In 1992, the American Association for University Women published a groundbreaking report called "How Schools Shortchange Girls." The report named a variety of topic areas that, while typically avoided in the formal classroom environment, are central to learners' lives, and coined these topics the "evaded curriculum."
Topic areas include:
The AAUW challenged schools to no longer exclude these and other subjects related to students’ emotional lives.
We as educators have to ask how well equipped are we to relate Jewish educational content to these adolescent realities, and create space for content areas that might not readily emerge from our curricula. We have an opportunity and an obligation to engage in educational Jewish moments in these areas—teachable moments—if we are indeed invested in the holistic education of our youth.
On July 1, 2006, through generous seed funding from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York, Dr. Shira D. Epstein commenced a project initially titled “Addressing the Evaded Curriculum in Jewish Education.” She gathered both practitioners and organizations dedicated to the development of resilient, healthy Jewish girls and built the project’s Advisory Group. Their charge: to name the issues and initiate systemic change in the field of Jewish education by focusing Jewish educators on these critical, unaddressed needs.
Naomi Less, MA (Davidson 2000) joined the project team in July 2007, serving as lead consultant for the project. Less and Epstein will be expanding their current training workshop, "Educational Jewish Moments” into two additional workshops for educators. The project is now called "Addressing Evaded Issues in Jewish Education."
Training workshops available to educators or educational venues
Visit the training workshops page for professional development opportunities.
Advisory Committee and Contact Information
The following individuals and organizations serve as advisers to Dr. Epstein's and Ms. Less's work.
View staff bios and contact information
Initial support for this project was generously provided by
Generous support for the creation and implementation of the
Evaded Curriculum Resource Guide for Jewish Educators was provided by
Continued support was provided generously by the