What does “Jewish engagement” mean to Jewish families with young children and to Jewish early childhood professionals? This is one of the research questions addressed by a research initiative launched by the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) and funded by Crown Family Philanthropies that explored the ways in which Jewish early care and education (ECE) is associated with greater and long-term Jewish engagement among families with young children. Although Jewish engagement is not a new topic of interest for Jewish professionals and social scientists, defining Jewish engagement as it applies to families with young children, and generating relevant research measures of Jewish engagement for families with young children, has been relatively underexamined. Today’s American Jewish population marries later1, inter-marries more2, and participates less in organized religion3 than American Jews of earlier generations. Because of these trends, Jewish families – and Jewish engagement among families – are likely to be different now than in the past.
This brief summarizes key findings from research completed in the first phase of the CASJE Early Childhood Education (ECE) Project.