Addressing Evaded Issues in Jewish Education

Project Background

In 1992, the American Association for University Women published a groundbreaking report called "How Schools Shortchange Girls." The report named a variety of topic areas that, while typically avoided in the formal classroom environment, are central to learners' lives, and coined these topics the "evaded curriculum."

Topic areas include:

• Harassment and bullying
• Sexuality and relationships
• Gender bias, gender identity, and sexual identity
• Eating disorders and body image
• Substance abuse

The AAUW challenged schools to no longer exclude these and other subjects related to students’ emotional lives.

We as educators have to ask how well equipped are we to relate Jewish educational content to these adolescent realities, and create space for content areas that might not readily emerge from our curricula. We have an opportunity and an obligation to engage in educational Jewish moments in these areas—teachable moments—if we are indeed invested in the holistic education of our youth.

On July 1, 2006, through generous seed funding from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York, Dr. Shira D. Epstein commenced a project initially titled “Addressing the Evaded Curriculum in Jewish Education.” She gathered both practitioners and organizations dedicated to the development of resilient, healthy Jewish girls and built the project’s Advisory Group. Their charge: to name the issues and initiate systemic change in the field of Jewish education by focusing Jewish educators on these critical, unaddressed needs.

Naomi Less, MA (Davidson 2000) joined the project team in July 2007, serving as lead consultant for the project. Less and Epstein will be expanding their current training workshop, "Educational Jewish Moments” into two additional workshops for educators. The project is now called "Addressing Evaded Issues in Jewish Education."

Evaded Issues in Jewish Education: A Resource Guide for Jewish Educators

• History and research to equip Jewish educators with a context and content knowledge of the issues
• Summaries of national programs and resources around the topics of body image and eating disorders, healthy relationships, gender identity and sexuality, and Jewish identity and adolescent girls
• Examples of professional development opportunities around evaded curricular issues for staff
• Hotlines, websites, and printed materials for Jewish educators, parents, and adolescent girls to have accessible and visible in the classroom

Access the Resource Guide for Jewish Educators.

Training workshops available to educators or educational venues

• The inhibitors that exist in their own practice that prevent the implementation of educational Jewish moments
• The ways in which they can begin to integrate educational Jewish moments into their practice

Visit the training workshops page for professional development opportunities.

Advisory Committee and Contact Information

The following individuals and organizations serve as advisers to Dr. Epstein's and Ms. Less's work.

View staff bios and contact information

Initial support for this project was generously provided by

Generous support for the creation and implementation of the
Evaded Curriculum Resource Guide for Jewish Educators was provided by

Continued support was provided generously by the