National Conference on Jewish Education Opens in Washington

A four-day National Conference on Jewish Education opened here today to discuss the critical shortage of teachers in Jewish schools as well as cooperative planning and action on the part of all organizations interested in the future of Jewish education in this country. It was announced at the opening session that the objectives of the conference are:

1. To awaken the American Jewish community to the urgency and consequences of the teacher shortage affecting Jewish communities throughout the country, large and small alike.

2. To examine the various facets of the problem; primarily, the social and economic conditions responsible for the shortage, the professional status of the Jewish educator, and the current practices in teacher recruitment and teacher education.

3. To activate nation-wide interest in the crucial personnel problem for the purpose of uniting all elements of the American Jewish community in shouldering the responsibility for formulating and carrying out the long-range and short-range measures necessary to meet this crisis.

The conference specifically aims at the adoption of a series of projects designed to: 1. Raise the economic and social status of Jewish educational personnel; 2. Develop comprehensive plans for the recruitment, education and effective utilization of new personnel; 3. Coordinate and systematize educational placement services; 4. Extend and improve in-service and pre-service educational facilities; 5. Create a national apparatus, representative in character, which will coordinate and direct the decisions adopted by the conference.