Development, Learning, and Community ― Educating for Identity in Pluralistic Jewish High Schools

Development, Learning, and Community uses data drawn from a study of pluralistic Jewish high schools to illustrate the complex and often challenging interplay between the cognitive and socio-aff ective elements of education. Throughout, Kress grapples with questions such as: How can the balance between community cohesion and group diff erences be achieved in diverse settings? What are the educational implications of an approach to identity development rooted in contemporary developmental theories that posit the interaction among cognition, aff ect, and behavior? How can the “formal” and “informal” off erings of a school coalesce to address these broadly conceived identity outcomes, and what are the challenges in doing so?

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.