(Courtesy of Kadima Coaching) The Idea Institute is pleased to announce it has rebranded and expanded to become Kadima Coaching, revolutionizing Jewish day school education by empowering teachers to create student-centered learning (SCL) environments. With a group of over 30 highly trained coaches from all over the world, a “pedagogical dream team,” Kadima is making a global impact.

Tikvah Wiener, who has run the Institute with Tavi Koslowe since 2018, is joined by Smadar Goldstein as director of global partnerships. Goldstein, Wiener’s sister, has been in Jewish education for three decades, founded and ran JETS, a global edtech company, and most recently managed the Jewish day school portfolio for BetterLesson, a professional development company.

It’s thrilling for the sisters to be able to work together. “We’ve been parallel playing in Jewish education for years—decades—and just waiting for the right time to work together. This collaboration is a dream come true,” Wiener said.

With deep ties in Jewish education, Koslowe and the sisters have gathered a talented and experienced team of leaders and coaches to launch the new venture. Goldstein added, “Imagine what over 30 highly trained coaches speaking seven languages can do to move the needle forward in Jewish day schools across the globe.”

UnitEd, the educational arm of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, agrees, recently contracting with Kadima to have them coach in schools in Mexico, England and South Africa. Over the past two years, Wiener, Koslowe and Goldstein have done training in over 80 schools, impacting 350 teachers and over 10,000 students.

Kadima’s focus is student-centered learning: helping educational leaders foster it in their schools and providing teachers with the tools, strategies and mindsets that make classrooms a place where all students have voice and agency. Koslowe said: “We all want school to be a place where learning is meaningful and memorable. That is learning that lasts a lifetime and that creates lifelong learners and leaders.”

Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah, the network for Jewish day schools, shared: “Kadima is an innovative partner for Jewish day schools and for Prizmah, creating excellence in Jewish education by training teachers in student-centered learning. This allows our teachers to meet not only our children’s academic needs, but their social and emotional ones as well.”

Bernstein added: “Prizmah knows how important it is to nurture and support the educators who are the lifeline of our schools with professional development that is enriching and inspiring.”

Kadima is honored to have recently become a member of DEEP, a consortium of high-quality professional development providers in the Jewish day school world. DEEP is run by JEIC, the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, and Sharon Freundel, JEIC’s managing director, said: “There is little that is more impactful on schools than High Quality Professional Development (HQPD) for educators. It benefits teachers through experiencing their own growth, and it benefits students through experiencing better learning methods. Tikvah Wiener and Smadar Goldstein are well-positioned to create HQPD in schools, thereby helping both educators and students.”

David Saltzman, Kadima’s director of education, North America, said: “We have to take the teachers we have and give them the skills they need to do their best job. Having coaching is essential to moving the needle in student-centered learning.”

In addition to 1:1 coaching, Kadima offers, among other services, professional learning communities (PLCs) and observation tours, providing customized support to educators in both general and Judaic studies. By fostering active, meaningful learning environments, Kadima helps students develop the confidence and critical thinking skills needed for lifelong Jewish engagement.

“Jewish day schools are concerned about developing students who are brave and resilient learners committed to Jewish life and identity,” said Joan Vander Walde, Kadima’s director of curriculum. “The best way to help students develop these traits is to coach teachers in effectively implementing student-centered learning.”

Kadima’s tailored professional development (PD) services include comprehensive tracking and impact reporting, ensuring measurable success in schools. Wiener said: “Each school we work with gets its own project manager who regularly liaises with the educational leader in charge of the PD initiative. The project manager also oversees the coaches working with the teachers in that school. Once the school determines its PD goals, we work together to set milestones and benchmarks that need to be met along the way, and there’s a constant feedback loop, in case anything needs to be tweaked.”

Kadima invites educators to explore PD packages such as Ignite and Impact and to learn more about its Israel school twinning program, Kesher Achim, headed by Nathan Fein, and its unique Israel and civics education curriculum, Foundations of Freedom, now funded by The Covenant Foundation.

For more information about Kadima Coaching’s transformative work, visit www.kadimacoaching.org or contact Tikvah Wiener at [email protected].