Sukkot: Z'man Simchateinu: Uncovering the Highest Levels of Joy Among Students and Staff

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

As the vibrant energies of Sukkot—Z'man Simchateinu, the Season of Our Joy—fill our communities, Benchmarking for Good would like to share some data nuggets about the most exceptional pockets of happiness are in our Jewish Day Schools. To be clear, genuine happiness can be found in many areas and aspects of Jewish day schools---but here are some that particularly stand out.

Students

Our analysis covering nearly 1,500 high school students indicates that 53.5% of students enjoy going to school either "A Tremendous Amount" (17.1%) and "Quite a Bit" (36.4%). But 9^th graders are the happiest at 63%. Schools with the highest documented enjoyment are Denver Jewish Day School and Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys (DRS) at 60-70%. And, notably, the happiest school/grade combo was Stella K. Abraham High School for Girl’s 9^th grade with a stellar 82% level of joy!

Staff

Based on job satisfaction, Educational Administrators lead the way with a whopping 87% Very Satisfied statistic. The next most satisfied role is that of Specialty Teachers at 49%! Generalist teachers and Academic Support/Guidance professionals trail at 41%--though teachers with more than 15 years’ experience blow that figure away with a 57% Very Satisfied level.  Finally, from a departmental standpoint, Non-educational Administrators lead with 61% followed by Early Childhood teachers at 56%.

How Benchmarking for Good Can Help Your School Ensure Happy Students and Staff Members

Our no cost research grants can provide your school with the data you need to help ensure your students and staff are happy and find their roles highly satisfying. If this is of interest, please contact harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to explore the possibilities. In the meantime, Chag Sameach to you and your family!

The Impact of Teacher Tenure on Job Satisfaction and Advocacy 2024-25

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

This report examines the attitudes and professional profiles of educators, based on detailed survey data from over 1,000 respondents across 23 diverse Jewish day schools. The analysis is segmented into distinct career stages and employment histories to understand how job satisfaction and school advocacy are shaped by experience. The findings provide a clear roadmap for school leaders seeking to build a stable, satisfied, and high-performing faculty.

Overall Educator Experience Profile

First, it is essential to understand the overall distribution of experience among the respondents. The data reveals a field rich with seasoned professionals, particularly in terms of total career length.

Table 1: Total Years of Experience in Education (All Respondents) This table shows the distribution of educators' entire careers in the field, compiled from the sources.

Total Experience Bracket		Percentage of Total
1-3 years (incl. First Year)		9.9%
4-5 years		8.7%
6-10 years		21.0%
11-15 years		16.6%
More than 15 years		43.9%
Total		100%

Table 2: Years of Experience at Current School (All Respondents) This table shows the tenure of educators at their specific institution, indicating staff movement and retention, compiled from the sources.

School Tenure Bracket		Percentage of Total
1-3 years (incl. First Year)		33.4%
4-5 years		14.5%
6-10 years		24.3%
11-15 years		10.6%
More than 15 years		17.3%
Total		100%

 

Part I: Analysis by Career Stage

The data shows a clear and significant trend: as educators gain more experience, their job satisfaction and likelihood of recommending their school increase consistently. Each career stage, however, presents a unique profile.

• 1. Early-Career Educators (1-3 Years Total Experience): This cohort is characterized by the widest possible range of sentiments. Their responses contain a disproportionately high number of "Unsatisfied" and "Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied" ratings, and their willingness to recommend their school to potential colleagues spans the entire spectrum from "Very likely" to "Very unlikely".

• 2. Developing Professionals (4-5 Years Total Experience): Educators in this stage begin to show more stability. Dissatisfaction drops off significantly, and responses become concentrated in the "Somewhat satisfied" and "Very satisfied" categories, with a firm shift toward positive advocacy.

• 3. Established Educators (6-10 Years Total Experience): This group forms the solid core of the faculty. Satisfaction is consistently high, and "Very likely" to recommend becomes the most common response.

• 4. Veteran Educators (11-15 Years Total Experience): These experienced professionals report very high levels of satisfaction. "Very satisfied" is the predominant response, and they are overwhelmingly "Very likely" to recommend their schools.

• 5. Senior Experts (More than 15 Years Total Experience): This cohort represents the institutional bedrock. They are the most satisfied and loyal group by a significant margin, with the highest concentration of "Very satisfied" responses and an almost uniform "Very likely" willingness to recommend.

Part II: The Critical Difference Between "Stayers" and "Switchers"

Beyond career stage, the data reveals another powerful determinant of faculty satisfaction: employment history. By comparing faculty who have spent their careers at one school ("Stayers") with those who have changed employers ("Switchers"), a critical pattern emerges.

• "Stayers" (Original Employer Faculty): These educators, whose school tenure matches their total career length, are remarkably and consistently satisfied. Dissatisfaction is virtually nonexistent in this group. They are also the most reliable advocates, with responses dominated by "Very likely" to recommend.

• "Switchers" (Faculty Who Have Changed Schools): This group presents a much more polarized and complex picture. Their experience changing schools leads to highly varied outcomes.

   ◦ High Risk, High Reward: While many Switchers report being "Very satisfied"—indicating they found a better professional fit—this group also accounts for nearly all of the "Very unsatisfied" and "Somewhat unsatisfied" responses in the entire dataset.

    ◦ More Critical Recommendations: Switchers are more measured in their advocacy. They are the source of almost all "Very unlikely" and "Somewhat unlikely" recommendations. Their experience at other institutions gives them a basis for comparison, and they may be personally satisfied while still recognizing that their current school has shortcomings compared to previous employers.

Metric	Stayers (Original Employer)	Switchers (Changed Employers)
Job Satisfaction	Consistently High. Dominated by "Very satisfied." Negative responses are extremely rare.	Polarized and Varied. Includes many "Very satisfied" but also nearly all instances of "Very unsatisfied".
Likelihood to Recommend Working at Their School	Overwhelmingly Positive. Strong advocates who are "Very likely" to recommend.	More Critical and Reserved. Contains almost all "Very unlikely" and "Somewhat unlikely" responses.

Part III: Implications and Actionable Strategies for School Leaders

This data provides a clear mandate for school leaders: adopt a differentiated approach to faculty recruitment, development, and retention.

1. Strategic Imperative: Intensely Support and Retain Early-Career Educators.

    ◦ The Finding: The first 1-3 years are the most volatile. Positive early experiences are crucial for long-term retention.

    ◦ Action Plan: Implement robust, multi-year induction and mentorship programs that pair new teachers with trained veteran mentors. Conduct frequent, low-stakes check-ins to build trust and address issues before they fester. If you can successfully guide a teacher through this phase, the data shows they are highly likely to become a satisfied, long-term employee.

2. Strategic Imperative: Retain and Leverage Veteran Educators.

    ◦ The Finding: Senior experts (>15 years) and other veterans are your most satisfied, loyal, and powerful advocates. They are the keepers of institutional culture.

    ◦ Action Plan: Retention of this group is paramount. Empower them as formal mentors and leaders to leverage their expertise and reaffirm their value. Create senior faculty advisory groups to tap into their deep institutional knowledge for strategic planning.

3. Strategic Imperative: De-Risk the Hiring of Experienced "Switchers".

    ◦ The Finding: While hiring an experienced teacher can bring immense talent, it also carries the highest risk of a severe mismatch, leading to a dissatisfied and critical voice on your faculty.

    ◦ Action Plan: Your hiring process for experienced faculty must be exceptionally rigorous in assessing cultural fit. Involve a wide range of faculty in the interview process. Once hired, do not assume their experience means they need less support. Implement a tailored onboarding process that focuses on integrating them into the school's specific culture, norms, and community. Their successful integration is critical to realizing the value of their experience.

How Benchmarking for Good Can Support Your Faculty Management Processes

Benchmarking for Good’s no cost faculty climate surveys, which provide rich insights into the details of your faculty’s priorities and perceived satisfaction-- along with an assessment of how they compare to those of peer schools-- are an excellent way for you to calibrate the strength of your staff’s affinity for your school and to guide your efforts to become the Employer of Choice in your market. Contact Dr. Harry Bloom at harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to explore the potential for a research grant.

Problem-Solving through Research: Our Students Aren't Recommending Our School...And What to Do About It

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

We recently surveyed over 1,400 of our high school students, asking them a simple but crucial question: "How likely are you to recommend our school to other Jewish families?" The results were sobering. While we have many satisfied students, too many wouldn't enthusiastically recommend their school to others.

After analyzing the data, we discovered not just why students hesitate to recommend us, but also a clear roadmap for change. The findings reveal both concerning trends and tremendous opportunities for improvement.

The Uncomfortable Truth: We're Losing Them by Grade 11

Let's start with the most striking pattern in our data: student satisfaction follows a predictable and troubling trajectory.

• Grade 9: Students arrive enthusiastic, with overall satisfaction at 3.60 out of 5

• Grade 10: The honeymoon ends, dropping to 3.50

• Grade 11: We hit rock bottom at 3.34 – our crisis year

• Grade 12: Slight recovery to 3.45, but the damage is done

This "Grade 11 Crisis" isn't just a number – it represents hundreds of students who have lost their connection to our school at the very moment when they're forming lasting opinions about their educational experience.

The Three Factors That Matter Most

Our analysis revealed something unexpected: not all satisfaction factors are created equal when it comes to generating student recommendations.

The Big Three: What Actually Drives Recommendations

1. Do Students Enjoy Coming to School? (r = 0.52) This single factor explains 27% of whether students will recommend us. It's not about academic rigor or college preparation – it's about the daily experience of being here. When we examined Grade 12 students specifically, this correlation jumped to 0.59, meaning nearly 60% of seniors' recommendations depend on whether they simply enjoy being at school.

2. Do They Feel They Belong? (r = 0.44) Sense of belonging explains another 20% of recommendation likelihood. This peaks in Grade 10, where it becomes the #1 predictor. Students who feel like outsiders don't just suffer silently – they actively discourage others from enrolling.

3. How's the Administrative Environment? (r = 0.42) The relationship between students and administrators explains 17% of recommendations. Most alarming: this score plummets from 3.69 in Grade 9 to 3.19 in Grade 11 – the sharpest decline of any factor we measured.

Why Grade 11 Is Our Achilles' Heel

The data reveals a perfect storm hitting our juniors:

• Administrative relationships crater (down 0.5 points from Grade 9)

• Lesson engagement hits bottom (3.07 out of 5)

• Learning from feedback drops below 3.0 – the only factor to fall below the midpoint

• School enjoyment reaches its nadir (3.39 vs. 3.68 for freshmen)

What's happening? Interviews suggest several factors:

• College pressure intensifies without adequate support

• Administrative focus shifts to seniors

• Social dynamics become more entrenched and exclusive

• The curriculum feels disconnected from their evolving interests

The Hidden Cost of Unhappy Students

When students don't recommend our school, the impact ripples far beyond enrollment numbers:

• Recruitment costs increase as we can't rely on word-of-mouth

• Community reputation suffers in tight-knit Jewish communities

• Sibling enrollment drops when older students discourage younger ones

• Teacher morale declines as they sense student dissatisfaction

• Donor confidence wavers when their children aren't enthusiastic advocates

A Data-Driven Action Plan: Four Changes We Must Make

1. Make School Enjoyable Again (Priority #1)

The Data: School enjoyment alone predicts recommendations better than all academic factors combined.

Action Steps:

• Audit what students find stressful vs. energizing

• Create more unstructured social time

• Redesign spaces for student comfort, not just function

• Celebrate small wins, not just academic achievements

• Institute "Joy Fridays" with reduced homework and enrichment activities

Success Metric: Increase "Enjoy School" score from 3.51 to 4.0 within one year

2. Emergency Intervention for Grade 11

The Data: Grade 11 shows the lowest satisfaction across nearly every metric.

Action Steps:

• Assign dedicated junior class dean focused solely on Grade 11 wellbeing

• Create junior-specific stress reduction programs

• Implement "Junior Journey" mentorship connecting 11th graders with recent alumni

• Reduce academic load during peak periods

• Host monthly "Administration & Answers" sessions exclusively for juniors

Success Metric: Close the Grade 11 satisfaction gap by 50% within one semester

3. Rebuild the Administrative Relationship

The Data: Administrative environment scores drop 0.5 points from Grade 9 to 11.

Action Steps:

• Require administrators to have weekly informal interactions with students

• Create "Administration-Free Zones" where students feel autonomous

• Train administrators in adolescent psychology and empathetic communication

• Institute student advisory councils with real decision-making power

• Make administrative accessibility a requirement, not an afterthought

Success Metric: Achieve 3.5+ administrative environment score across all grades

4. Foster Belonging Through Structure, Not Chance

The Data: Sense of belonging is the #2 predictor overall and #1 for Grade 10.

Action Steps:

• Implement systems that create smaller communities within the school

• Mandate inclusive lunch policies (no eating alone)

• Create interest-based clubs that cross grade levels

• Train teachers to spot and support isolated students

• Celebrate diverse achievements beyond academics

Success Metric: Reduce "neither/unsure" responses on belonging by 40%

What Success Looks Like: Measurable Outcomes

If we implement these changes effectively, here's what we should see within 18 months:

• Net Promoter Score increases from current level to 40+

• Grade 11 satisfaction rises from 3.34 to at least 3.50

• "Very Likely" to recommend increases from current ~56% to 70%

• School enjoyment scores reach 4.0+ for at least two grade levels

• Application inquiries increase through improved word-of-mouth

The Competitive Reality We Can't Ignore

Other competing day schools are already addressing these issues. They're creating joyful learning environments, supporting stressed juniors, and building genuine administrative relationships with students. Every month we delay action, we lose prospective families to schools that understand what really matters to students.

A Call to Action: The Time is Now

The data is clear, and the path forward is evident. Our students have told us exactly what would make them proud advocates for our school. They're not asking for easier academics or lower standards. They're asking for:

• A school they enjoy attending

• A place where they belong

• Administrators who create supportive environments

• Special attention during their most challenging year

The question isn't whether we can afford to make these changes. The question is whether we can afford not to.

Benchmarking for Good Can Help

Our no cost research grants can help your school learn about the strengths and weaknesses of its student advocacy and define a data-driven pathway to predictable improvement. To investigate the possibility of a research grant contact Dr. Harry Bloom at harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org