A global leadership and mentoring program for principals of Jewish day schools (Heads of School). The program combines 60 hours of in-person learning in Israel with 40 hours of online engagement, structured around three thematic learning tracks.

Learning Tracks

Each participant selects one primary track which anchors their small group Zooms, chavruta partner, and capstone project throughout the program:

Track A – Envisioning a Path to Success

Track B – Leading Judaic Curriculum with Purpose

Track C – Effective School Management

Envisioning a Path to Success

A successful Head of School must learn to create a vision, articulate that vision, and manage the expectations and needs of the school’s board and community. This track will address creating a school vision, understanding the meaning of success in a specific school environment, and finding the path to achieving that success.

• Leadership vs. Management
• Alignment with board and community vision
• Identifying and avoiding pitfalls

Leading Judaic Curriculum with Purpose

How do you put a pedagogical system in place to ensure that the Judaic faculty is aligned with the educational goals of the school in a clear, measurable way.

• Establishing pedagogical goals
• Creating a spiral curriculum
• Measuring for mastery
• Avoiding overreach – less is more

Effective School Management 

A Head of School – in addition to engaging the board and community – is also a manager of staff, from administrators to teachers to support staff. What are the management principles that will enable the administrator to thrive and grow?

• Leading a staff
• Organizing a school structure to enable optimal school functioning
• Establishing a system of trust to free the HOS to “do the hard things”
• Translating your vision into reality

Program Leadership

Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, Program Manager

Rabbi Pinchos Hecht is a veteran Jewish educator and school leader who has served in senior leadership roles at several Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools in North America, including Berman Hebrew Academy in Silver Spring, MD, Mizrachi Jewish Day School in Cleveland, OH, and YULA Girls School in LA. He earned his M.A in Jewish Education from the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, IL, and a second Masters in Education from America University in Washington D.C. 

Limor Riskin and Rabbi Reuven Spolter

Directors of Content, Strategy, and Administration