Temple Micah is one of eight area congregations that has been invited to participate in a year-long program aimed at analyzing and ultimately improving religious schools.

The Community Commendation Process: Self-Study of Congregational Schools, gives religious schools tools to evaluate themselves, from reviewing their mission statements and curriculums to looking in detail at what is going on in each and every classroom throughout the year. The program is facilitated by the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning Commendation Committee and funded by a grant from The Covenant Foundation, a philanthropy dedicated to innovative Jewish learning.

At the end of the process, we will be visited by a validation team and, if they feel we have completed the program to the best of our abilities, we will be awarded a commendation and a cash stipend to use toward improving any aspect of our program.

I want to be totally upfront about why we are participating in this program. A commendation and a little money are very nice, but they are not good enough incentives to inspire me to undertake such an involved process. The reason I have agreed to participate is because the self-study materials are excellent and the steps involved will allow us to take a critical look at all aspects of our program. By allowing an outside group to help in the examination, we are sure to discover gems we never noticed, as well as flaws that have escaped our attention. I want Temple Micah's religious school program to be the best it can be and I feel strongly that this process will help us to achieve that goal. There will be a number of people involved in the commendation process. A group of congregation members will serve as our steering committee. This committee will also include Wendy E., Katherine K., Lynn R., Evelyn S., Cecelia W., Reed T., Karen M., Rabbi Zemel and myself. Our teaching staff will be documenting the learning occurring in their classrooms using a unique portfolio and journaling system, and toward the end of the process they will be making presentations to the validation team.

If you are interested in learning more about the commendation program, I would be happy to e-mail you a copy of the manual and self-study materials. Please email me. I am excited to begin what I know will be a rich and valuable experience for our religious school and I hope that the entire community will share in the excitement.