Teaching program awarded $5.2 million grant

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded a three-year, $5.2 million grant to the DeLeT teacher education program at Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. The grant extends a donor relationship between the foundation and DeLeT that began two years ago.

DeLeT, the Hebrew word for “door,” stands for Day School Leadership through Teaching. DeLeT fellows undertake a yearlong internship with an experienced teacher, along with guidance from field instructors and rigorous academic course work.

Philanthropist Laura Lauder founded the program in 2000 in response to a shortage of qualified Jewish day school teachers. As of this summer, the program will have prepared more than 130 Jewish day school teachers, working in 40 schools across the United States.