Exploring early Jewish childhood education
By Enid Weiss
March 28, 2008

Jewish children are born at birth. For that reason Jewish education should start in infancy, according to a new multi-denominational task force focused on early childhood education.

"We feel early childhood Jewish education is a gateway for families into Jewish life and the Jewish community," said Mary Lou Allen, director of early childhood department at the coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE). "It's making connections; early childhood isn't just babysitting -- it's forming Jewish identity."

Allen quoted CAJE research looking at roughly 600,000 Jewish children between the ages of 0 and 6 years; of those, about 20 percent or 125,000 are enrolled in one of about 1,300 Jewish early childhood programs in the country. Typically, families pull children from Jewish education programs when the youths graduate preschool and then re-enter an education program when a child is in the 3rd grade -- in order to begin bar or bat mitzvah preparations.

"Our concern is, the greatest rate of dropout in the Jewish education is when kids turn 5," Allen said. "It's important to view early childhood education not as a cash cow for synagogues but to start Jewish education in early childhood and then continue it."

The task force of six professionals from various segments of Jewish education, including CAJE, BJENY, USCJ, URJ and The Alliance met at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick on March 12 to go over results of a survey they conducted to assess what type of programs Jewish institutions offer for infant and toddler children. They will meet again later this spring, after Passover.

"We are very excited about and encouraged by the Jewish federations' and philanthropists' increased attention to families with young children," read a letter introducing a survey compiled by the Jewish Early Childhood Education Infant Toddler Task Force. The survey provides a baseline for planning, recruiting and training and was geared more toward daycare than "mommy and me" type of programs that are traditionally of shorter duration and do not offer any type of babysitting service.

There were nearly 400 hits to the survey Web site but only 149 complete responses to the letter and survey sent out to early childhood program directors at synagogues, Jewish community centers, and Ys nationally. It asked for details on enrollment, waiting list statistics, numbers of Jewish and non-Jewish students, age and religion of caregivers and educators in the program and details of their background in Jewish and secular education.

Results indicated only a dozen centers with full-day, early childhood care beginning as young as 6 weeks with the number growing as children grew older. The survey also noted few part-time programs for infants, with the largest part-time population falling between the ages of 25 months to 3 years old.

Other preliminary survey results indicate:

•     16 children aged 7 to 15 months old enrolled in formal, full-day Jewish educational programs.

•     39 children aged 16 to 24 months old enrolled in formal, full-day Jewish educational programs.

•     70 children aged 25 to 36 months enrolled in formal, full-day Jewish educational programs.

The committee was still evaluating the responses and what they could mean, but said the numbers will be used as they work to change and improve programs.

"There is a need for Jewish infant-toddler education," Allen said. "CAJE has researched it -- the earlier you [begin Jewish education] the better. It's a way for young families to connect to other Jewish families and the Jewish community."

"We want to make the bigger world aware of what is out there in the Jewish community," said Cathy Rolland, director of early childhood education at the Union for Reform Judaism's department of lifelong Jewish learning. "We need to pay attention to these young families for the future of Judaism. Our pre-K children are leaving our programs."

Rolland's name may sound familiar to many Central Jerseyans -- previously she'd been the director of the preschool at Temple Har Shalom in Warren.

"We are not necessarily talking about opening new centers but shifting preschool open space to a younger population," said Ilene C. Vogelstein, director of the Alliance for Jewish Early Education. "Our preschools are losing kids to pre-K programs at day schools and public schools."

"I think one of the most important things we're learning is there is a need for Jewish early childhood infant-toddler programs," said Karen Goldstein, director of early childhood education at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick. "We are seeing there is need and a preference amongst Jewish parents for Jewish infant/toddler care. Several educational directors indicated they didn't know how to craft a Jewishly rich environment for infant/toddlers, nor did they fully understand the benefits of such a program."

Goldstein, who runs such a program for infants and toddlers, said it is the "foundation for building a strong Jewish identity."