Raising A+ Human Beings: Book Launch with Dr. Bruce Powell and Prof. Ron Wolfson

Raising A+ Human Beings: Book Launch with Dr. Bruce Powell and Prof. Ron Wolfson

12pm PST

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Is it possible to teach kids a curriculum of AP kindness and help them earn an A+ in humanity?

In their book, pioneering educators Bruce Powell and Ron Wolfson explore how school culture can change a student’s life, empower them, and give them the confidence they need to take on the world with good moral judgment.

Join Bruce and Ron as they launch their new book and re-imagine education in a world filled with A+'s.

For the past 50 years, Bruce Powell has dedicated his professional life to Jewish education. He has helped to found and lead three Jewish high schools in Los Angeles, including Yeshiva University of Los Angeles High School, Milken Community High School, and most recently de Toledo High School. He has consulted on the founding of 23 more Jewish high schools throughout North America. In addition, he has provided consulting services to over 60 Jewish day schools through his work as President of Jewish School Management (JSM).

He has won both the Covenant Foundation Award and the Milken Jewish Educator Award for his major contributions to Jewish education. Bruce also served for six years as a founding faculty member and mentor for the Day School Leadership Training Institute at JTS, and as a coach for the Head of School Professional Excellence Project at Prizmah.

For the past two years, Bruce has been the director of the Institute for Day School Excellence and Sustainability (IDEAS) at Legacy Heritage Fund, servicing ten Jewish day schools in America. Bruce has also served on the adjunct faculty of the American Jewish University since 1998. He received his doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1979, and an honorary doctorate from the AJU in 2007.

Bruce’s wife, Debby, is the former Director of Community Affairs for the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in California. They share four children and have invested an aggregate of 52 child-years in Jewish day school education for their kids. Their grandchildren now attend Jewish day schools in Los Angeles.

Ron Wolfson is the Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University. He is the author of numerous books including: “Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community” and co-author of "The Relational Judaism Handbook: How to Create a Relational Engagement Campaign to Build and Deepen Relationships in Your Community."

Dr. Rachel Lerner is the Dean of the Graduate Center for Jewish Education at American Jewish University, where she oversees the MAEd, MAT, MAEd in ECE, and BA in ECE completion programs, training future and current Jewish educators. She is passionate about expanding educators' abilities to include a wider population within Jewish educational settings, making classroom learning a more active experience, and making informal education deep and meaningful.

Dr. Lerner earned her Ed.D. degree from JTS, where she studied how vision-guided education is implemented through the socialization of new teachers. Rachel has taught Masters-level education students at both the American Jewish University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, supervised student teachers in day schools and part-time Jewish schools, and held leadership positions in Jewish overnight camp. She has worked as an administrator and teacher in Jewish day schools—at both the elementary and high school levels.

Rachel and her husband, Aaron, live in Los Angeles with their three daughters: Lily, Gavriella, and Ziva. In her "free time" she enjoys spending time with her family and getting lost in a good book.