We are proud to have reached the milestone of 10 years of partnership with the Chicago community. To date, JNTP has worked with 24 preschools and day schools across denominations in the greater Chicago area, training 64 veteran teachers to intensively mentor 96 beginning teachers and supporting 52 administrators through cohort professional development workshops and 1:1 personalized coaching. Schools report improved teacher retention in recent years.
Rabbi Dr. Leonard Matanky, Dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy, was one of the first school leaders that JNTP approached when we started exploring how our work could support Chicago Jewish day schools. As a big champion of professional development for teachers, Rabbi Matanky says that when he learned about JNTP and those involved, it became “an obvious choice to join forces.” With JNTP in Chicago, he hoped that other schools would see professional development as core to the teaching profession, in the same way that ongoing professional development is core to other professions like medicine and law.
Over the 11 years that Ida Crown has worked with JNTP, Rabbi Matanky believes that JNTP has been a critical partner in creating a culture of continuous growth and in creating opportunities and tools for the growth to happen in-house and on the job, which is most impactful because “the players know each other.” As for the impact of JNTP’s work on the greater Chicago Jewish day school community, Rabbi Matanky says, “I believe it increased the level and expectations of professional growth, as well as the kinds of training that can be done.”
A JNTP mentor from the first Chicago cohort and now Assistant Dean for Learning and Instruction at Ida Crown, Chavee (Summer) Gottlieb reflects on JNTP’s long-term impact: “My JNTP mentor training from 10 years ago still shows up in my work every day. It taught me how to really listen to teachers, how to ask the right questions, and how to support growth without taking over. I’ve seen new teachers become more confident and more intentional in their classrooms, and that naturally has a huge impact on their students. When teachers feel supported, students feel it too.”
Mrs. Ahuva Wainhaus, Menaheles at Joan Dach Bais Yaakov, has also been a long-term partner of JNTP. Mrs. Wainhaus was driven to work with JNTP in the wake of the tremendous growth of her school that necessitated the creation of new educational leadership positions. She shares, “I wanted to train teachers to become assistant principals because I felt it would be most effective to hire someone who understands the culture and philosophy of the school and also that teachers would most respect their peers in a new position of authority, rather than an outsider.” She saw that her teachers coming out of seminaries in Israel were not being taught how to teach. In light of that, she wanted to give her teachers the best training possible, allowing them to gain skills and an understanding of what it means to be a professional teacher.
Joan Dachs participants learned how to support their students and have meaningful conversations with parents, and the mentors that moved into administrative roles learned how to support teacher growth and lead effectively. Those that were trained at the beginning of JNTP’s time in Chicago continue to utilize what they learned, implementing tools, skills, and strategies every day. Moreover, training groups of mentors and administrators has had a significant impact on the school as a whole. Basya Breitman, Middle Grades Assistant Principal at Joan Dachs, participated in both JNTP’s Teacher Induction and the Administrator Support Programs. She says, “As the teachers and administration have attended high caliber professional development and implemented what they have learned in the school, there has been an increase in growth mindset amongst our staff, as we model that teachers and admins are learners, too. Amongst the administration, we often quote things we learned from our training; participating in the training as a team has given us so much common language.”
Mrs. Wainhaus believes that JNTP’s work has impacted every piece of the school and she has tremendous gratitude for the school’s partnership with JNTP. Mrs. Wainhaus says, “I want to underscore the tremendous hakarat hatov we have for JNTP and for Fayge Safran Novogroder in particular. I feel that JNTP’s programs are life-changing and so necessary. Any school that wants to develop and grow their team – and especially at the administrative level – can really benefit from JNTP. JNTP’s expert direction has truly helped shape where we are today. For Joan Dachs, it has been a game changer.”
Past Chicago Teacher Induction program photos.
