Jeffrey S. Kress is assistant professor and chair of the Department of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary. He coordinates the concentration in informal and communal education at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education. Prior to coming to The Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Kress worked as a program-development specialist and school-based trainer for the Social Decision Making / Social Problem Solving program of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Community Mental Health Center. He is the chair of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

Dr. Kress is the author, together with Drs. Bernard Novick and Maurice Elias, of the book Building Learning Communities With Character: How to Integrate Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2002) and, together with Dr. Maurice Elias, of a chapter on implementing social and emotional learning programs that was included in the Handbook of Child Development.

He has published his work in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Jewish Communal Service, Journal of Jewish Education, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, Journal of Special Education, and Journal of Primary Prevention. He was a principal investigator of JESNA's "Educators in Jewish Schools" study and has also written about rabbinic education and identity and the application of cognitive-developmental principles to understanding the Talmud. He is currently involved in a research project having to do with the blending of "formal" and "experiential" education in Jewish communal day high schools.

Dr. Kress has presented at a variety of academic conferences and has conducted workshops for educators and educational leaders in a number of Jewish and general educational settings. He has conducted research, consultation, and training in the areas of program implementation, particularly about how innovations take root in new settings and can be best maintained; Jewish values and identity; building social and emotional skills in children and creating caring educational environments.

Dr. Kress received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University. He completed an internship in Clinical/Community Psychology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Community Mental Health Center. He is certified by the Center for Creative Leadership as a facilitator of the Benchmarks 360^o Assessment and has conducted these assessments in a variety of Jewish educational and communal organizations.

September 2009

Selected Published Works

Kress, J. S. & Cohen, M. (Eds.) Ramah at 60: Impact and innovation. Due for publication Fall 2009.

Novick, B., Kress, J. S., & Elias, M. J. (2002). Building learning communities with character: How to integrate academic, social, and emotional learning.