Mayberg Center, GW Convene Educators to Build a Common Framework for Jewish History in K-12 Schools

By Naftali Ejdelman, Senior Program Officer

The Collaboratory Co-Director Ben Jacobs, Ph.D., addresses Network members gathered to develop a shared K-12 curriculum on Jewish history and identity

Teaching Jewish history and identity in K-12 schools — public and non-Jewish private schools alike — is not easy these days. Crowded curricula leave little room to teach about Jews at all; states with Holocaust education mandates have no enforcement mechanism; and a full third of teachers in these schools have never met a Jewish person, entering the classroom with no personal frame of reference for the subject. Meanwhile, antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools have risen sharply in recent years as adversaries such as Qatar and China fund school districts across the country, anti-Israel groups offer professional development, and students absorb antisemitic and anti-Israel content on social media.

On July 27-29, the Network for Jewish Identity and History in K-12 Education gathered for its annual convening to take on these challenges together at George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development, hosted by The Collaboratory: A Center for Jewish Education, of which the Mayberg Center is a part. The Network brings together a diverse group of educators, curriculum developers, and executive directors from organizations that work with teachers in both public and non-Jewish private schools — including the Institute for Curriculum Services, the ADL, Holocaust museums, federations, and JCRCs (among them JCRC of Greater Washington, another Mayberg Foundation partner).

While the external obstacles are formidable, the Network has succeeded at fostering collaboration among its members internally, despite competition for funding and clients. Working groups produced two impressive deliverables: (a) A Comprehensive Framework for Teaching Jewish History and Identity in K-12 Schools, broken down by grade level and mapped to state standards; and (b) an AI tool that assesses educational content for alignment with the Framework, giving curriculum developers a fast, consistent benchmark.

For the Mayberg Foundation, the initiative also validates an approach we return to across our portfolios: strengthening a field by connecting its practitioners. The Network joins the DEEP Consortium, which unites professional development providers for Jewish day schools; the JFN Day School Affinity Group, where we are a founding member; and our Jewish Outreach Professional Development program. Lasting change comes when people doing parallel work find each other, develop shared standards, and let shared goals overcome organizational rivalry.