five participants from four Jewish day schools took part in an intensive day of training on implementation of MaDYK assessments—a universal screening assessment designed to quickly and easily assess and monitor individual students’ Hebrew reading skills—to establish a baseline for Hebrew reading and identify students needing added support.
“At the conclusion of the day, we met with the Hebrew leaders from the four schools and they are eager to bring to the table the interventions that will positively influence student progress,” said Hebrew at the Center CEO Rabbi Andrew Ergas, EdD. “Everyone was particularly eager to… screen students early to understand who needs additional support, knowing the sooner we can identify a challenge, the sooner we can intervene and ensure a growing gap in progress is reversed.”
The initiative, supported by the Mayberg Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and national funders including the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation and The Covenant Foundation, aims to assess all K–3rd graders by the end of September, followed by tailored professional learning and coaching in each school. Following this initial training, the teachers will reconvene in November for more community-wide learning, when representatives from additional communities and schools will join them to begin building momentum for further growth. In the meantime, local support has enabled the hiring of a professional Hebrew reading specialist to work with teachers and administrators in the community to ensure students with LBLD can succeed on their Hebrew learning journeys.
The next phase is already underway, with similar training scheduled for Baltimore schools after the chagim, and Prizmah preparing to distribute new Hebrew reading materials to its network of 300-plus day schools and yeshivot. We are proud to help support this important initiative that empowers educators to seamlessly support all Hebrew language learners.