Institute for Curriculum Services

Accuracy matters, especially when it comes to educating the next generation. The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) works with textbook publishers to improve and edit social studies textbook content on Jewish subjects, develops curricular resources, and provides professional development for teachers to improve classroom instruction on Jewish subjects. The ICS was founded as an independently funded initiative in 2005 by the San Francisco–based Jewish Community Relations Council, which discovered problematic textbook content about Jews, Judaism, and Israel. In 2007, ICS became a joint national initiative of the JCRC and the national Jewish Council for Public A airs. Before the ICS began its work, much of what American public school students were learning from their textbooks was not just inaccurate but biased as well. The ICS has now achieved more than 11,000 corrections to textbooks and state standards, which impact 9.1 million students each year. The ICS is improving the quality of education to reduce prejudice against Jews and providing factual information to create a better understanding of Israel’s history and significance to the Jewish community. 

Publishers now seek out the ICS to provide input on digital textbooks in development, and the ICS is also working on its own digital presence. Its 2017 revamped website includes scholarly maps of Israel, animated short videos, and interactive versions of curriculum focusing on the ICS’s two main topics: “Understanding Judaism” (for middle schools) and “Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Peace Process” (for high schools). The ICS is also starting to o er resources to students, including pro bono workshops for Jewish teens on recognizing and responding to bias. Thanks to the persistence of the ICS, textbooks and classroom teaching around the country are providing much richer information about Judaism. It’s leading the path to better Jewish education, for non-Jews and Jews alike, and it’s helping to write the (text)book on how to do it.