The decision to pursue Jewish day school leadership: Factors that motivated candidates to apply to the Azrieli executive model EdD program and pursue Jewish educational leadership, as reflected in their application essays

Abstract

While classroom instruction and teacher efficacy is the most direct and influential factor contributing to student learning, recent evidence suggests that the second most impactful factor is that of school leadership, which can play an outsized role in effecting positive school change, and a significantly larger role than was previously believed. With this framing informing the landscape of current educational thought, it is clear that recruiting, developing, and retaining highly qualified school leaders should be a priority for all schools and education systems, both private and public. In particular, private school leaders have greater responsibility and potential for impacting schools, as the role of the private school leader is broader and provides more latitude in shaping policy and curriculum.

Furthermore, leaders of Jewish day schools, a subset within the private school community, often face additional challenges such as lack of access to resources, a limited peer network, and the need to effectively facilitate a dual curriculum. It is for these reasons that it is so important not only for there to be school leadership candidates in the Jewish day school pipeline being recruited and groomed, but that these candidates are prepared to be effective in a role that continues to be more generally demanding and broad in its scope. It is in response to this need that the Executive Model EdD program in Jewish Educational Leadership and Innovation exists within the Fanya Gottesfeld-Heller Doctoral Program of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration of Yeshiva University.

Introduced in the fall of 2014, the program is designed to prepare leaders of Jewish schools and other Jewish educational agencies and institutions by facilitating an educational program designed to develop the core skills and knowledge base that future leaders will need to be successful stewards of their respective institutions.

The goal of this study was to identify and analyze the factors that motivated candidates to apply to the Azrieli executive model EdD program at Yeshiva University and pursue Jewish educational leadership. The data was pulled from sixty – four application essays written by applicants to the program, which were responding to the prompt of, “Why do you want to enter Jewish educational leadership?” While names and identifying information was redacted, the category of work the candidate was involved in, and the candidate’s gender were identified. Motivating factors were identified in the essays and coded using the general inductive approach for qualitative analysis. A set of codes was established and refined based on a systematic analysis of the data. The results of the data analysis concluded that the factor most frequently cited as a motivating factor to enter Jewish educational leadership was Personal/Professional benefit by a sizable margin. This was followed by Leadership Influence, Altruism, Convenience/Jewish Program, Intrinsic Motivation to Lead, Influence/Encouragement from Family and Peers, and Challenge. Convenience/Jewish Program specifically addressed candidates’ decision to attend Azrieli, being that the program aligned with their values and/or schedule.

This data contributes to the research in that the qualitative nature of the analysis of the essays yields new insights into what motivates candidates to pursue Jewish school leadership. By analyzing primary vs. secondary motivators, along with the role of stories in candidates’ essays, it became clear that a simple coding of motivating factors, which most other studies of this sort do, does not paint an accurate picture of the full scope of motivation for aspiring Jewish day school leaders. While Personal/Professional Benefit was the highest rated category based on a basic coding, a deeper look into primary motivation and strength of motivation leads to deeper conclusions. Namely, it becomes clear that the overwhelming majority of candidates to the Azrieli EdD program see their original entry into Jewish education as a major moment of inspiration in their life, and their growth into a position of school leadership within the Jewish day school landscape is not seen as embarking on a new career; rather, it is seen as the opportunity to broaden the impact of their mission driven work