The Idea School

What if we created a new type of learning experience for our students - One where learning stemmed from students’ passions? Where each learning experience began by allowing students to ask questions, so we knew what they wanted to explore in a discipline, a time period, a book, or a Jewish text? And what if students didn’t just memorize information, but took newfound knowledge and skills and used them to make something beautiful or solve a problem in the real world? With such an educational model, students would construct meaning out of their studies, get to know their talents and strengths, and understand how they might live a fulfilling Torah life, while bettering the world. This is the kind of empowering learning students engage in at The Idea School, the first project-based, Jewish High school in the nation. Housed within the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ, The Idea School creates a learning environment that sparks inquiry and exploration and connects students to themselves, God, their Judaism, and the world. Idea School students engage confidently and creatively with people, ideas and texts; contribute to society in ethically and morally responsible ways; meaningfully enrich and grow their Jewish communities; and see the image of God in every human being, and the interconnectedness of all living things.