Dr. Murray Rockowitz, director of the American Association for Jewish Education’s Statistical Research Department, said that the 55 communities surveyed reported an actual enrollment of more than 306,000 students. Based on the experience of prior studies and on Jewish population figures for the remainder of the country, he said the estimated nationwide enrollment could be extrapolated at 400,000. Among the reporting communities, Rockowitz said schools with Reform orientations represented 35.2 percent of the total enrollment, followed by Conservative-sponsored schools (29.9 percent). Orthodox-sponsored schools (26.5 percent) and communal or independent schools (7.5 percent).
By comparison, he said that in 1967 Reform-sponsored schools represented 35.7 percent of the total enrollment, while Conservative-sponsored schools represented 34.3 percent and Orthodox-sponsored schools 21.5 percent. The data from schools in the reporting communities showed that 44.4 percent of the students were enrolled in 2-to-5-day-a-week schools, 30.2 percent in 1-day-a-week schools and 25.4 percent in day schools, Rockowitz said.
Comparisons with the 1967 study revealed that the proportionate enrollment in 1-day-a-week schools dropped from 42,2 percent while proportionate enrollment in 2-to-5-day-a-week schools remained the same, he said. Proportionate enrollment in day schools rose from 13.4 percent, he said.
Within the Orthodox community, Rockowitz noted that day school students now comprise 81.6 percent of all enrolled students, compared to 48.6 percent in 1967. By comparison, enrollment in Orthodox-sponsored 1-day-a-week schools dropped from 11.5 percent to 2.1 percent and in 2-to-5-day-a-week schools from 39.8 percent to 19.7 percent.
However, the most noticeable decline in 1-day-a-week school enrollment took place within the Conservative movement, Rockowitz said, with a drop from 31.2 percent in 1967 to 7.0 percent in 1975. Gains were registered in both 2-to-5-day-a-week schools under Conservative auspices (66,5 percent to 85,6 percent) and in Conservative-sponsored day schools (2.3 percent to 7.4 percent).
FLUCTUATIONS IN ENROLLMENT
In the Reform movement, the 1-day-a-week school is still prevalent (75.0 percent), although enrollment in 2-to-5-day-a-week schools increased to 24.6 percent in 1975 from 21.7 percent in 1967, he said, adding: The day school has not yet become a significant factor in Reform Jewish education. He noted, too, that the proportionate enrollment of students attending schools under Yiddish auspices declined from 1.0 percent in 1967 to 0.4 percent in 1975.
Rockowitz reported that day school enrollment in the reporting communities rose from nearly 60,000 in 1967 to more than 76,000, a 28 percent rise over the eight-year open. Enrollment in Orthodox-sponsored day schools increased 33,8 percent from nearly 47,000 to more than 62,000, while that in Conservative-sponsored day schools registered an 85,9 percent gain from 3600 to 6700, he said. Reform-sponsored day schools reported 13 students enrolled in 1967 and 433 students enrolled in 1975, he said.
In the Greater New York area, Rockowitz noted that-49.3 percent of the reported total school enrollment was Orthodox in orientation, compared to 12,7 percent of the reported total school enrollment in communities outside New York. Students in Conservative and Reform-sponsored schools in New York represented 25.4 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively, of the total New York enrollment, he said, while in communities outside New York students in Conservative and Reform-sponsored schools accounted for 32.6 percent and 43.6 percent, respectively, of the overall enrollment.
In addition, Rockowitz pointed out that 71.0 percent of all reported day school students were enrolled in the Greater New York area, and that 90.4 percent of the students in New York day schools are enrolled in institutions under Orthodox auspices.
The overall rise in pupil-hours per school year to 248 reflects data showing an average of 15 hours of Jewish instruction per week for 40 weeks in day schools and an average of only five hours of such instruction per week for 36 weeks in 2-to-5-day-a-week schools, he said. The average 1-day-a-week school provides two hours of such instruction per week for 26 weeks, he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
