DeLeT Alumni Tracking Study
A tracking study of graduates of the DeLeT (Day School Leadership Through Teaching) program at HUC-JIR and Brandeis University
Director: Eran Tamir
Overview
In 2007 the Mandel Center launched a longitudinal survey of DeLeT (Day School Leadership Through Teaching) Program teachers from Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. After five years of operation in two sites, there are now 89 DeLeT graduates, most of whom are teaching. We plan to administer the appropriate version of the survey annually to each entering cohort, each graduating cohort, and biannually to all program alums.
Design and Goals
There are three versions of the survey (click here to see the alum survey [PDF]), designed to explore a variety of issues, including fellows' decision to become Jewish day school teachers, their Jewish background and identity, their experiences in DeLeT, their career aspirations and commitments, teaching practices, social background, and more.
By collecting this data, we hope to inform the community of Jewish education practitioners and policy makers, as well as the general education community, about issues concerning teacher quality, teracher careers, and teacher identity.
Over time, we aim to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the career choices that DeLeT fellows make and the factors that shape their choices. We also seek to understand more about their views of day school teaching, and how their teaching practice and professional identity develop in relation to their Jewish beliefs and school contexts. Uncovering all of these issues will require at least several years of data collection.
Status (February 2008)
- The first 4 cohorts of DeLeT completed and returned the alum survey (<95% response rate).
- Cohort 5 completed the graduation survey (100% response rate).
- Cohort 6 completed the entering survey (100% response rate).
For more information: Eran Tamir (etamir88@brandeis.edu)