Melton Research Center for Jewish Education

The Melton Research Center for Jewish Education, established in 1960 under the sponsorship of Samuel M. Melton of Columbus, Ohio, has the mandate of improving the quality of Jewish education throughout North America.

A major project of the Melton Research Center is the preparation of classroom materials for the teaching of the Hebrew language, Jewish holidays, prayer, mitzvot, Bible, Jewish history, and Jewish thought in congregational schools. The Melton curriculum is graded according to the age and skill level of students. Each subject is designed to be integrated with other subjects in order to provide a comprehensive course of study. The goal of the curriculum is to present the basic ideas of traditional texts in the light of contemporary scholarship and education.

Over the years, Melton curriculum materials have been used in more than 300 Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox congregational and day schools throughout the country.

The Melton Research Center's commitment to teacher education is reflected in its extensive seminars and training programs. Over the years, thousands of teachers across North America have participated in these programs. In addition, thanks to Mr. Melton's continued generosity, the Melton Center established the Melton Fellowships, which offer generous support to students pursuing graduate studies in Jewish education at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education.

In 1984, the Melton Research Center was awarded the first Daniel Issacman Memorial Award for Jewish Education for its generative work in educational research and publications. In 1992, the Melton Center was honored at Hadassah's eightieth-anniversary celebration for outstanding contributions to and positive impact on fostering Jewish learning and scholarship, and for strengthening Jewish communal life through the training and development of Jewish educators.

The Melton Research Center works in close cooperation with The Davidson School. In 1993, just before his death, Samuel Melton created the Melton Coalition for Creative Interaction, designed to tie the three independent Melton Centers together in cooperative projects on behalf of Jewish education. Thus, our center works with Melton Center at Ohio State University and the Melton Centre for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on MeltonArts.

On July 1, l996, Dr. Steven M. Brown became the new director of the Melton Research Center. Dr. Brown came to Melton with an extensive background as a synagogue educator, author, and principal of a Solomon Schechter Day School. Under Dr. Brown's leadership, the Melton Center is building on its foundations of excellence in curriculum development, teacher support, and scholarship in Jewish education. The Melton Center has joined in partnership with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Department of Education to create Project Etgar, a new approach to instruction and learning in the synagogue middle school, and MaToK, the Bible curriculum for the Solomon Schechter Day Schools. MaToK also received a generous grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation.

The Melton Center supports the new Standards and Benchmarks initiative, which is funded by a grant from AVI CHAI. This project is creating, testing and disseminating standards for Bible study in Conservative, Reform, and community day schools. Melton Research Center activities focus on the design, testing, implementation, and evaluation of new approaches in instructional methods, materials, and technology, models for organizational changes and staff development. The extended Melton staff is a rich mixture of field-based Jewish educators; outstanding scholars in the fields of Jewish education, general education, and Judaica; and graduate students enrolled in The Davidson School.