Strengthening the Teaching Pipeline: A Community-Wide Effort to Support and Retain Educators
Posted on 10/24/2025 @ 06:00 AM
By Audrey Maman Bensoussan, CAJE’s Director of Day School Programs and Services
One of the greatest challenges facing Jewish day schools today — both locally and nationally — is the retention and recruitment of talented educators.
Teachers are the heart and soul of Jewish education, shaping the minds, values, and Jewish identities of our children.
Yet, across the country, schools are grappling with burnout, financial pressures, and the difficulty of attracting new teachers to the profession.
In the recent past, CAJE convened a Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force, chaired by Dr. Helen Chaset, to examine these very issues.
The Task Force laid important groundwork, exploring how schools could better support their teachers through professional development, compensation, and community recognition.
Many of the insights gathered then have become the foundation for the initiatives CAJE is now advancing.
In 2022, CAJE, in partnership with Prizmah and the Nachshon Project Fellowship, conducted a comprehensive Teacher Satisfaction and Retention Survey across Miami’s Jewish day schools.
The goal was to pinpoint the primary levers of teacher satisfaction and retention in our community. The results spoke volumes:
- 268 teachers from 9 Jewish day schools responded — an incredible 42.5% response rate.
- 100% of respondents said that tuition discounts to other Jewish day schools (where their own children might attend) are very important to their job satisfaction.
- 87% said that tuition discounts at their own school are very important.
- Yet only 5% of respondents indicated that their current salary allows them to comfortably afford formal Jewish education for their children.
These findings highlight a painful reality: even our most dedicated educators — those who give their days, nights, and hearts to Jewish learning — often struggle to afford the very education they are helping to provide to others.
Building upon these insights, CAJE is proud to launch #TeacherProudMiami, a community-wide initiative that elevates the status of teachers, eases financial pressures, and celebrates their invaluable contributions to our schools.
This initiative will focus on 3 core goals:
- Showing appreciation and kavod – through creative partnerships with local businesses, such as realtors offering reduced commissions for teachers purchasing or renting homes, and collaborations with partners like @miamifoodyenta to secure discounts at kosher restaurants and establishments.
- Easing financial pressures – by providing meaningful benefits that help teachers save money, reinforcing the idea that the wider community is invested in their well-being.
- Elevating the profession – by raising the visibility and esteem of teachers in our community, ensuring they are recognized and honored as the educators shaping the next generation.
As part of this initiative, CAJE will also be convening a teacher focus group to listen directly to educators’ voices and learn what else would make a difference in their lives and careers.
This group will include a diverse mix of 8–10 teachers — Jewish and non-Jewish — from across grade levels and schools, representing varying stages of experience. Their insights will guide future community investments and programming.
CAJE’s work in this space also extends beyond Miami.
CAJE is collaborating with Sharon Freundel, Managing Director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) and the Jewish Teachers Network (JTN) — a national coalition of educators and thought leaders focused on strengthening the teacher pipeline.
JTN is currently concentrating on two key priorities:
- Early Recruitment – inspiring students and young professionals to consider education as a meaningful and impactful career.
- Increasing Teacher Benefits – developing sustainable models that value and support teachers throughout their careers.
This national initiative, funded by the Mayberg Foundation, grew out of a year-long brainstorming project led by JEIC and Prizmah that brought together a select group of educators from across North America, including CAJE’s Executive Director, Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar.
Miami has been designated as the pilot community for the Increasing Teacher Benefits project —an incredible opportunity that places CAJE and Miami at the forefront of shaping national models for teacher support and sustainability.
Together, we are ensuring that the lessons learned here in Miami will serve as a model for other communities across North America.
At the heart of all these efforts is CAJE’s unwavering commitment to attracting and retaining the very best educators dedicated to shaping the next generation of Jewish learners.
Through collaboration, innovation, and a deep respect for those who teach, we are building a stronger, more sustainable future for Jewish education in Miami and beyond.
