Improving Instructional Quality in Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot ...

3. Deep instructional improvement visioning is necessary for allschools. The administration should work with teachers,perhaps with an educational consultant, to create andimplement targeted school-wide improvement goals over athree-year period.4. Educators who work in schools should be seen—as well asconsider themselves—as “scholars of practice.” As such,continued professional development is of utmost importance.Teachers should be receiving a journal in their area, whetherit is the NCTM journal for math or a generic educationaljournal for limudei kodesh teachers. I highly recommend thatthe school subscribe to the Association for Supervision andCurriculum Development’s (ASCD) Educational Leadershipmagazine so that each member receives a copy, if possible.Subscription to Jewish Educational Leadership isrecommended as is, perhaps, the Journal of Jewish Education.5. Disseminate anonymous surveys to ascertain school climate,teacher satisfaction, parent satisfaction, and studentsatisfaction (with graduating class). Alumni data should alsobe collected. 20[For further information, read the discussion of teachingbelow in: An Overview of Best Practices in Supervision andProfessional Development.]Research literature demonstrates that effective schools are ones inwhich primary attention is devoted to teacher quality (Heck, 2007).Research indicates that better teachers lead to higher studentachievement (Brophy & Good, 1986). School leaders must articulate acommitment to high-quality instruction and provide the support toenable their teachers, through curriculum development andsupervision, to offer high- quality instruction. School boards,especially, must be attuned to the importance of instructional qualityas the main responsibility of school administrators (Birkeland, 2008).Their efforts and backing are imperative to ensure instructionalexcellence and high levels of student achievement.46