Benchmarking for Good Video Lessons for Leaders: Positive Work-Life Balance: Insights from Avery Joel of Fuchs Mizrachi School

By Dr. Harry Bloom, Founder and President, Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

In a recent recorded video session Dr. Bloom explored with Fuchs Mizrachi Head of School Rabbi Dr. Avery Joel how to achieve staff satisfaction in work/life balance. Click on this video link to access the full interview. 

Rabbi Dr, Avery Joel, Head of School, Fuchs Mizrachi School

5 Keys to Positive Work/Life Balance Perception

Rabbi Joel emphasizes that work-life balance is not a standalone metric but a component of a larger ecosystem involving partnership, culture, and collaboration. Below are some of his insights:

1. Culture of Transparency and Value

A foundational element of faculty satisfaction is ensuring staff feel seen and valued. Rabbi Joel advocates for:

• "Pulling back the curtain": Leadership should be transparent about the thinking behind school decisions, even when those decisions—such as the school calendar or snow day policies—must balance the conflicting needs of parents and teachers.

• Team Inclusion: Demonstrating that faculty voices are a part of the decision-making team helps mitigate the impact of decisions that may not exclusively favor work-life balance.

  
  

2. Active Listening and Feedback Loops

Effective leaders must proactively seek out the faculty’s perspective on their "lived experience". Rabbi Joel utilizes several forums for this:

• Division Lunches: Opt-in lunches where leadership provides dessert and asks teachers what is going well and how the school can better support them.

• Table Talk: During school-wide meetings, small-group discussions are held, and notes are collected to ensure every voice is recorded and considered.

• Accountability: Listening must be followed by action. Rabbi Joel advises leaders to identify specific items raised by staff, implement changes, and hold themselves accountable for those improvements.

  
  

3. Structural Support and Flexibility

Generous and flexible policies provide the "technical" support necessary for balance.

• Generous PTO: Fuchs Mizrachi maintains a policy of three personal days and ten sick days, with the ability to carry over up to 30 sick days.

• Empowered Leadership: Divisional principals and directors are empowered to handle flexibility requests on a case-by-case basis, allowing them to manage their specific teams’ needs.

• Internal Coverage Systems: To avoid overstaffing while maintaining flexibility, junior high and high school teachers are expected to cover a set number of classes for colleagues (four periods per semester).

• Fair Compensation: Teachers who provide coverage beyond the base expectation receive additional compensation, as the school prefers to pay internal staff rather than outside substitutes.

  
  

4. Boundary Management and Parent Education

Because teachers often encounter parents in "immersive" settings like the grocery store or gym, the school must actively manage expectations.

• Communication Protocols: The school established a task force of parents and educators to draft written expectations for the school-home partnership.

• Response Windows: Clear guidelines help define reasonable timeframes for parents to expect a response from a teacher.

• Complex Boundaries: The school provides guidance on specific community challenges, such as the dynamics that arise when students serve as babysitters for their teachers.

  
  

5. Intentional Collegiality

A supportive "team" culture is vital for faculty morale.

• Recruitment: The school prioritizes "supportive teammates" during the hiring process to ensure the culture remains collaborative.

• Mutual Support: A strong culture where teachers "have each other's backs" makes the burden of covering classes and managing workloads feel more manageable.

Advice for Leaders

For schools struggling with work-life balance, Rabbi Joel offers a two-step approach:

1. Listen: Provide opportunities for staff to share what matters to them without making immediate promises.

2. Follow Through: Pick one or two items, share that they were heard, and implement changes to show that the faculty’s time and input are respected.

How Benchmarking for Good Can Help

Benchmarking for Good’s Faculty climate research can help your school understand its staff’s priorities and satisfaction on what matters most: paving the way to targeted, positive action by school leadership. Contact harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to learn how you can access our research services. 

In Search of Excellence: The Jewish Day School Version

By Dr. Harry Bloom, Founder and President, Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

Every Jewish day school promises excellence. Glossy brochures tout rigorous academics, warm communities, and transformative Jewish education. But when we ask parents the ultimate question—Would you recommend this school to other families?—the answers vary dramatically.

Some schools earn evangelical loyalty. Parents don't just recommend them; they recruit for them. Other schools, despite similar missions and resources, generate lukewarm responses or outright defection.

What explains the difference?

We analyzed parent survey responses from 14 Jewish day schools across the country, representing 1,600 families. Using Net Promoter Score methodology—the same framework Fortune 500 companies use to measure customer loyalty—we divided schools into high performers (NPS of 59-77) and lower performers (NPS of 16-58). Then we examined every dimension of the parent experience to identify what separates the best from the rest.

The findings challenge conventional assumptions about what makes a Jewish day school great.

The Counterintuitive Truth

Here's what we expected to find: that academic excellence would be the primary driver of parent recommendations. After all, isn't that why families sacrifice so much—financially and logistically—to send their children to day school?

Here's what the data actually showed:

The top differentiator wasn't academics. It was support for students with learning differences.

Schools in the high NPS group scored dramatically higher on their ability to accommodate diverse learners (4.21 vs. 3.75 on a 5-point scale). This wasn't a marginal difference. With a Cohen's d effect size of 0.41, it represents one of the largest gaps we measured across 59 dimensions of school performance.

The second-largest differentiator? Whether the school provides a "positive and nurturing environment for students"—tied at the same 0.41 effect size.

Academic excellence in general studies ranked 15th.

Let that sink in. The schools that parents recommend most enthusiastically aren't necessarily the ones with the most rigorous curricula or the highest test scores. They're the schools that make every child feel capable of success, and that wrap that success in genuine warmth.

The Four Pillars of Excellence

Across all the data, a clear pattern emerged. High NPS schools consistently outperformed on four distinct dimensions:

1. They Meet Students Where They Are

The cluster of attributes showing the largest differences between high and low NPS schools using a 5 point scale all relate to individualized attention:

Attribute	High NPS	Low NPS	Gap
Support for learning differences	4.21	3.75	+0.46
Special learning needs services	4.02	3.66	+0.36
Adaptive educational methods	4.13	3.78	+0.35
Teacher attention to individual needs	4.37	4.09	+0.28

This isn't about having a learning support program on paper. Every school has one. It's about whether that program actually works—whether parents of struggling students feel their children are being served, not merely tolerated.

2. They Create Cultures of Care

The second pillar is environmental. High NPS schools score markedly higher on:

•         Positive and nurturing environment (4.63 vs. 4.27)

•         Teaching good values and building character (4.63 vs. 4.38)

•         Positive relationships between administration and students (4.50 vs. 4.22)

•         Welcoming environment for entire family (4.48 vs. 4.27)

Notice what's happening here: parents aren't just evaluating whether their child feels welcomed. They're also evaluating whether they feel welcomed. The family experience matters.

3. They Communicate Like Partners

High NPS schools demonstrate a fundamentally different communication posture:

•         Treats student feedback with respect (4.40 vs. 4.08)

•         Proactive communication about child's situation (4.29 vs. 3.95)

•         Responsive to parent communications (4.50 vs. 4.28)

The gap on "treats student feedback with respect" is particularly telling. This isn't about newsletters or apps or parent portals—it's about whether families feel heard.

4. They Invest in What Families Experience

Finally, high NPS schools score higher on tangible aspects of the experience:

•         High-quality facilities (4.52 vs. 4.24)

•         Curriculum reflecting innovative educational offerings (4.22 vs. 3.94)

•         Effective mental health guidance (4.29 vs. 4.01)

What Didn't Differentiate

Equally important is what didn't separate high from low NPS schools:

Jewish studies performance was nearly identical across groups. Satisfaction with Tanach, Talmud, Hebrew language, and Jewish philosophy showed minimal differences. Both high and low NPS schools appear to deliver similarly on the core Jewish educational mission.

STEAM/STEM programs slightly favored lower NPS schools—one of the only attributes where lower performers scored higher (though not significantly). This may reflect an overinvestment in trendy programming at the expense of fundamentals.

The implication is clear: Jewish day school excellence isn't about flashy programs or even about academic metrics. It's about the human experience—how students and families are treated, supported, and valued.

The Retention Connection

Does any of this actually matter? Or is NPS just a vanity metric?

We found a direct link to retention behavior. At high NPS schools, 21.4% of families reported seriously considering alternative schools in the past year. At low NPS schools, that figure rose to 26.9%—a statistically significant difference (p = 0.018).

That 5.5 percentage point gap may seem modest, but for a school with 500 families, it represents 27 additional families on the brink of departure each year. At $20,000+ per student, that's over half a million dollars in tuition at risk—not to mention the corrosive effect on community when families leave.

High NPS isn't just about feeling good. It's about sustainability.

Implications for School Leaders

What should Jewish day school leaders take from this analysis?

First, audit your support services—honestly. Not what's on your website, but what families actually experience. Survey parents of students receiving support. Are they satisfied? Do they feel their children are valued as much as "typical" learners?

Second, examine your culture of communication. When a parent raises a concern, what happens? How long until they hear back? Do they feel heard? Do students have meaningful channels to provide feedback?

Third, invest in the intangibles. Warmth. Welcome. Character education. These aren't soft concepts—they're the infrastructure of parent loyalty.

Fourth, resist the temptation to chase trends. STEAM labs and innovation centers may photograph well, but they don't appear to drive satisfaction. The fundamentals—individual attention, nurturing environment, responsive communication—are less glamorous but more essential.

The Excellence Equation

In their landmark 1982 book In Search of Excellence, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman studied America's best-run companies and found that excellence wasn't about sophisticated strategies or complex systems. It was about basics done brilliantly: staying close to customers, respecting employees, and maintaining focus on what really matters.

Four decades later, the same lesson applies to Jewish day schools.

The schools that earn the strongest parent recommendations aren't necessarily the ones with the most impressive test scores or the most famous graduates. They're the schools that have figured out something more fundamental: how to make every child feel seen, every family feel welcomed, and every concern feel heard.

Excellence in Jewish day schools isn't a mystery. It's a choice—a daily commitment to putting relationships and responsiveness ahead of programs and prestige.

The data tells us exactly what matters. The question is whether we're willing to listen.

Benchmarking For Good Can Help Your School Achieve Excellence

Contact harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to explore how your school can utilize Benchmarking for Good’s research services to support its drive for excellence.

Environment, Pride and Career Growth Opportunities=Teacher Job Satisfaction

By Dr. Harry Bloom, Founder and President, Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

Every head of school has faced this moment: a valued teacher resigns, and in the exit conversation, compensation comes up. The instinct is to assume salary is the most important problem. But what if that instinct is wrong?

Benchmarking for Good analyzed staff climate survey data from nearly 1,600 faculty and staff members across 25 diverse Jewish day schools to answer a simple question: What actually drives job satisfaction and the willingness to recommend your school as a place to work?

The findings challenge conventional wisdom—and point toward interventions that are both more effective and more within a school leader's control.

The Surprising Truth About Salary

Let's address the elephant in the room first. Salary satisfaction showed the weakest correlation with both job enjoyment (r=0.30) and likelihood to recommend the school as an employer (r=0.27).

To put that in perspective: salary explains only about 9% of why teachers enjoy their jobs. The other 91% is driven by factors that have nothing to do with the paycheck.

This doesn't mean compensation is irrelevant. Teachers need to be paid fairly, and chronic underpayment creates real hardship–and keeps qualified teachers from applying. But the data suggests that once you're in a reasonable range, incremental salary increases yield diminishing returns on satisfaction. A school paying at the 50th percentile with an excellent work environment will likely have happier teachers than a school paying at the 75th percentile with a toxic culture.

What Actually Matters: The Top Three Drivers

1. Work Environment (r=0.61)

The single strongest predictor of job satisfaction is how teachers feel about their overall work environment—the totality of conditions surrounding their work, including collegiality, supervision, support, and physical space.

This factor alone explains 37% of the variance in job satisfaction. That's four times more predictive power than salary.

What this means for leaders: Walk your hallways with fresh eyes. Do your faculty members have each others’ backs?  Is the faculty lounge a place people want to gather, or a forgotten closet with a broken coffee maker? Do teachers have adequate and available technology to do their jobs? Is praise for hard working faculty a norm or a rarity? These "small" environmental factors compound into a daily experience that shapes how people feel about coming to work.

2. Pride in School (r=0.58)

The second strongest driver is whether staff feel proud to be part of your institution. This factor is particularly powerful for predicting whether teachers will recommend your school to others—it's actually the #1 driver of recommendations.

What this means for leaders: Pride isn't manufactured through slogans or swag. It emerges when people believe they're part of something meaningful and excellent. Celebrate genuine accomplishments. Share student success stories and positive parent and alumni survey results. Connect daily work to mission. When a teacher helps a struggling student break through, make sure that story gets told.

3. Career Growth Opportunities (r=0.51)

Here's where the data reveals something actionable that many schools overlook. Career growth opportunities showed a uniquely strong relationship with job satisfaction—significantly stronger than its relationship with recommendations (a statistically significant difference of p=0.002).

In other words: teachers who see a future for themselves at your school are much more likely to enjoy their current jobs. Those who feel stuck are at risk, even if they like other aspects of their work.

What this means for leaders: Day schools often struggle here because hierarchies are flat. You can't promote everyone to department chair. But career growth isn't only about titles. Consider: curriculum leadership roles, mentorship responsibilities, conference presentation opportunities, action research projects, cross-divisional committees, or tuition toward advanced degrees. The question every teacher should be able to answer is: "How will I be better at my craft two years from now than I am today?"

The Supervisor Effect

Four supervisor-related factors also showed strong correlations with satisfaction:

• Supervisor appreciation for efforts (r=0.45)

• Feedback that promotes professional growth (r=0.44)

• Realistic workload expectations (r=0.41)

• Support when dealing with difficult parents (r=0.37)

A teacher's direct supervisor shapes their daily experience more than almost any school-wide policy.

What this means for leaders: Invest heavily in developing your supervisors. The assistant principal who thinks "management" means distributing memos and collecting lesson plans is actively harming retention. Train supervisors to give meaningful feedback, express genuine appreciation, and shield their teams from unreasonable demands. Consider 360-degree feedback processes that surface supervisory problems before they drive departures.

Putting It Into Practice

Based on this analysis, here's a prioritized action framework:

High Impact, Often Overlooked

• Audit your physical work environment for friction points

• Create meaningful career pathways beyond traditional promotions

• Train supervisors in appreciation, feedback, and advocacy

High Impact, Commonly Recognized

• Cultivate genuine pride through mission connection,survey  data showing impact, and storytelling

• Foster open communication channels where concerns are heard

• Ensure teachers have adequate tools and resources

Important but Not Sufficient

• Maintain competitive (not necessarily top-of-market) compensation

• Address salary compression and equity issues

Monitor for Systemic Issues

• Staff-parent interaction quality

• Staff-student interaction quality

• Colleague collaboration and culture

The Bottom Line

School leaders often feel trapped by budget constraints when thinking about teacher satisfaction. This data offers a liberating reframe: the most powerful levers aren't primarily financial.

A teacher who feels proud of their school, works in a supportive environment, sees a path for growth, and has a supervisor who appreciates them and has their back—that teacher is far more likely to love their job than one who simply receives a larger paycheck in a dysfunctional environment.

The work of building that kind of workplace is harder than writing bigger checks. It requires attention to culture, investment in leadership development, and a willingness to address environmental factors that might seem mundane. But the payoff—in retention, in morale, in the quality of education your students receive—is substantial.

Your teachers are telling you what they need. The question is whether you're listening.

How Benchmarking for Good Can Help

We provide schools with access to proven research tools that can tell you what your faculty value and how satisfied they are with all key aspects of job satisfaction and advocacy–giving you the facts you may not have currently, but need to excel at your job as a school leader.

Contact Dr. Harry Bloom at harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to learn more about how to access these research services.