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

of all students regardless of their abilities? Do we complain that wecannot effect much change given financial constraints? Do we denythe fact that we need to improve our practices in promoting goodteaching and curriculum? Are we committed above all else to spendthe time to work with teachers, at all levels of experience, in order toimprove teaching and promote student achievement and developmentof middot? Are we willing to make such efforts a priority? 25 Are weable to justify our work in instructional leadership to board members?The moral imperative, it seems to me, is that we must remaincommitted to instructional excellence by offering insights into waysour work in instruction can serve to enhance teachers’ dignity, impactstudent learning, and, in the process, transform Jewish schoolsthemselves so that educational practices that have been taken-forgrantedturn into new opportunities, and stagnation is transformedinto progress.85