Standardized Hebrew Tests for Day Schools to Be Launched

The American Association for Jewish Education (AAJE) announced this week that it has undertaken the development of the first standardized Hebrew language tests for Jewish day schools. Dr. Shimon Frost, AAJE acting director, said the agency has received a $10,000 private grant to initiate the project, “which will provide a long-needed instrumentality for helping day school educators measure both the efficacy of their Hebrew language programs and evaluate the progress of their students.”

Frost said the tests, to be designed for grades 3 and 6, will be developed under the supervision of the AAJE’s National Curriculum Research Institute (NCRI). The NCRI had for many years administered a National Testing Bureau which produced tests in a wide variety of subject areas however the Bureau was forced to cease operations in the mid-1970s because of a shortage of funding.

Frost, who also serves as director of the NCRI, said a “blue ribbon committee” of prominent day school principals and teachers will be convened to establish guidelines for the project and appoint a test developer. In consultation with the committee, the developer will prepare preliminary tests and try them out in controlled day school settings.

Frost said that following a careful evaluation of these tests and appropriate revisions, as may be necessary, the AAJE plans to have the final versions ready for national dissemination before the end of the year.

INCREASE IN ISRAELI HEBREW TEACHERS

In a related development, the AAJE reported that it administered the placement of 105 Israelis as Hebrew teachers in 84 Jewish schools in the United States last year through its Exchange Visitors Program:

Dr. Hyman Pomerantz, director of the AAJE’s Department of Personnel Services, said the Israelis were recruited, screened and placed in fulltime teaching positions in day and congregational schools in 67 communities. The placements were for two and three-year terms at both the elementary and secondary levels, he said.

Pomerantz said the 1979 totals represented a rise of 61.5 percent over the past two years in both the number of Israeli teachers passed through the program and in the number of schools which engaged them. Moreover, he said the number of communities in which the teachers now serve jumped 81.8 percent during the same period.

“These dramatic increases underscore a significant desire on the part of more and more schools to deliver quality Hebrew instruction to the students in their charge,” Pomerantz said. “At the same time, they draw attention to the fact that there is a dearth of American-born Hebrew teachers with the background and training to meet the professional standards of these schools.”