Sources Journal Examines Jewish Educational Innovation

A recent scholarly article in Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, published by the Shalom Hartman Institute, takes a close look at the state of Jewish supplementary education in America, and Jewish Kids Groups is at the heart of the story.

Written by Jonathan Krasner, Associate Professor of Jewish Education Research at Brandeis University, the piece opens with JKG founder Ana Robbins's bold decision in 2012 to close a thriving Sunday school program in favor of a then-unproven weekday after school model. That pivot, the article mentions, was a recognition that deep, lasting Jewish engagement requires more than checking a box. As Robbins herself reflected, her Sunday schools were "successful by all metrics except the ones in my heart."

Krasner situates JKG within a broader analysis of why Jewish educational innovation so often struggles to produce lasting, systemic change. In that landscape, he views after school programs not as incremental reforms, but as something meaningfully different; entrepreneurial, community-oriented, and designed to meet families where they already are. Rather than working around institutional inertia, programs like JKG bypass it altogether, delivering consistent, immersive Jewish life during the hours families already need care.

This kind of rigorous, field-level analysis matters to us. It pushes the entire Jewish education ecosystem to think more clearly about what works, for whom, and why. We're grateful to be part of that conversation.

Read the full article: When Jewish Educational Innovation Reinforces the Status Quo