By Yael Krieger, Associate Head of School, Oakland Hebrew Day School
Oakland Hebrew Day School has a long-standing commitment to investing in learning support and stretching our capacity to serve a diverse student body. We recognized, however, a critical need to transition from a reliance on external experts toward a more sustainable, robust internal infrastructure. This grant from Jewish LearningWorks allowed us to pivot our work with consultant Elana Naftalin-Kelman from standard teacher training to a deep systemic deep dive.
Through class observations, family interviews, and collaborative reflection, Elana helped us move beyond one-off sessions to think critically about our foundational systems and understand how they compare to best practices in the field. This process uncovered three fundamental shifts in our approach:
- Systematic Executive Functioning Development: Moving toward a cohesive, school-wide learning program.
- Intervention Tracking: Implementing stronger systems to bridge the gap between support specialists and classroom teachers.
- Communication & Accountability: Refining our protocols and family engagement to ensure transparency and consistency.
Perhaps the most impactful element of this work was Elana’s role as an empathetic outside observer. By interviewing families who had previously struggled with our support program, she provided us with raw, essential insights into where our systems were falling short. This feedback has been instrumental in designing new internal loops to ensure our families feel heard and supported long-term.
By fortifying our internal systems and feedback mechanisms, we have moved inclusion from a series of external interventions to a permanent, self-sustaining part of our institutional DNA. We are no longer just reacting to student needs; we are building a school culture designed to anticipate and honor them.