FALL 2024 l In this Issue
Director’s Message: Making “Reaching Their Full Potential” a Reality
Dr. David Farbman, Project Director, The DEEP Consortium
As educators, we feel uniquely gratified when our teaching results in true learning for students who struggle, academically or otherwise. The challenges these students face as learners thus become our challenge as teachers to meet these children where they are and raise them to new levels of achievement.
Mercaz Academy in Plainview, New York, set forth this principle of enabling every child to learn to their fullest potential. For Mercaz administrators and faculty, “all learners learning” is not a “nice-to-have” goal, but rather the driving force behind their instructional model. But they also knew that wanting to reach and teach every child would not happen just by wishing it so; teachers would need to grow their skills and knowledge base to turn their ambition into reality. So, the administration looked to outside experts who could train the whole faculty in pedagogical methods that aimed to leverage each student’s strengths to overcome their limitations.
Enter Hidden Sparks, which has provided rigorous professional development in differentiated instruction to Jewish day school educators for the last 20 years. Mercaz enrolled in Hidden Sparks’ five-year coaching program, allowing them to develop the capacity of faculty members, one by one and in collaborative settings, under the careful guidance of an embedded coach. The Hidden Sparks approach entails first helping teachers to analyze each student’s learning profile and then coaching them to adapt their instruction to align with how each student can learn best.
Mercaz administrators and faculty make clear that this intensive process of observation, experimentation and honing of instructional strategies cannot happen without faculty dedicating significant time and attention to their own growth. Yet, rather than feel resentment toward the extra effort required, teachers express deep satisfaction in their own abilities as educators and testify to the worthiness of the endeavor. Even more important, this individualized approach to instruction has a broad impact on school culture where each student feels valued.
We hope that Mercaz’s story of demonstrating a school-wide effort to self-improvement can serve as inspiration during the approaching High Holiday season. As these Mercaz teachers discovered their potential to uplift every learner, so, too, might we all grow to find the hidden spark in ourselves and those we seek to impact.
Hidden Sparks: Increasing the Capacity of Jewish Day Schools to Teach All Learners
At the heart of the mission of Jewish day schools is the ambition to educate every child to their potential. Sometimes, however, that lofty goal collides with the reality that many learners struggle in the typical mainstream classroom. Unable to access or process content with facility, these students’ needs are often not adequately met. Hidden Sparks helps educators reach these struggling learners by enabling teachers to notice and nurture the “hidden spark” within each student. Through professional development programs and coaching for Jewish day school educators, Hidden Sparks helps teachers deepen their understanding of the learning process and develop approaches for teaching all kinds of learners.
Hidden Sparks introduces day school educators to its approach through its Learning Lenses® course to explore how neurodevelopment, home and classroom ecology, and temperament impact student learning. For those schools that wish to extend and deepen their professional learning, Hidden Sparks has also developed an intensive on-site coaching program that trains teachers in its approach. Schools that participate in the highest-tier coaching program commit to a five-year partnership, wherein a seasoned and specially trained Hidden Sparks coach is embedded in the school. The “external coach,” an expert with vast experience in special education and child development, visits each school on a weekly basis. The coaches spend much of their days observing identified students and then coaching teachers how to apply the Hidden Sparks Learning Lenses framework. This framework entails, first, analyzing each student’s strengths and challenges as a learner and, then, developing strategies to address student challenges while harnessing their strengths. The external coach works with a different cohort of teachers each year to train as many faculty as possible.
External coaches also cultivate the expertise of select faculty who, in turn, can become what are called “internal coaches;” they coach their own peers by participating in team meetings and become the official guides to peers in how to adopt the Hidden Sparks approach. This training system sets the groundwork for continuity of the Hidden Sparks approach after the five-year trajectory ends.
The program encompasses three goals. First and foremost, the program aims to support students, particularly those who struggle in academic and/or social contexts and might otherwise “fall through the cracks.” From this primary goal, the secondary objective follows: helping classroom teachers enhance the ways in which they understand, teach, and talk with struggling learners and, by extension, all learners. As many educators have come to recognize, pedagogical approaches that support students who struggle will also benefit those for whom academic learning comes easily. Finally, Hidden Sparks strives, together with school leaders, to help foster a school culture, operational systems, and practices that best support the learning needs of a diverse student body.
Building School Community by Focusing on Individual Students
Rabbi Kalman Fogel, Principal, Mercaz Academy Mrs. Debbie Simpser, Director of Special Services, Mercaz Academy
Mercaz Academy is a Modern Orthodox community school in Plainview, Long Island, serving 163 students (103 families). For many years, we were the sister school of Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), but with a growing local community, we officially formed our own school several years ago taking the name Mercaz Academy. We founded Mercaz Academy with a mission to merge high-quality education with a caring school culture, attuned to the needs of each student. Indeed, fostering a positive culture in which each student and teacher feels appreciated is a defining feature of our school.
As a leadership team, we had engaged with Hidden Sparks while we were still merged with HANC and knew how its approach aligned perfectly to Mercaz’s vision: coaching teachers to develop the skills to better understand the academic and social emotional needs of their students, followed by guided implementation of teaching strategies to address those needs. Equally important to us were the systems that the program would introduce to encourage collaborative observations and discussions about students among faculty, as well as the program’s emphasis on cultivating internal school expertise. On top of this, we were also familiar with Hidden Sparks’s external coach, Dr. Sara Reichman, and how effective she had been at helping teachers to transform their instructional practice. So, we eagerly applied to participate in the Hidden Sparks embedded coaching program and were accepted.
We knew that partnering with Hidden Sparks was not a quick or superficial process, but putting in place the coaching and systems would help us achieve our instructional and school culture goals. Embedding a Hidden Sparks coach in our school who would work closely with teachers to observe and reflect on students and learning outcomes required a significant commitment on our part to support all of the logistical arrangements. For example, we had to schedule coaching and debrief sessions into the teachers’ school day. Furthermore, our administrators participated in summer workshops to learn and begin to internalize the philosophy and tools of Hidden Sparks. More than just enabling the various Hidden Sparks coaching components to take shape within these dedicated times, the set asides in the schedule conveyed to teachers in a concrete way how we, as an administration, supported the program’s requirements and deemed them essential to our school’s success.
Having teachers spend so much time engaged in intensive training and coaching might have generated resistance; instead, the faculty came to view Dr. Reichman’s wise and non-judgmental manner as a benefit, and they increasingly valued the knowledge and expertise they gained. To date, 21 teachers, representing each grade level, have received classroom coaching, and we are proud of the hundreds of high-level teacher team discussions conducted about students’ learning that resulted from Dr. Reichman’s guidance over the past five years.
Together with Dr. Reichman, we developed and implemented a dedicated Child Study Team that meets regularly to discuss how teachers could better address student needs. These monthly class and grade-level Child Study Team meetings use the Hidden Sparks framework of observing students and looking at their work in order to understand their learning and behavior. (Learn more about the Child Study Meetings here)
Engaging in these regular collaborative sessions about specific students helped us develop a shared, optimistic, and strength-based language. Dr. Reichman also gave us a systemic approach for addressing a struggling student without considering that either the student or the teacher had “failed.” Rather, as educators, we just needed to adopt alternative ways of helping the student to thrive. This outlook has also been important in guiding teachers to communicate with parents through positivity, rooted in an appreciation of children’s strengths.
Finally, we appreciated the opportunity for select faculty to receive advanced training to become resident experts on teaching to diverse learners, a position Hidden Sparks refers to as “peer coaches.” To this day, Shani Kaufman and Batsheva Berger continue to work with Dr. Reichman to apply their learning to their own students and, as peer coaches, to support other teachers and students in the school. Based on the success of these peer coaches, we have selected other faculty members for this more intensive training, which will be a key strategy in continuing to implement the Hidden Sparks methods, even after Dr. Reichman concludes her direct engagement with us.
Because the coaching took place in their classrooms the teachers felt that the observations and strategies were immediately helpful to their practice. By instituting this program, we were able to provide support for both our teachers and students. As much work as the Hidden Sparks coaching has required, the effect on our teachers’ attitudes toward their teaching is clear. We are gratified that a recent independent and anonymous survey conducted by Nishma Research, in which all our teachers participated, found that 97 percent of the teachers feel valued by the school, 100 percent feel that members of the Mercaz community are respectful to each other, and 100 percent feel interactions with parents have been mutually respectful.
This upcoming year our entering first grade has doubled in size – a testament to how our support of diverse learners has generated heightened interest in our school within the broader community. We are proud of our Mercaz faculty and the thoughtful understanding of individual student needs they demonstrate throughout the school. The robust support, training, and continued expertise from Hidden Sparks have contributed significantly toward reaching our goals.
Hidden Sparks Child Study Meetings
The Hidden Sparks Child Study Meetings reflect the Hidden Sparks’s principles and educational philosophy, including the value of reflection and observation, collaboration, a holistic approach to understanding learning and behavior, and more. The first step when we gather is to consider what our observations of specific students indicate about their learning profile – strengths, areas of challenge, time of day, other factors – and discuss what may be going on with the student through the “Learning Lenses” of neurodevelopment, temperament, ecology. Together, we try to pinpoint where each student’s struggle is (e.g., language comprehension, attention, memory, etc.). Next, we consider how various instructional strategies might be applied to better support the students we are discussing with the knowledge that we will be getting back together again in a few weeks to revisit how the strategy/ies worked, what we should tweak, and how this approach might help other students in the class. As part of these meetings we also discuss how to best communicate with this child about their strengths and struggles.
Throughout, we commit to our discussions being a judgment-free zone, never labeling a child, but instead wondering what may be going on – using that word, specifically, to ensure that we do not jump to conclusions and respect each teacher’s input. Our shared language also includes “the Torah and curriculum” of neurodevelopment, temperament, and ecology in the framework course that we all take (i.e., Learning Lenses), and we apply this same language to all the templates and forms that we use in these meetings and in our one-on-one coaching sessions.
How We Trained to Become Internal Experts
Mrs. Batsheva Berger, Kindergarten Teacher
Mrs. Shani Kaufman, Grade 1 Judaic Studies Teacher
Hidden Sparks Peer Coaches
We were among the first teachers to be coached through the Hidden Sparks embedded coaching program. During our first year working with our coach, Dr. Reichman, she encouraged us to be more curious about what we were observing in our students and trained us to look for patterns of academic challenges and successes in the students who struggled, to harness their strengths, and to develop strategies to support them. We came to adopt a broader perspective on a student’s learning profile, where they may demonstrate strengths and weaknesses across many areas of development such as language, memory, attention, and social cognition. The Hidden Sparks approach taught us to distinguish among these different dimensions in order to use the most effective strategy. The coaching we’ve received from Dr. Reichman and then learned to do for each other was what we needed to change our practice, and we saw the value of investing the time to strengthen our teaching – quite the opposite of a “one and done” professional development approach.
During our training we learned how to focus on observable behaviors and student work products in order to think about what strengths and struggles students may have, and then to consider what set of strategies would best suit their learning profiles to address their needs. By keeping a log of observations of students, the strategies that we have tried for each, and the students’ response to each one, we were – and are – able to reflect more concretely on what has worked and what has not. Using these systems, we are able to modify our pedagogy to serve each student’s needs. For example, if a student exhibits a weakness in attention, especially in the area of mental energy, we might chunk a larger volume of material into smaller, more manageable amounts of content. In some cases, we can create a secret signal to redirect a student back to their work, highlight important information for them, and give them preferential seating that helps them pay attention. We might also allow a student to alternate between standing and sitting while working.
But that first year of coaching was only the beginning for us. When the school leadership asked if we would be interested in professional development training to become peer coaches, we were very excited! We wanted to learn the material in the Hidden Sparks Learning Lenses course, but more importantly, we wanted to have an impact beyond our own classrooms, as we were empowered to guide our peers to implement change. For example, we share our knowledge with our fellow teachers at faculty trainings, where we encourage colleagues to do as we have learned to do: look for patterns in their students’ behavior and experiment with different strategies that correlate with their observations about those students. We also attend the Child Study Team meetings to present our students, and the methodology we have learned has helped bring new language to those conversations.
The time invested in analyzing students’ needs and addressing those needs in our lesson plans has yielded very positive results. When we are better able to help children who are struggling, our students feel more confident. It has been so gratifying to see students who have struggled to pay attention during class gain self-esteem because they are now able to focus for longer stretches of time. In turn, this longer focus leads to greater learning. Candidly, our own self-esteem as teachers also grows when we perceive how our more deliberate instruction helps our students to learn better.
The best part of the peer coaching experience has been having the opportunity to turn to a colleague to collaborate in the process of analyzing and reacting to the academic, behavioral, or social-emotional struggles that our students experience. In those situations where students present particularly complex challenges, we will invite each other to observe the student in question. We then meet to share our perceptions of what might be challenging the student, and together formulate an action plan. Using shared language that, in turn, reflects our shared philosophical approach to understanding child development, we have engaged in highly productive and collaborative conversations. Our joint efforts are rooted in a common goal to put into practice instructional methods that can lead to student success.
We are very appreciative that the school leadership supports our professional development – it has had a profound impact on our teaching!
Empowering Teachers to Become More Reflective
Dr. Sara Reichman, Hidden Sparks External Coach
When Batsheva Berger and Shani Kaufman joined my first external coaching cohort at Mercaz Academy, I was struck by their interest and curiosity. Each of them thought deeply about their students and was eager to reflect on their own practice. They took so well to the work of asking probing questions about their struggling students and exploring the possible relevance of neurodevelopment, temperament, and family ecology to their challenges. Indeed, they displayed what is perhaps the most important quality in teachers who will become successful on behalf of their students: receptivity to coaching. When teachers welcome observers into their classrooms and are eager for insights about their students and their own teaching, that openness to self-reflection and vulnerability positions them for tremendous growth. So, one year after they had begun their work with me as their external coach, I recommended that Batsheva and Shani attend the Hidden Sparks Learning Lenses course and to be trained as peer coaches.
Our work involved observing students together in Shani’s and Batsheva’s classrooms, with a particular focus on students who puzzled or concerned them. My job as coach was then to help them develop the vocabulary for discussing students with specificity through the lenses of neurodevelopment, temperamental traits, and family ecologies. This framing became essential as they strove to understand and then tailor their teaching to their students’ assets, as well as supporting them through their challenges.
In one instance, our observation of a kindergarten student (including the work he had done in class) revealed that he had a strong memory: he remembered much of what was taught, even months after he had learned it. At the same time, he demonstrated a weakness in language, with poor comprehension of oral communication and limited early reading skills. Together, we developed strategies to harness his strengths while addressing his needs. For example, we introduced games that would leverage his strong memory to reinforce sight words and Hebrew letter/vowel reading (a deficit). In addition, at the start of his classwork, his teachers would check in with him to assess his comprehension and perform the first exercise with him as a “jumpstart.” He responded well to these strategies, and over time, showed increased ability in the language arena.
I am proud that our five-year regular presence in schools is designed to ensure continuity beyond that time because of the internal expertise coaches help them cultivate. Our commitment to support new Learning Lenses trainees in their first months after training helps sustain that continuity.
One of the key factors that has contributed to the program’s phenomenal success at Mercaz is the strong alignment and support from Mercaz’s educational leadership. Structural components to support the coaching – such as ensuring that the teachers are scheduled for at least 20 minutes of debriefing time with their coach following weekly observations – together with the ongoing support for teachers to attend the training sessions, and the participation of the school leadership themselves in the training, have communicated a clear and consistent commitment to the goals of the program. And the result of Mercaz’s commitment to their professional development, which aims to enhance the capacity of teachers to better meet the needs of all learners, is reflected in the school’s recent growth and its reputation as a caring school community. I have been gratified to contribute toward that lofty goal.
Using Title Funds for School Transformation
Sara Seligson, Senior Managing Director, Yeshiva & Day School Team, The Jewish Education Project
Continuous growth and improvement are core to Jewish tradition, and the yeshivot and day schools that we partner with in the New York City region work hard to live up to that principle. But making sure our schools are always improving isn’t easy—it means staying on top of the latest research in child development, teaching methods, and school management. Knowing the stuff of educational practice and management is just the start. Effectively planning and implementing change can be complicated and expensive.
Funding Sources for Professional Development
Jewish families often make financial sacrifices to send their children to private Jewish schools, but there are dollars available to help schools offset costs and keep tuition more reasonable. Federal education funds, thanks to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), are available to support these schools in certain operational areas. These funds, called Title Funds (named after the law’s sections), are set aside for private schools to make sure they can take part in key programs. Every private school can tap into Titles II and IV for secular professional development. Some might also qualify for Titles I and III, though the rules and how the money is split up can get a bit tricky.
Maximizing Impact through Partnerships
Professional development can be costly, so it helps when schools team up. By pooling resources and organizing large-group workshops along with small groups and coaching, schools can stretch their dollars further.
In New York City, for example, The Jewish Education Project works to facilitate these cross-school professional learning opportunities by pooling funds for all Jewish schools in the district, just as many other central Jewish education agencies do in other parts of North America. This system allows schools to implement school-specific professional development plans while also taking part in opportunities for group learning. By pooling resources, schools can then direct more money for customized support where and when it’s really needed. Each summer The Jewish Education Project organizes and runs a range of summer professional development options for all New York City Jewish schools, with room for others outside the region if space allows. These programs are primarily paid for by pooled title funds, allowing many educators across multiple schools access to high-quality learning experiences.
Hidden Sparks has been a key partner for years. Schools that send their teachers to Hidden Sparks’ summer sessions set the stage for coaching throughout the school year in how to observe and analyze student learning needs and differentiate instruction to meet those needs. For example, in summer 2023, 57 teachers joined Hidden Sparks sessions through The Jewish Education Project, and 61 teachers got ongoing coaching during the year. In summer 2024, 47 teachers took part, with dozens more expected to get coaching this school year.
Expanding the Model
Private schools across the US can use similar strategies to get the most out of their professional development budgets. Schools can ask their district to pool Title funds, or private schools in nearby districts can team up to share costs. Keep in mind: To get the most out of these opportunities, leaders of private schools should build strong ties with their districts and check with district personnel to make sure they’re accessing all their allocated Title funds.
Title funds can bring significant dollars to support professional development, but schools too often neglect to access them. By making sure these funds are front and center during budget planning, schools may be able to rely less on private and foundation dollars and, certainly, can avoid the situation of letting available public monies go unused. Private philanthropists can also educate themselves about government funds available to Jewish day schools and leverage their investment to maximize or capitalize on a school’s government funding.
Groups like The Jewish Education Project are key players here. They help ensure resources are used effectively and that professional development, educational practices, and resources are tailored to fit the needs of yeshivot and day schools. By pooling resources and combining public and private funds, Jewish schools can provide the kind of high-quality professional development that will help them to thrive now and keep our schools strong and vibrant for the future.
Hidden Sparks Resources
Watch this Hidden Sparks highlight video
WATCH: Learning Lenses:
Creating a Representation of Democracy
WATCH: Learning Lenses:
Using Blooms Taxonomy and Depth of Knowledge to Create Activities
We Want To Hear From You
We hope you find The DEEP Dive useful and meaningful. We welcome your feedback about how we might build upon this foray into professional learning for future issues! Email me at [email protected].
