Jewish Learning & Experience of Children and Teens

Intensive Jewish experiences for children and teens – day school, summer overnight camping, and trips to Israel — have a strong correlation with positive Jewish identity in adult life. Providing large numbers of Jewish children and teens with high-quality Jewish experiences is a powerful way to ensure a highly engaged future Jewish Pittsburgh.

As of 2017, there were an estimated 6,400 Jewish children (0-18) in Pittsburgh, roughly 40% of whom were under the age of 5. There were an additional 2,000 non-Jewish children living in a household with a Jewish adult.

Summary Metrics

• Day Schools
• Early-Childhood Centers
• Hebrew or Synagogue Schools
• Overnight Camps

• Three Jewish day schools serve Pittsburgh. One of the schools provides education through eighth grade, one provides education through high school, and the other provides education until the end of 11th grade for boys and 12th grade for girls. Since 2007, enrollment has been essentially stable, but the community reached 800 students in 2014-15 for the first time since 2007. There was a low of 752 students enrolled in a day school in 2011.

  

  For the 2017-2018 school year, the largest single primary school grade in all three schools is 3rd grade with 95 students. High school enrollment is highest in 10th grade with 46 students.

  

  When looking at average enrollment per grade since 2007, there is a drop-off from 8th grade to 9th grade, likely due to the absence of a high school in one of the schools. Because one of the high schools only provides education to boys until 11th grade, there is a relatively major drop-off from 11th grade to 12th grade as well.

  Lower grades have a steady rate of attrition. Once students entered middle school, however, there was a high rate of retention, until ninth grade.

  	K	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
  Average enrollment per grade since 2007	85	79	78	72	69	67	61	61	62	41	39	38	25
  Average change from previous grade		(6)	(1)	(6)	(3)	(2)	(6)	0	1	(21)	(2)	(1)	(13)

  Organizations that participated in this study include: Community Day School, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, and Yeshiva Schools.

• In Pittsburgh in 2017, 1,054 children were enrolled in a Jewish early-childhood center (which include nursery schools, pre-schools, and day-care centers with Jewish education). Of those, just over half (54%) were Jewish.

  
  

  Age	Average Tuition (full time)	Number of schools reporting data
  Newborns/infants	$10,952	5
  1-year-olds	$7,362	8
  2-year-olds	$6,293	9
  3-year-olds	$6,384	9
  4-year-olds	$7,287	10
  5-year-olds	$5,221	4

   

  Organizations that participated in this study include: Adat Shalom Preschool, Community Day School,  Hillel Academy Early Childhood Education Program,  JCC of Greater Pittsburgh – South Hills,  JCC of Greater Pittsburgh – Squirrel Hill,  Jewish East Suburban Preschool, L. Harold and Mary W. Kirkell Preschool of Congregation Beth Shalom, Rodef Shalom Congregation Family Center, Temple Emanuel Early Childhood Development Center, and Yeshiva Schools

• Collectively, there are 851 students enrolled in part-time Jewish education programs in Pittsburgh.

  

  Organizations that participated in this study include: Adat Shalom Religious School, Beth Samuel Jewish Center Religious School, Blanche and Joseph Weiger Religious School at Temple David, Chabad Fox Chapel Community Hebrew School, Chabad Hebrew School of the South Hills, Congregation B’nai Abraham Religious School, Congregation Emanu-El Israel Religious/Hebrew School, Dor Hadash Religious School, J-SITE, Spiegel Religious School at Beth El Congregation, Joint Jewish Education Program of Pittsburgh, Temple Emanuel Torah Center Religious School, Temple Ohav Shalom Religious School, Temple Sinai Religious School, Torah Lishmah Community at Tree of Life – Or L’Simcha Congregation

• Six hundred Jewish children in grades K-12 attended a Jewish overnight camp this past summer. That accounts for 16% of all Jewish age-eligible children.