CASJE, the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education, today announced that Chip Edelsberg, PhD, is joining its board. Edelsberg previously was the founding executive director of the Jim Joseph Foundation, which funds Jewish education for youth and young adults in the U.S., and continues to work extensively with organizations and institutions that influence Jewish education and philanthropy.
“We are thrilled that Chip is joining CASJE’s board, where he will share from his decades of experience in Jewish education,” says Michael Feuer, co-chair of the CASJE board and dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University. “Chip has been a long-time champion of building the quality of knowledge to improve Jewish education and to inform the philanthropy that supports it.”
Prior to becoming executive director of the Jim Joseph Foundation, Edelsberg served as Director of Endowments and Vice President for the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, He has served on a number of Boards and Advisory Committees in the Jewish community, including Leading Edge, the Jewish Funders Network, and the Jewish Communal Service Association of North America. He currently serves on the Board of the iCenter for Israel Education. Edelsberg writes widely on such topics as relational philanthropy, effective grantmaking, approaches to building the field of Jewish education, grant evaluation and assessment, and educational leadership.
“Just as other fields of education have, the field of Jewish education needs a base of evidence to guide its practice,” says Chip Edelsberg. “Building this base requires serious commitments and research to compile the big data and related analysis. Endeavors such as CASJE are critically important if we want educators to have access to the highest quality and usable research, so they in turn can offer excellent, compelling Jewish education.”
CASJE is a community of researchers, practitioners, and philanthropic leaders working to improve the quality of research useful in many areas of Jewish education. It currently is in the midst of major research projects in Jewish early childhood education, Jewish educational leadership in day schools, and Hebrew language education. CASJE also has launched the initial phase of a research project in Israel education. The findings from all of these efforts will be shared broadly.