‘Blended learning’ a new mantra at HALB

A partnership between the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and the Affordable Jewish Education Project has resulted in substantial academic gains for students.

The project’s 2 Sigma Education model combines traditional classroom learning with online instruction — “blended learning” — which allows students to learn at their own pace.

It began in the 2013-14 school year with a pilot program for HALB first-graders, expanding the following year to include kindergartners and second- and third-graders as well. This school year, which begins on Sept. 8, the program will also include fourth-graders.

HALB reports that low-scoring students who began the first year of the program went, on average, from the 11th to the 30th percentile in reading and from 12th to 51st percentile in math. 

Applying one-on-one and small group instruction, along with real-time data, teachers pinpoint exactly what a student does or does not do well, identifying knowledge gaps, clarifying concepts and providing positive reinforcement. 

“The 2 Sigma model is not a supplementary or occasional initiative; it is a shift in focus that has affected the way each of our students in kindergarten through third grade learned reading and math every single day,” said HALB Principal Rabbi Dovid Plotkin.

The Affordable Jewish Education Project had planned to open a Hebrew day school in Woodmere about three years ago (it has such schools in New Jersey and Westchester). At the same time, HALB was experimenting with its own blended-learning program. HALB President Lance Hirt said that instead of competing for the same students — more than 90 percent of HALB’s enrollment lives in the Five Towns — HALB contacted AJE about a collaboration. 

“With the software systems now available to us, we are able to identify specific strengths and weaknesses of every child and address those needs in a personalized way,” Hirt said

Children are stimulated by lessons presented on an iPad or laptop, and teachers are inspired by the new tools, according to Hirt.

Rabbi Avrum Sacks, AJE’s chief academic officer, who manages HALB’s 2 Sigma program, is on the HLAB campus several times each week.

“We are just blown away by how seamlessly the HALB teachers and students were able to weave 2 Sigma into their classrooms,” said Jeff Kiderman, an AJE co-founder and its executive director.