Edu-Together Academy, a fully accredited virtual school with a full secular and Judaic studies curriculum, is now accepting students in grades 3-12 for the 2024-2025 school year.

Aryeh Eisenberg, educator and founder of Edu-Together, made aliyah 16 years ago from Highland Park after working to create school wide technology programs for two New Jersey schools. In Israel, he wanted to continue in education but “saw a real need to create an opportunity for teachers who, like me, were trained in [Anglo countries] who were not able to make the transition into the Israeli system for a whole lot of reasons,” such as salaries, certifications, and difficulty adjusting to the language and culture. Additionally, his experience in schools allowed him to understand that not all students have the same educational needs.

These educational realities gave way to the creation of Edu-Together in 2012, a program connecting Anglo educators with American students in real time to provide additional support beyond what mainstream schools offered. Edu-Together opened in conjunction with two schools, and now partners with over 300.

In 2020, Edu-Together received accreditation from Cognia and opened as its own online education program, beyond the original Edu-Together program that was already running in mainstream schools. Since then, Eisenberg said, “We’ve really been able to create a niche and fill a need, providing an amazing, supportive learning environment for students who for whatever reason have not found success in the mainstream school environment.” Those reasons may include high academic achievement that cannot be accommodated by mainstream schools, learning disabilities, and health or other issues. With electives, AP and dual-enrollment courses, foreign languages and more, “We really provide an individualized, tailored academic program that looks at each student’s strengths and needs. We then create an educational plan to meet those needs.”

With Edu-Together Academy, students are connected with over 50 educators from Israel in real time. “Because we’re online and we have resources that span the entire world, we’re able to offer virtually unlimited educational possibilities,” Eisenberg explained. The platform offers a full range of courses at all levels for grades 3-12, including college-level and AP courses. In addition to typical subjects such as English and history, Edu-Together offers classes in areas such as foreign languages, computer science, music, design and more. Edu-Together’s Judaic studies courses include Gemara, Tanach, Holocaust, Jewish history, Tanya and Zionism.

Eisenberg noted, “We consider every student to be the center of our educational world and we get to know the student and family in order to pinpoint what the student needs to succeed.” The director of education, Channa Lockshin Bob, who made aliyah from Teaneck in 2009, works with each family to create a schedule that matches the student’s academic and logistical needs. Each class is no larger than five students, and each student has at least one class one-on-one with a teacher, putting the student’s individual needs at the forefront.

Edu-Together Academy’s rigorous course load, individual attention and stellar educators provide an environment for students to thrive. Students have an average academic score increase of 30% after attending Edu-Together, and many graduates have gone on to renowned colleges and universities.

Robin Freeman, the mother of an Edu-Together Academy graduate, shared that her son is now a student at Brandeis University after spending his junior and senior years at Edu-Together. In part due to his significant hearing loss, her son looked into online school as he could not communicate with people who were wearing masks that covered their lips. Freeman explained that her son never did busy work, with teachers focusing on his learning speed.

“The faculty there is incredible, and the educational experience is so individualized and personalized,” she said, noting that despite working entirely virtually, her son did very well on his AP Biology exam with the help of his teachers. Despite his rigorous course load full of AP classes, Freeman mentioned that her son never felt overwhelmed with homework because in such an individualized and focused setting, immense amounts of homework are not needed. She said that as opposed to many online schools that are asynchronous and leave very little time for students and teachers to interact face-to-face, students at Edu-Together spend almost all of their time with faculty.

Eisenberg clarified: “Edu-Together Academy is not here to compete with brick-and-mortar schools … we’re here to make sure that every student has a place where they can succeed. That’s really what it’s all about and what we’ve put our efforts towards.”

Edu-Together is still accepting students for the new school year. To learn more about Edu-Together Academy, please visit www.edutogether.org or call 732-572-6575.

Eliana Birman is the assistant digital editor for The Jewish Link. She is a student at Barnard College and lives in Teaneck.