Jewish supplementary schooling misperceived

Jewish Supplementary Schooling was a large-scale assessment of supplementary schools in greater New York. It consisted of interviews, on-site visits, and an Inventory of Knowledge, Involvement, and Attitudes. The main finding was that the schools were failing in all three areas the main recommendation, to reorient the schools to family and informal education. A close examination of the research and the study report revealed that the data were deeply flawed, and the recommendations unrelated to the data. Flaws included poor Inventory items and scoring system, the absence of a comparison group, and a mistaken design. A closing discussion of assessment strategies highlights the need to conceptualize more clearly the nature of supplementary education, to develop relevant evaluation criteria, and to design a study process which capitalizes on supplementary schools ’ unparalleled autonomy. The weaknesses in the study were shown to be typical of research in Jewish education.