Brooklyn, NY – More than six dozen yeshiva principals, administrators, curriculum directors, lead teachers and community leaders gathered last week in Williamsburg for a training session designed to improve the mathematics and English curriculums in Chasidic elementary schools in Borough Park and Williamsburg.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The event, held on August 10th at the Bais Rochel girls’ school in Williamsburg, was organized by PEARLS, Parents for Educational And Religious Liberty in Schools, founded last year to ensure a robust secular studies program in Chasidic schools.
The six hour long program was designed to improve students’ math and literacy skills and included a pair of two and a half hour sessions on common core English and mathematics given by Dr. Andrew Ordover and Dennis Desormier. Richard Altabe, principal at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and curriculum director at PEARLS, spoke for an hour about becoming an instructional leader.
Avi Greenstein, a parent at one of the yeshivos that took part in the training session and a member of the PEARLS curriculum committee, said that the group represented a diverse cross section of the Chasidic community all of whom are committed to a strong yeshiva education.
“We are proud of the months of hard work we put into developing this curriculum and are excited to be implementing it in the upcoming school year,” Greenstein told VIN News.
Greenstein said that all teachers at participating schools will undergo mandatory two day training before the start of the new school year and that PEARLS is also planning future teacher training events.
This was in the front cover of yesterdays WSJ.
But its not just about circulaim. Its about expanding secular studies. Why don’t kids above 13 receive a secular studies education. Don’t blame it on mesora because satmer in the 1960’s and all yeshivisha yeshivas had a secular education for high school boys.
And what are these kids doing in lieu ofs ecular studies? Or they really learning all day? Do they really have the zits fliesh? Secular studies offers a chnage of pace and eaiser topics for children to sit thru. The kids are not earning anyway so why not get a secular education.
New Square needs this desperately. Kids can’t speak English even after they graduate.
wow teachers are going to receive 2 …count em TWO whole days for mandatory training. Wouldn’t want to over do. It seems to me that some parts of the frum world have lost their minds.