This past June, I chaired the Network for Research in Jewish Education annual conference in Chicago. The conference brought together researchers and academics in the field of Jewish education to share their research, as well as local practitioners eager to learn about contemporary research. Aside from learning content about Israel education, experiential education, identity formation, and much more, I was reminded how important it is to have researchers and practitioners in conversation with one another. If research remains in the ivory tower, it is of no use, and academics have a responsibility to make their research accessible to practitioners. It is no coincidence, in fact, that all major graduate centers of Jewish education were represented at the conference. Many of the very same institutions that train educators also produce research on education.
There are a number of efforts to connect academia and the world of practitioners. In addition, there have also been initiatives to involve practitioners in the research itself. The latest issue of The Journal of Jewish Education highlights practitioner research. The editor’s note to this issue, titled “Celebrating the Practitioner’s Voice,” discusses the valuable additions the perspectives of practitioners bring the table, as we all “benefit from their pressing questions, their thoughtful narratives, and their grounded voices.”
Here, at the Graduate Center for Jewish Education, we teach practitioner inquiry and research to our MAEd students and hope that once they graduate, they will continue to use these tools. Our educators are “on the ground” on a daily basis—how fitting is it that they bring their questions and data into the conversation of Jewish education.