The following op-ed from the founders of the Affordable Jewish Education project is being published in the Jewish Week this week. AJE is a sponsor of He'atid, Tiferet Academy and Westchester Torah Academy:
Embracing Innovation In Yeshiva Education
Mon, 12/24/2012
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At the Affordable Jewish Education Project (AJE), we are proud to be partnering with three new yeshivas to aggressively embrace educational innovation with an eye towards affordability.
Yeshivat He’Atid launched this past September in Bergen County with 116 students, and Tiferet Academy and Westchester Torah Academy will open in September 2013 in the Five Towns and Westchester, respectively. There have been concerns expressed about both the newness of our model and the effects new schools will have on existing yeshiva day schools.
Given the havoc the tuition crisis is wreaking on our communities, however, we feel an urgent need for an immediate push to embrace innovations in the way we teach our children.
While we would be honored to be able to take credit for these incredible educational innovations, the ideas that our schools are implementing are already the norm in many schools across the country; we are simply partnering with experts in the field to adapt those models to our schools. Over 40 states have virtual schools or online learning initiatives and a recent study estimated that "two thirds of districts are offering some online or blended program." The compound annual growth rate of pre-K through 12th grade online learning is 43 percent, and that number is growing every year.
Some of the largest foundations focusing on U.S. education are already investing aggressively in blended learning initiatives in order to improve educational quality in both public and charter schools. The foremost goal of the Gates Foundation’s “Next Generation Learning Challenge” grants totaling $24 million is "increasing the use of blended learning models." The Dell Foundation, Hume Foundation, and Hewlett Foundation have also spent millions of dollars on similar initiatives.
Why has blended learning been growing in popularity at such a rapid pace? Because studies are showing that it works. A 2009 meta-analysis by the U.S. Department of Education found that "in recent experimental and quasi-experimental studies contrasting blends of online and face-to-face instruction with conventional face-to-face classes, blended instruction has been more effective."
Rocketship Education, which runs seven elementary charter schools servicing 2,500 students in Northern California and has been implementing blended learning since 2007, has shown very impressive results. Despite 90% of its students coming from poverty and starting out 2-3 grades behind, Rocketship's students outperform every elementary school in the area and are on par with their affluent peers in Palo Alto.
In KIPP: Empower, a blended learning elementary school in Los Angeles that uses the same in-class rotation model being adopted by our new schools, 94% of students scored at or above the national average in math, with 54% scoring in the top quartile. Those results were even better in reading, with 76% of students scoring in the top quartile.
We have the tools available to provide a personalized learning experience to our students in small groups by empowering our teachers with tools to track each student’s progress using real-time data. Why not take advantage of these amazing tools? In our schools differentiation is the rule, not the exception; each child experiences a truly individualized educational program.
It is possible that in the short run, establishing new schools may negatively impact some existing day schools. On the other hand, we have never encountered any industry, for profit or non-profit, where the value to the consumer has been enhanced by limiting choice. Yeshiva day schools exist only to serve the community. They are a means, not an end. If they are structurally unable to meet the needs of the community in their current form, we need to have an outlet that does.
Our current yeshiva day school network leaves the vast majority of families priced out of yeshiva tuition, or left with little remaining income for savings or for worthy charities. This has placed an unbelievable burden on young families. We strongly believe that providing a Jewish education to our children should require sacrifice, but a reasonable sacrifice. Our day schools all teach middot, derech eretz and chesed to our students, but the task becomes easier when the school itself sets an example that is sensitive to all families across all levels of income.
It is our hope and expectation, however, that our new schools - and we are already starting to see this in the respective neighborhoods in which we are operating - will encourage existing schools to finally embrace innovation in ways they had been unwilling or unable to do so previously.
We firmly believe that by adopting this model we can elevate educational quality and simultaneously reduce the cost per student of educating our children. We are not saying that all yeshiva day schools need to follow our exact model. What we are saying is that there should be at least one option for every student in every community to enjoy the benefits of a high-quality Jewish and secular education at a price that is affordable for the average family. Ultimately, a rising tide lifts all boats and we believe aggressive innovation could dramatically expand the pool of students attending Yeshiva day schools, thereby strengthening not only the new schools but the broader Yeshiva day school ecosystem.
Mark Nordlicht is founder of The Affordable Jewish Education Project (AJE) and Jeff Kiderman is the executive director of AJE. They can be contacted at info@ajeproject.org
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guest · 639 weeks ago
Yeshiva_Dad 69p · 639 weeks ago
AJE · 639 weeks ago
There are a few ways that He'Atid reduces costs, only some of which are a direct product of blended learning. Each of these may seem relatively minor but together they can actually make a big difference:
1. Enabling larger class sizes because everyone is working in small groups. This isn't happening so much in pre-K and K for legal reasons but we'll start seeing more of it as the kids get older
2. Reducing the need for teachers outside the classroom. This means enrichment, resource room, random specialists and additional bodies that are around to pull kids out from classes. The goal is that every kid can be educated at his/her own level within the classroom. There are still specialists for subjects such as music, art, and gym.
3. Keeping administration to a minimum by empowering teachers and optimizing operations
4. Being generally cost-conscious and keeping tight controls on spending
5. All of these cost reductions are multiplied because of financial aid. Every $1 you can cut from cost per student allows you to cut tuition by almost $1.50 because close to half of families don't pay full tuition in higher-priced schools
6. Also keep in mind that when you start a school from scratch and build from the ground up you can really just save a lot of money by not being tied into previous commitments that were made in better economic times.
We would like to reiterate that the funding that is being provided by AJE, AVI CHAI, and others is not supporting the school on an ongoing basis. These are funds that help pay for the startup costs and will help cover the gap that inevitably occurs when you have low enrollment in the first few years relative to the ultimate enrollment of the school. So while the cost per student at He'Atid is currently more than the tuition of $9k, the goal is that when grades are added the cost per student will dip below $9k. As it stands, though, the cost per student at He'Atid is trending lower than many other schools already.
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
The majority of people sending to He'atid are sending because of anticipated low costs in older grades. I say anticipated because the current tuition is not lower than other schools already in existence in the community. Your intention are good but when you start a new organization that has subsidized costs and as such can charge a price below its costs you are effectively creating predatory pricing practices. We saw the results during the "dot com era" when many companies bought customers and traffic with investor money with great marketing about how their models were different and going to change the world. While their approaches were unsustainable it didn't matter to the competitors they ran out of business with their lower prices before many of them followed by going out of business.
I hope that your faith in blended learning is rewarded. The jury is still out. The only know fact is that He'atid is using funds raised from organizations like yours to lower the tuition for a hundred some odd students. The rest is speculation.
guest · 639 weeks ago
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Also your argument that current tuition is not lower than other schools already in existence is wrong - first and second grade at He'aitd are substantially lower than other schools unless you can list for me which schools, all in are less than $9k.
You also say the model and approache is unsustainable. AJE and AVI CHAI have seen a budget that projects in the future. Please tell everyone why that budget is flawed.
Funny that the jury is still out in blended learning. Ask Noam and Moriah how much blended learning they are doing in their school - in fact - Noam is hiring a person to head technology in their school to increase the blended learning. The only difference is the price tag - they charge much more.
The subsidized costs are only for the first 3 years per the budget. Costs for this year at He'atid are already lower than expected. Looks like they are on track.
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
2. "Reducing the need for teachers outside the classroom" - there are always going to be children outside of the spectrum either on the high or low end that can't be handled in the classroom or the classroom won't function. It is silliness to imply that He'atid can handle every possible situation. Either those children will go to another school that can provide them what they need or He'atid will have to have some additional support outside of the class. Once you are supporting one child the economics are such that you might as well support more of them.
3. "Keeping administration to a minimum by empowering teachers" - asking teachers to take on administrative tasks and not paying them for it is not sustainable long term. They can simply go someplace else that doesn't have this requirement. Paying them to do the work of administrator simply divides the cost but does not eliminate it.
4. "Being generally cost-conscious" - oh please. all schools are doing whatever they can to keep cost down and hence keeping tuition flat or lowering. It is silly to think that He'atid will somehow be better at this than large schools running at scale.
5. "All of these cost reductions are multiplied because of financial aid" - no school in Bergen County has 50% of its parents on full scholarship so this argument doesn't hold water. 10% or 20% in scholarships cost, maybe, but mostly covered by donations. Just like He'atid is claiming it will do.
6. "Also keep in mind that when you start a school from scratch" - yes, but how long is this "advantage" sustainable until He'atid has the same situation as any mature organization has.
If you put more children in a classroom, you can certainly realize cost savings. This is why He'atid has to push the 'blended learning is just as good' mantra, otherwise, parents would never accept 25+ children in a classroom. Anyone who is honest would accept that beyond the one example of Rocketship - a school that doesn't claim it is getting better results for lower cost - there are no examples of k-6 schools getting better results from blended learning and spending less.
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Avi B · 637 weeks ago
Avi · 639 weeks ago
2. all schools have that - kids have left Noam for Gesher at Moria or special programs at Yavneh. No school reaches all students. Why do you expect more of He'atid?
3. why? it has worked in the other schools that the authors site. are you saying it doesn't work there?
4. other schools can only be cost conscious within their structures now - they aren't going to fire administration or many of their teachers. they are stuck. He'atid is a new model - they dont have the overhead. surely you can see the difference
5. the article is about schools in long island and westchester. Ask SAR how many parents are on financial aid. and if it isn't 50% in BC there is still a large percentage so clearly it makes a difference
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
Avi · 639 weeks ago
Avi · 639 weeks ago
AJE · 639 weeks ago
We'll try to address a few of the comments here, though we probably won't hit all of them. In no particular order:
- Cost per student at Rocketship is around $7k per year, including all capital costs. See page 9 in this report: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/upload.... KIPP Empower expects to also hit $7k per student per year in 2014 when enrollment hits its goal (p. 18): http://www.ghcf.org/default/Documents/Emerging%20...
- KIPP Empower reported a 33% reduction in costs per student after switching to the blended learning model and increasing enrollment, as well as a 19% predicted further decrease in costs per student the following year: http://www.innosightinstitute.org/blended-learnin...
- While the points about He'Atid being subsidized are understandable, it's important to not create a double-standard here. Any school that opens from scratch likely needs to be subsidized for the first few years until it reaches critical mass. Think about other schools that have opened in BC over the past decade, usually with 50 students or so - were they able to cover their costs with tuition revenues in the first few years? Highly doubtful - the fixed costs are just too high. So while it's true that He'atid's per-student expenses are more than $9k per year, we need to be fair on how we evaluate that fact.
- Nobody ever said that 50% of BC was on full scholarship. The national percentage of families on some scholarship is 50% (see YU's benchmarking studies), though in BC that number may be lower - let's assume 30%. This doesn't refer to the total percentage of the budget that accounts for financial aid ( 10-20%); it means that 30% of families receive SOME aid. Which means they aren't paying full tuition. Which means if you lowered tuition by $1, you would only lose an average of $0.70 per child in revenues because 30% already aren't paying that last dollar. Hope that explains the math better.
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
- Supporters of blended learning and He'atid focus on 2 or 3 examples of schools that have seen good results but the jury is still out on whether or not these results can be replicated and/or if they are proven in lower school education. See http://www.ghcf.org/default/Documents/BL%20Execut... which includes the following reference to the government report you quote - "A meta-analysis of 176 experimental or quasi-experimental studies found that, on average, students participating in online learning performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction... However, only
nine of the studies involved K-12 students and therefore the results cannot be generalized... Rocketship, KIPP Empower, and Carpe Diem had higher student achievement results than comparable schools and districts in the region and state, but their results, while promising, are based only on one to four years of data analysis."
- on KIPP - it appears that there is some debate on their cost per student. As per their own statements (http://www.kipp.org/news/kipp-statement-nepc-report-by-bruce-d-baker-on-spending-by-the-major-charter-management-organizations) there is a report that claims their cost are $7,000 more per student in NY. They content that this is not true but that their costs are comparable to NYC public schools - i.e., much higher than current Yeshiva Day School tuition in Bergen County.
- On Rocketship - agree that they are highlighting cost per student of around $7k AND that they reinvested the savings they realized back into the school in order to get the better results. So their costs are comparable to other schools in their locale but they are getting better results. That is great but does not support that you can take costs out and achieve better results. In addition, do you honestly believe you can provide a strong Jewish studies program for $2k per student when clearly the bulk of the $7k that Rocketship costs is focused on in classroom secular education?
guest · 639 weeks ago
Anonymous · 639 weeks ago
Guest · 639 weeks ago
guest · 639 weeks ago
Yeshiva_Dad 69p · 639 weeks ago
End Welfare · 639 weeks ago
thatguy · 639 weeks ago
2. Maybe we don't feel that he'atid has done or been anything that has disabused us of our concerns in the first place
3. Maybe disagreeing with certain premises surrounding the he'atid approach is not bashing anyone but simply having a difference of opinion
Yeshiva_Dad 69p · 639 weeks ago
Please don't make personal attacks on this blog.
Dan Fried · 638 weeks ago