Hidden Sparks is a nonprofit fund whose purpose is to help children with learning differences reach their full potential in school and life. Hidden Sparks develops and supports professional development programs for Jewish day schools to help increase understanding and support for teaching to diverse learners.
Founded in February 2005, Hidden Sparks’ goal is to increase the capacity of Jewish day schools to address the varied needs of children with learning difficulties, particularly children whose struggles might otherwise elude identification. Its inaugural program, a school-based teacher training and coaching initiative, was launched as a pilot in seven yeshivot and day schools in the New York area in February 2006.
Hidden Sparks’ philosophy and programming reflect the belief that all children learn differently and that the most effective way to help those with learning difficulties is to design programs that help all children in the school. With the goal of building long-term capacity within schools, Hidden Sparks focuses on providing teachers with the tools and teaching strategies to better understand and teach children with social, emotional, and learning differences, as well as to nurture a cadre of trained experts. Finally, Hidden Sparks aims to help schools develop and implement a system for early identification and assessment of struggling learners, supported by administrators and educators. Ultimately, schools will be able to deepen the ways in which their professional staffs understand and teach diverse learners.
In November 2007, Hidden Sparks launched its Internal Coach Program (ICP) to cultivate school-based coaches. These “internal coaches” are trained in the Hidden Sparks approach of understanding l and behavior. They “shadow” veteran Hidden Sparks’ coaches and receive monthly mentoring and school-based coaching by the Hidden Sparks Educational Directors and ICP Coach and Mentor. Coaches and Internal Coaches work with teams of Judaic and general studies teachers at least one day a week in their schools. Now in its second full year, the ICP Program is active in 18 Jewish day schools in New York. Key to the success of long-term sustainability is the participation and leadership of the school’s educational administration.
Also in November 2007, Hidden Sparks offered the School Change Administrative Leadership Endeavor (SCALE) program for principals of incoming ICP schools. This program, which provided a condensed overview of the Hidden Sparks training, will be re-offered during the next open enrollment cycle. In June 2008, Hidden Sparks received a grant from UJA-Federation of New York’s Caring Commission, in partnership with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, to cover the cost of expansion into six additional New York-based yeshivas.
With designated funding from the Ruderman Family Foundation as part of the Peerless Excellence Project, and in partnership with Boston’s Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, Hidden Sparks’ professional development model is now being used inseven day schools and yeshivas in Boston.
Hidden Sparks is offered in 28 day schools and yeshivas in New York, New Jersey and Boston. Click here for a list of participating schools. As a service to the broader field and those teachers who are not based in cities currently being served by Hidden Sparks school-based programs, Hidden Sparks launched Hidden Sparks Without Walls (WOW), bringing audio and online classes, at no cost, to educators nation-wide. These hour-long classes are offered live during the evenings, providing opportunities for educators from across the nation to enhance their knowledge of the field of diverse learning, access the courses from the comfort of their own homes, and join learning communities at their leisure.
