Development, Learning, and Community

Jeffrey S. Kress is Associate Professor of Jewish Education and academic director of the Experiential Learning Initiative at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. His interests include developmental issues in Jewish education, research methods, and social, emotional, and spiritual elements of Jewish educational contexts. Prior to coming to the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Kress worked as a program development specialist and school-based trainer for the Social Decision Making/Social Problem Solving program of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Community Mental Health Center. Dr. Kress received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University and completed an internship in Clinical/Community Psychology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Community Mental Health Center. Dr. Kress is the author, together with Drs. Bernard Novick and Maurice Elias, of the book Building Learning Communities With Character: How to Integrate Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2002). He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Kress has served as the Chair of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

The important thing about Jeffrey Kress’ new book is that it attempts to come to grips with the difficulties and the prospects of day school education in a pluralistic environment that is inclusive of, and respectful toward the non-Orthodox. It is a study of the practice of educating Jewish high school students enrolled in community day schools in order to maximize their Jewish identity.