This is an exciting week at Gateways.  This week we send out letters to the leaders of Boston area Jewish day schools requesting proposals to be one of the six schools that will participate in B’Yadenu, an initiative to build the capacity of day school teachers and leaders to better serve students with a range of learning needs.   

You may have already heard about this initiative.  We’ve discussed it on our website and it’s been in the news.  Funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Ruderman Family Foundation, it’s a collaboration between Gateways, CJP's Initiative for Day School Excellence and Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership.  The initiative is called B’Yadenu (In Our Hands), Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners in Jewish Day Schools: A Whole School Approach.  

What does that mean?

Put the focus on the last three words, “whole school approach.” For years we’ve worked with individual students and teachers in day schools to develop the skills for success in those classrooms—we’ve laid the groundwork for this grant.  We’ve provided support services for students in day schools.  We’ve provided professional development and consultation.   This has made a huge difference in many day schools’ ability to retain students that, in the past, might have needed more support than the schools could offer.  That allowed for greater diversity of teaching and greater diversity of students, which in turn improved the learning environment for all students.   It wasn’t comprehensive, though.  It wasn’t “whole school.”

Through this initiative, the schools will work with Gateways, CJP, and YU to:

• Create a baseline assessment to establish their current practices and capacity for serving students with special needs throughout their school;
• Create and implement a comprehensive three-year whole-school professional development plan to improve instruction of all learners; and 
• Strengthen the knowledge and skills of school leaders to ensure genuine school-wide commitment to this initiative.

The goal is to help schools retain and attract students with a wider range of learning needs and thereby increase enrollment.  Not just for these six schools—the ultimate goal is for the schools to serve as models that can be studied and adapted to work in day schools across the region and the country.

I am so excited, and proud that Gateways will play a key role in this innovative multiyear initiative.  Not only will we be coordinating and providing professional development to the day schools, but we’ll also be expanding Gateways’ capacity as a regional agency for Jewish special education services and programs.

As I think about our role in B’Yadenu and what its overall goals are, it’s good to remember what B’Yadenu will mean on an individual level.  Think of a child whose parents are committed to sending her to day school, but she has processing or behavioral issues that interfere with her learning.  The school wants to make a day school education possible for her and is committed to helping her, but it has a tight budget and limited tools.  She is often pulled out of classes for support services.  For her that means being marked as different and missing out on whole class activities.  She and her classmates have little opportunity to see her strengths and to experience her successes.
 
Now imagine a school where teachers have the strategies and resources to support a wide variety of learners in their classrooms, and where administrators expect differentiated instruction in the classroom.  The student mentioned above may still need to have some individualized supports at that school, but mostly she will be in class with her peers, learning alongside them, and contributing her unique gifts.

The goal of whole school change is that the child mentioned above would graduate from her day school.  But it would mean more than just her family’s feeling of pride at that graduation.  It would mean that teachers in that school have the tools to help students with a wide range of learning challenges; administrators know their school is stronger because it can retain and attract a much wider base; parents see their children engaged and motivated; and students, all the students, experience success.

B’Yadenu….it’s In Our Hands!