A CAJE report on Early Childhood Jewish Education and Profiles of its Educators offers information on the number of students and teachers within Jewish education in the United States and notes that the Jewish community needs to recognize the importance of the period from birth to age six as a crucial time in the development of a child. Jewish early childhood education can play a pivotal role in this development stage, if more attention is paid to these programs and the educators who deliver it. Full Report

In order to assure excellence in the field of early childhood Jewish education, CAJE partnered with the Center for Applied Child Development (CACD) at Tufts University’s Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development to begin development of a set of Quality Indicators, anchored in relevant theory and research, for describing excellence in early childhood Jewish education programs. A report contains a review of relevant literature; a summary of the perceptions of excellence shared by parents and early childhood experts; and a preliminary list of Quality Indicators based on the synthesis of the literature review with data from school visits, focus group sessions, and existing accreditation instruments.  Full Report.   The Executive Summary contains a synopsis of the full report, as well as a modification of the Preliminary Indicators in the full report. The modifications are based on initial feedback from the field. The Indicators are being made available for discussion and modification until December 2005.

“Jewish Preschools as Gateways to Jewish Life: A Survey of Jewish Preschool Parents in Three Cities” interviewed 90 families who enrolled a child in a Jewish preschool to ascertain reasons the families did so, as well as the impact of the Jewish preschool experience on the families’ Jewish life and subsequent educational decisions. The findings of this study strongly suggest that Jewish preschools present significant, yet underutilized, opportunities for strengthening both the children's and families’ Jewish affiliations and enhancing their Jewish identities. This study was conducted by Pearl Beck, PhD. The Report Highlights and the Full Report are available in .pdf format.

“Untapped Potential: The Status of Jewish Early Childhood Education in America” was designed to obtain descriptive data about Early Childhood Jewish Education programs in the United States. Over 300 randomly selected sites from a cross section of the denominations (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox), as well as Jewish Community Centers and independent programs participated in the study. The study investigated issues such as student population, professional credentials, professional salaries, director credentials, and program characteristics. The Untapped Potential" full report, the study highlights, and the survey questions are available for download in .pdf format.

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