NY Comprehensive Rabbinical Assessment

Overview

There are 4 sections in this form:
Section 1 (the current section) is to identify the evaluation particulars.
Section 2 is for inputting numerical scores on 15 criteria defined by the NY faculty.
Section 3 is for your narrative elaboration specific to the course.
Section 4 is for developmental ratings on the 12 dimensions defined by all full-time faculty from the four campuses.

Be sure to click the [Done] button at the end to store the data. Reports will be provided by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

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* Your Name

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* Student's Name

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* Student's Year

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* Student's Main Program

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* Term

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* Course Number

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* Course Title

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* Section 2. Numerical Scores
Criteria
Please choose one evaluation and one type of feedback for each criterion.

	Evaluation	Feedback
Hebrew language competence	Hebrew language competence Evaluation menu	Hebrew language competence Feedback menu
Reading aloud and translating Hebrew texts	Reading aloud and translating Hebrew texts Evaluation menu	Reading aloud and translating Hebrew texts Feedback menu
Reading aloud and translating Aramaic texts	Reading aloud and translating Aramaic texts Evaluation menu	Reading aloud and translating Aramaic texts Feedback menu
Written communication	Written communication Evaluation menu	Written communication Feedback menu
Oral communication	Oral communication Evaluation menu	Oral communication Feedback menu
Critical thinking	Critical thinking Evaluation menu	Critical thinking Feedback menu
The student’s mastery of the key course concepts	The student’s mastery of the key course concepts Evaluation menu	The student’s mastery of the key course concepts Feedback menu
On-time completion of course assignments	On-time completion of course assignments Evaluation menu	On-time completion of course assignments Feedback menu
Effort	Effort Evaluation menu	Effort Feedback menu
Class participation	Class participation Evaluation menu	Class participation Feedback menu
Student’s level of interest in the course material	Student’s level of interest in the course material Evaluation menu	Student’s level of interest in the course material Feedback menu
Openness to new ideas	Openness to new ideas Evaluation menu	Openness to new ideas Feedback menu
Openness to constructive criticism	Openness to constructive criticism Evaluation menu	Openness to constructive criticism Feedback menu
Professional standard of behavior	Professional standard of behavior Evaluation menu	Professional standard of behavior Feedback menu
The student’s performance overall	The student’s performance overall Evaluation menu	The student’s performance overall Feedback menu

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* Section 3. Narrative Reflections

Please reflect on the student’s overall achievement and performance in this course. Include comments on strengths and, in particular, on areas that need improvement (as noted in the criteria the numerical scores section). Explain, also any score or developmental rating that differs substantially from others.

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* Section 4. All-Campuses Leaning Outcomes Network Ratings

Click one dot for each dimension that most resembles the performance in the student project.

The description for each level of each dimension was the most general from the detailed abstracts based on 49 interviews (all dimensions were mentioned in more than half the interviews but no dimension was mentioned by everyone). Together the rating form depicts a rich, collective theory of the development of Reform Rabbinical expertise. The descriptions should not be treated as positivistic or legal definitions.

Interpret each dimension broadly (e.g., projects with class presentation or sermons involve teaching). Other descriptions for each level of each dimension are included in the 100-word abstracts. If these would help to clarify the developmental levels in a dimension, the full abstracts can be obtained copying and pasting the link below into your browser:

http://huc.edu/ckimages/files/Wiki/AllCampusesRubrics2011FA.pdf

The abstracts were based on 271 dimensions from 50 interviews. Forty seven additional dimensions came from the Cohen Committee’s Rabbinical 2008 development matrix. Find these by copying and pasting the link below into your browser:

http://www.huc.edu/ckimages/files/Wiki/Rabbinical_Matrix.pdf

The All-Campuses Dimensions are
(1) Interpret Texts,
(2) Understand Contexts,
(3) Use Hebrew Language,
(4) Apply a Personal Theology,
(5) Discourse,
(6) Writing,
(7) Critique,
(8) Use Sources,
(9) Organize,
(10) Cultivate Jewish Identities,
(11) Serve Reform Judaism & Klal Yisrael, and
(12) Teach and Counsel.

The levels are based on different types of commitment. We asked experts four questions: (a) What could students do if they were just "trying" the activity the first time? (b) What could they do after they had spent a few months "learning" about it? (c) What could they do by the time they are "earning a living" at it? (d) What can they do when they are "contributing" to the field of expertise? Of course, each of these activities take very different amounts of time to realize. Thus, the experts gave us four ways of responding for each dimension:

(a) Beginning: showed commitment requiring a few minutes to try the dimension,
(b) Easy: showed commitment requiring a few months to learn about the dimension,
(c) Practical: showed commitment requiring a few years to earn a living using the dimension,
(d) Inspiring: showed commitment requiring many years to contribute to knowledge using the dimension.

If none of the descriptions for a dimension seems appropriate, please use the comment box to provide a description of what you found and remember to identify the level of commitment it showed using Beginning, Easy, Practical or Inspiring.

One paragraph item is available at the end of the form for you to contribute to improvements in this section by describing key aspects of the student’s performance that are missing from the 12 dimensions. If you are the professor for the course, copy and paste the major assignment or the course learning outcomes here for the first student you rate in the course.

If this is the first student you are rating this term for this course, please enter the capstone assignment or the learning outcomes for the course.

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* (1) Interpret Texts

Not applicable

Beginning - Read at face value.

Easy - Seek data fitting their preconceptions.

Practical - Read for inspiration and identify important ideas.

Inspiring - Combine lenses, connect texts, expand boundaries, reframe, and apply to new contexts.

Comments on Improving the "Interpret Texts" Dimension

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* (2) Understand Contexts

Not applicable

Beginning - Disconnected from knowledge of the past.

Easy - Read and describe influential surroundings in space and time, ± a few centuries.

Practical - Describe the writer's culture including time, place, community, ideology, economic situation, liturgy, and use of Jewish texts.

Inspiring - Connect multiple concepts through the ages simultaneously.

Comments on Improving the "Understand Contexts" Dimension

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* (3) Use Hebrew Language

Not applicable

Beginning - Know alphabet and try to sound out words.

Easy - Understand simple written and spoken texts relying on inter-language dictionaries, practical guides and translations.

Practical - Read, comprehend and translate simple unvocalized texts with limited use of lexical aids.

Inspiring - Sight read multiple forms of ancient and modern Hebrew without multilingual aids.

Comments on Improving the "Use Hebrew Language" Dimension

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* (4) Apply Theology

Not applicable

Beginning - Ask, “What does this text mean for my life?”

Easy - Use categories of Jewish belief to offer rationales beyond preferences.

Practical - Ask and respond to enduring theological questions.

Inspiring - Engage philosophy and theology to form coherent and evolving personal beliefs.

Comments on Improving the "Apply Theology" Dimension

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* (5) Discourse

Not applicable

Beginning - Impersonate someone without differentiating acting from preaching or communication from performance.

Easy - Talk in own words, fluently enough to not disrupt understanding.

Practical - Produce polished speaking appropriate to settings and audiences using method acting, breath management, tension release, body centering, and vocal diversity.

Inspiring - Authentically represent self to touch, connect to, and teach people.

Comments on Improving the "Discourse" Dimension

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* (6) Write

Not applicable

Beginning - Regurgitate facts and platitudes with grammar and spelling errors, disorganized construction, muddled arguments and lacking effective illustrations or emotional spurring.

Easy - Acknowledge contradictory sources and evidence and spur emotions, but write conventionally using chronologies, heuristics, topic sentences and undeveloped arguments.

Practical - Write concisely and coherently with multiple perspectives and themes, using research, logical development, and critical discussion.

Inspiring - Use interdisciplinary research, unstructured evidence and contrasting emotions to generate innovative, replicable, Jewish knowledge.

Comments on Improving the "Write" Dimension

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* (7) Critique

Not applicable

Beginning - Summarize text and identify questions it is trying to solve.

Easy - Answer who would be interested in a topic, what it teaches, and what habits might produce resistance to it..

Practical - Apply and describe the history of methodologies for comparing passages and resolving contradictions.

Inspiring - Adjust messages to audiences; consider Jewish identity concerns; and engage all developmental levels with an author.

Comments on Improving the "Critique" Dimension

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* (8) Use Sources

Not applicable

Beginning - Read only n translation. Overgeneralize or repeat details without seeing the differences.

Easy - Read with supporting translations, dictionaries, on-line databases.

Practical - Use multiple interdisciplinary sources found independently.

Inspiring - See a topic’s relevance, frame it, and find the requisite sources. Apply critical analysis, primary source comparison and multidisciplinary approaches.

Comments on Improving the "Use Sources" Dimension

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* (9) Organize

Not applicable

Beginning - Try to join a community.

Easy - Identify key concepts of institutional systems, processes, organizational behavior.

Practical - Effect change using leadership, vision and organizational best practices.

Inspiring - Gradually impart to congregations a vision of building community by drawing people into meaningful Jewish life.

Comments on Improving the "Organize" Dimension

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* (10) Cultivate Jewish Identity

Not applicable

Beginning - Accept those like them. Uncomfortable with people changing in ways that challenge themselves.

Easy - Recognize others’ humanity, but try to make them more like themselves.

Practical - Listen attentively to others’ spiritual, emotional and intellectual needs. Stitch together Jewish social relations.

Inspiring - Contribute to others’ transformations with empathy, authenticity and sensitivity to group and community dynamics.

Comments on Improving the "Cultivate Jewish Indentity" Dimension

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* (11) Serve Reform Judaism & Klal Yisrael

Not applicable

Beginning - Hesitate to act. Instead, hear lectures or explanations of sites and later discuss the experience with peers.

Easy - Demonstrate strong ties and personal identification with Reform Jewish life.

Practical - Articulate their personal relationship with Reform Judaism, its institutions and its Jewish imperatives of social responsibility.

Inspiring - Commit to Reform Judaism, its ideals, community, and family needs, aspirations and challenges, while personally connecting with klal Yisrael.

Comments on Improving the "Serve Reform Judaism & Klal Yisrael" Dimension

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* (12) Teach and Counsel

Not applicable

Beginning - Confuse anecdote teaching with text-based knowledge. Tie planning to a gimmick or exercise.

Easy - Distinguish self from other learners using educational and counseling concepts, like constructivism, Bloom’s taxonomy, differentiated instruction, loss and recovery, systems theory, and personality theory.

Practical - Plan lessons including: enduring understandings; appropriate experiences for ages, styles and contexts; and management of strategies.

Inspiring - Connect educational models and concepts to create rich learning environments and plan care while monitoring engagement, learning and transformation.

Comments on Improving the "Teach and Counsel" Dimension

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* Comment on improving this survey or suggesting a new dimension.

If you suggest a new dimension, please describe at least the level (beginning, easy, practical or inspiring) of the current student's performance and the level just above it that the student might think about for the next assignment. Use the definitions of levels on page 3 as a guidelines.

If you want to print a copy of this survey, do so before you click the [Done] button. Use your browser's print command. If you have questions call the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment at 513.487.3234 or 513.487.3357. After you print, be sure to click the [Done] button to record your assessment.

Question Title

* Your Name

Question Title

* Student's Name

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* Student's Year

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* Student's Main Program

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* Term

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* Course Number

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* Course Title

Question Title

* Section 2. Numerical ScoresCriteriaPlease choose one evaluation and one type of feedback for each criterion.

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* (1) Interpret Texts

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* (2) Understand Contexts

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* (3) Use Hebrew Language

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* (4) Apply Theology

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* (5) Discourse

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* (6) Write

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* (7) Critique

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* (8) Use Sources

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* (9) Organize

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* (10) Cultivate Jewish Identity

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* (11) Serve Reform Judaism & Klal Yisrael

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* (12) Teach and Counsel

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* Section 2. Numerical Scores
Criteria
Please choose one evaluation and one type of feedback for each criterion.