Learning Together: Executive Summary

Israel has a lot to offer the United States in the field of education, particularly as it relates to at-risk youth. This has been a focus since the founding of the state because of the unique demands of educating children who survived the Holocaust, many of whom were orphans, and meeting the needs of the large immigrant population, which includes youth from underdeveloped nations like Ethiopia.

The United States is already benefitting from lessons learned from Israel. In 1992, Bill Clinton and Al Gore outlined their goals in Putting People First: How We Can All Change America. In the section on revolutionizing lifetime learning, Clinton and Gore specifically single out as an example of an innovative parenting program, the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) developed at Hebrew University. HIPPY was established in Israel to help children of poor immigrants from Africa and Asia as a preschool supplement to prepare them for the rigors of Israeli schools. Clinton and Gore said HIPPY can “help disadvantaged parents work with their children to build an ethic of learning at home that benefits both parent and child.” HIPPY USA was established in 1984 and the program is now being used by more than 11,000 families with four- and five-year-olds in 83 communities in 23 states.

HIPPY established the precedent for importing innovative Israeli programs to the United States for the benefit of American children. Before innovative ideas can be imported, however, they must be identified. That is the purpose of this report.

Despite the differences in culture, size, structure and resources between the United States and Israel, many common problems and common needs can be found in both countries, such as: early childhood intervention, family support, day care, school dropouts, academic underachievement, alienated youth, employment of new technologies and absorption of immigrants. The United States has many programs to address these problems, but those developed in Israel may offer better solutions. Israel's smaller size may be an advantage in making it possible to conceptualize the problems more clearly and to design programs to deal with them more effectively. This study addresses the concerns of American educators, decision-makers and planners interested in:

Youth At-Risk and Dropout Prevention
Early Intervention, Child Care and Family Programs
Gifted and Talented Students
Residential Education/Boarding Schools
Computers and Educational Technology
Adult Training and Development
Drug, Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Conflict Resolution and Personal Values
Special Education

The programs described here can be adapted for use in the United States and, like HIPPY, can be replicated around the country for the benefit of Americans. American experience with exemplary programs has been that they have worked best when adapted to the specific situational needs and context by local planners; i.e., programs cannot be implemented as is without considering the students, staff, conditions and resources of the community wrestling with the same problem area. This report provides information concerning more than 60 Israeli projects. For each, the goals, target population, program and activities are described, providing its programmatic essence and enabling American readers to determine whether to investigate further.

Additional information on the programs discussed here is available either directly from the sources listed in the report or from the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Anyone interested in importing one of these exciting programs should contact AICE and we will work with you to make the necessary contacts and to assist in securing funds for a pilot project. Even before completing this report, AICE successfully introduced one of the programs, YACHAD—Children Tutoring Children in Reading—to officials in North Carolina who have decided to adapt it for use in the third largest school district. We look forward to working with other communities to import other innovative Israeli programs for the benefit of their children.