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Career Opportunities for PCJE Graduates
What types of jobs can attendees of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators expect upon graduation? Just look at the achievements of Pardes Educators Program graduates from 2002 to the present:
After graduating our latest cohort of 14 students in June 2011, PEP has a total of 113 alumni, of which 66 are teaching or working as administrators in 40 different Jewish day schools, located in 17 U.S. states, in Washington, D.C. and in Toronto, Canada. Among the graduates teaching this year, 31 will teach in high schools, 20 in middle schools, and 15 in elementary schools. These 66 teachers are primarily in community day schools (50), with the remainder in Conservative (6), Orthodox (6) and Reform (4) affiliated schools.
Beyond that, more than 30 PEP graduates are Jewish educators outside of day schools in North America or Israel. They work as experiential Jewish educators in the U.S. and Israel; congregational educational directors and teachers; regional Hebrew High directors; Judaics teachers for Hadar, Young Judaea and Ramah; Federation directors of education, family education and project developers; consultants and program directors for Hazon and the David Project; adult education teachers, University chaplains and Hillel directors; and as the Associate Director of the PEP alumni support project.
Among the more senior PEP graduates in day schools, many have taken on formal management responsibilities including head of school, principal and vice principal, director or department chair of Judaic studies, director of experiential education, teacher mentor, curriculum developer, director of student activities, and Tefilla coordinator.
Career Opportunities for PEP Graduates
 Career Planning and Placement
Pardes has an extensive network of Community, Reform, Conservative and
Orthodox schools who are seeking to hire their graduates. Pardes faculty
members serve as ongoing resources for career placement and development.
Pardes assists students with writing resumes, enhancing interviewing skills,
preparing sample lessons, researching North American communities and
referrals to job placements. Educators and principals from North America
often visit Pardes to meet with and interview our students. In addition,
students interview in North America following student teaching. Many of our
students receive job offers from the schools at which they intern.
Graduate Employment
Pardes Educator graduates teach high school, elementary or middle schools. Our graduates teach Bible or Talmud, as well as Jewish holidays, Jewish Thought, Jewish History, Prayer, Jewish Life Cycle, and Hebrew. The majority of institutions where PEP gaduates teach are community day schools, followed by days schools affiliated with the Conservative, Orthodox and Reform movements.
“The participants in the Pardes Educators program graduate with a valuable blend of deep knowledge and pedagogic skills that provide the basis for effective teaching. They are also very sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of our student population and our pluralistic mission. CESJDS benefits enormously from the way in which Pardes graduates apply these skills and experiences to enrich our students’ education and the life of our School.”
Jonathan Cannon
Headmaster, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, MD
Abraham Joshua Heschel School, Manhattan, NY
Abrams Hebrew Academy, Yardley, PA
Barrack Hebrew Academy, Merion Station, PA
Beit Rabban Day School, New York, NY
Beth Tfiloh, Baltimore, MD
Brevard Jewish Community School, Melbourne, FL
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, MD
Chicagoland Jewish High School, Deerfield, IL
Cohen-Hillel Academy, Marblehead, MA
Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, ON
Davis Academy, Atlanta, GA
Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Boca Raton, FL
Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School, Las Vegas, NV
El Paso Jewish Academy, El Paso, TX
Emery/Weiner Community School, Houston, TX
The Epstein School, Atlanta, GA
Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, W. Bloomfield, MI
Gann Academy, Waltham, MA
Gross Hebrew Academy, Miami Beach, FL
Hannah Senesh Community Day School, Brooklyn, NY
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, Beverly Hills, CA
Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Virginia Beach, VA
Hillel Community Day School, Rochester, NY
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Overland Park, KS
Jess Schwartz College Prep-The Jewish Community's High School, Phoenix, AZ
Jewish Community Day School, Newton, MA
Jewish Community High School of the Bay, San Francisco, CA
Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital, Washington, DC
Kehillah Jewish High School, Palo Alto, CA
Lerner Jewish Community Day School, Durham, NC
Maimonides School, Brookline, MA
Metropolitan Schechter High School, Teaneck, NJ
MetroWest Jewish Day School, Framingham, MA
Milton I. Schwartz Hebrew Academy, Las Vegas, NV
Moriah School, Englewood, NJ
New Community Jewish High School, West Hills, CA
Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School, Toronto, ON
Rashi School, Boston, MA
Rodeph Sholom School, Manhattan, NY
Saligman Middle School, Melrose Park, PA
San Diego Jewish Academy, San Diego, CA
Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School, Baltimore, MD
Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, NJ
Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, MA
Solomon Schechter Day School of St. Louis, MO
Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan, NY
Solomon Schechter High School of New York, NY
Talmud Torah of St. Paul, MN
Tarbut v'Torah Community Day School, Irvine, CA
Toronto Heschel Middle School, Toronto, ON
Weber School, Atlanta, GA
Yeshivat Rambam (Maimonides Academy), Baltimore, MD
Many of our graduates plan to continue in the classroom throughout their professional lives, while others aspire to careers in curriculum development, supervision or administration. After only two to three years in the field, six of our graduates were appointed to senior administrative positions. Others have been recruited for additional responsibilities in areas such as informal education, prayer services, accreditation teams, and parent education.
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Alumni Support in the Field
Pardes places value in providing sustained support to novice teachers. Through a partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Pardes Educators Program Alumni Support Project has been established to help its graduates succeed in their chosen career. The program provides resources for alumni support and formal teacher induction. Through the PEP Alumni Support project, graduates are provided with ongoing support, counseling, mentoring and networking from PEP staff and fellow alumni. In addition, graduates are inspired and re-energized through opportunities for continued text study and professional development.
The PEP Alumni project provides the following unique opportunities:
- Senior Pardes faculty members visit alumni in the field at least once each year during their first two years in the field to provide support, feedback and attention to PEP alumni during their first years as day school teachers.
- Monthly meetings via teleconference or video conference to provide a forum for raising difficult issues, troubleshooting, sharing experiences and supporting one another.
- A two-week curriculum writing workshop at the end of the program to help graduates prepare for the first year of teaching.
- Summer Professional Development Workshop brings alumni back to Jerusalem for two to three weeks to engage in intensive text study, work on curricula and lesson plans, learn from their peers and invest in the upcoming school year through workshops and planning.
- Annual Alumni Retreat Reunion in North America - a content-rich program including pedagogy workshops, text study, and sharing sessions. Typically held in November, the retreat provides an opportunity for learning, reflecting and connecting.
- Personal e-mail and phone support from Pardes faculty members to help novice teachers respond to specific challenges.
Reflections of a PEP Graduate
By Ariel Belson Wolgel, PEP Cohort 7
The sound of 5th and 6th grade voices surrounded me as we began the 2009-2010 school year together with the pledge of allegiance and the bracha of 'la'asok b'divrei Torah'. I couldn't help but get a little emotional at that moment. It was a moment of new beginnings, and a return home of sorts. After years of preparing to be a teacher, learning educational theories, and teaching model lessons - the time had now come to begin my career as Jewish Educator. I spent thirteen years of my life as a student at a community day school, only to return to the "other side of the desk."
I looked at the students around the room and felt a variety of emotions. Some were excited to reunite with their friends, others were sad that the summer was now officially over. Several students sat nervously in their seats - clearly anxious to receive their schedules and meet their new teachers. As I examined the crowd I wondered which faces matched the names on my class rosters. I was excited to meet these students as individuals and to understand the dynamics of each grade as a whole.
As excited as I was, I admit that there were feelings of anxiety on my part as well. After years of planning to be a teacher, how would I choose to facilitate a classroom of middle school students? How would I meet their individual needs while being mindful of the goals of the entire class? How would I balance my personal needs with the demands of teaching? These questions still come to me quite often, and the answers change as I learn from my experiences in the classroom.
Occasionally, it is also helpful for me to revisit the various middle school classrooms that I learned in as a student. I think back to my classmates and try to recall who and what helped us learn during those years. I reflect on what we have been through as we have "grown up," as well as where we are now - living in different cities and working in a variety of professions. We are nurses, business people, social workers, lawyers, pharmacists, Jewish community professionals, teachers, and more. As my mind drifts to where my fellow middle school classmates are today, I wonder where my current students will be 15 years from now.
This process of nostalgia and reflection helps me to remember that my classroom is just one stop on the "life journey" of each of my students. I hope that there will be lessons and memories that they carry with them as they continue their individual paths. Just as what I learned many years ago as a middle school student provided the foundations of who I have become today, my aspiration for my students is that the morals and values they learn today will help them build a framework for how they will live their lives tomorrow.
Originally from Kansas City, Ariel earned her BA in Jewish Studies at Stern College for Women, and as a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program, has a Certificate of Advanced Studies from the Pardes Institute and a Masters of Jewish Education from Hebrew College. Ariel is in her second year of teaching at the Hillel Day School, Farmington Hills, MI. She lives in Southfield, MI with her husband, Aron Wolgel (Cohort 8).
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