The weekly Torah reading recently began the Book of
Shemot and, as Prizmah CEO  Paul Bernstein  points out, the parallels between the themes in this section of the Torah and our conference are quite strong! Read on for his reflections on how  The Power of Story and Prizmah's story connects with the narrative of our people. 





Data do's and data don'ts for transforming your school

School leaders make numerous decisions every day and rely on having a full picture of what is going on in their schools to inform these decisions. Our partners at  a firm dedicated to helping foundations and nonprofits do better with data, understand how essential having the right kind of data is to a school's success. We chatted with Harry Bloom and Daniel Chiat from Measuring Success about what they've learned in the pursuit of helping schools meet their goals.
 

          




Reflections of a Head of School Coach


Being a Head of School (HoS) isn't easy. After all, today's Heads are charged with creating and maintaining relationships with the teachers, students, parents, and board members, engaging in donor relations, and ensuring academic excellence-all while providing strong leadership. 

We spoke with Jane Taubenfeld Cohen, Prizmah's VP of School Services, who served as a HoS for 22 years before becoming a coach, about the challenges that a HoS faces today and the power coaching has to alleviate those challenges.

 

          



For Oakland Hebrew Day School, practicing mindfulness 
goes hand in hand with learning.  



In this fast-paced world, an increasing number of people are discovering the need to reconnect with their surroundings by becoming active observers and listeners. Many schools are incorporating the practice into their curriculum as well, and Oakland Hebrew Day School is one of them. 

We spoke with  OHDS's newly appointed Head of School, Tania Schweig,  who shared her insights on mindfulness as a practice and what students are gaining as a result.

                                                       



The Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference
The Power of Story: February 5 - 7 in Chicago 

The inaugural  Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference  is happening in a little over a week in Chicago. We are so excited to learn with nearly 1,000 educators and lay leaders, representing 375 schools. We hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, be sure to join in on the learning virtually by following the hashtag #Prizmah17 . 



#Prizmah17 Book Clubs
Coming to the Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference? 

The Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference features an incredible lineup of speakers, including some best-selling authors. Trying to figure out what to do on your flight to Chicago? Grab a copy of these fascinating books and join us for a book discussion  Sunday  evening, ( Feb 5 ) at   8:30 pm  for one of these two book club meetings:



We'd like to thank our Prizmah supporters and Prizmah conference sponsors : 

The Avi Chai Foundation - The Covenant Foundation - The Crown Family - The Jewish Federations of North America - The Jim Joseph Foundation - The Kohelet Foundation - The Leifer Family Fund - The Marcus Foundation - Mayberg Foundation - Anonymous

We also gratefully acknowledge our Premiere Conference Supporters: 

Talmud Israeli - Boxlight Mimio - Jewish Interactive - Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago - JTS William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education -  World 
Zionist Organization  




Rabbi Maccabee Avishur,  Prizmah's Director of School Leadership and Fee for Service, was recently asked by a school's board president the following question: What are some of the pitfalls that schools should be thinking about when searching for a Head of School? In this article, Maccabee addresses the top seven pitfalls that he has observed in his work supporting schools in their leadership placement endeavors. 
 




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"T o defend a civilization you need schools... the place where we hand on our values to the next generation.  Schools are where we make children our partners in the long and open-ended task of making a more gracious world. "

-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks