About Us

Mission

The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) is dedicated to improving the accuracy of K-12 instruction and instructional materials on Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history. We do this by developing standards-aligned curricula and providing professional development to teachers around the country.

We believe an excellent education is essential to building a strong civil society, where all people can flourish.

History

Launched in 2005, ICS addresses historical inaccuracies and misinformation about Judaism and Jewish history in public school textbooks. Issues that ICS has identified range from blaming Jews for the crucifixion to misrepresentations of Jewish holidays to supersessionism, the idea that Judaism became obsolete after the birth of Christianity. In 2017, reflecting its commitment to teachers, ICS expanded its scope to offer more professional development opportunities for history and social studies educators nationwide.

Our Mission

The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) is dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 education on Jews, Judaism, Jewish history, and Israel in the United States. We do this by developing standards-aligned curricula and providing professional development to teachers around the country.

We believe an excellent education is essential to building a strong civil society, where all people can flourish.

Our History

Launched in 2005, ICS addresses historical inaccuracies and misinformation about Judaism and Jewish history in public school textbooks. Issues that ICS has identified range from blaming Jews for the crucifixion to misrepresentations of Jewish holidays to supersessionism, the idea that Judaism became obsolete after the birth of Christianity. In 2017, reflecting its commitment to teachers, ICS expanded its scope to offer more professional development opportunities for history and social studies educators nationwide.

Who We Are

Aliza Elias, Director

Aliza directs the Institute for Curriculum Services and is responsible for internal operations, external relationships, resource development, and the creation of new initiatives to strengthen K-12 education. Aliza joined ICS as its first full-time staff person at ICS in 2006 and has served as Director since 2013. She completed a Master’s degree with distinction in Modern Jewish Studies at Oxford and a B.A. Hons in Psychology from the University of Calgary.

Bella Ben-Shach, Deputy Director

Bella works closely with Aliza to execute and manage the daily operations of ICS and oversees ICS program staff. Previously, Bella worked as a program manager for seniors and as a Jewish and Israel educational program facilitator for young adults and college students. Bella earned a BA in Integral Liberal Arts from St. Mary’s College and a Dual Masters in Israel Studies and Non-Profit Management from Brandeis University.

Scott Blumenthal, Executive Editor

Scott lives in North Carolina, and brings over 20 years of experience in educational publishing as an editorial director, executive editor, and team leader. He is also a former religious school director and the author of numerous books for Jewish children and young adults. Scott leads the Editorial team to achieve ICS’s goals on state standards and instructional materials, and to ensure consistency and quality across ICS’s instructional materials.

Keryn Warren, Marketing and Communications Manager

As the Marketing and Communications Manager, Keryn is responsible for brand implementation, design, generating leads, and social media. Prior to her role at ICS, Keryn worked as the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at a non-profit that provides training, professional development, and support to Jewish educators. She earned a BA in Asian Studies at SUNY New Paltz, an MA in East Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Oregon, and an MPA with a concentration in Non-Profit Management at Baruch College.

Josh Daniels, Associate Content Editor

Josh examines instructional materials and state standards with the aim of ensuring accuracy on Jewish subjects. Prior to ICS, Josh earned his B.A. in Humanities from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, where he now resides, as well as his M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research interests range from American religious demography to modern Jewish identity, and encompasses work on contemporary Jewish movements in the US and Israel.

Sandy Sierra Harry, Data and Events Manager

Sandy is the Data and Events Manager for ICS and joined the team in February 2020. A recent transplant to California, Sandy is originally from NYC. She later moved to Florida to earn her BA in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University. She spent nine years working at the nonprofit ARC Broward providing case management, afterschool program teaching, and other forms of support to young adults with developmental disabilities. Sandy supports ICS’s efforts by working with ICS educators to plan and deliver professional development opportunities for K-12 social studies educators.

Alison Scott, Grants Manager and Writer

Alison assists the Director and team in coordinating fundraising and development efforts for ICS. Alison previously served as Program Assistant and Program Coordinator for ICS. She earned her B.A in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Shira Schindel, Publisher Relations Specialist

As the Publisher Relations Specialist for ICS, Shira is responsible for developing new partnerships with educational publishers. Previously, Shira worked as head of acquisitions and senior manager of strategic content partnerships with leading publishing houses. Shira earned her BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University and an MFA in Writing Books for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Dori Gerber, Director of Professional Learning

Dori leads the Professional Learning team of educators to achieve ICS’s goal of providing educational opportunities to more teachers nationwide. In addition, she serves as a resource for teachers, district supervisors and community partners throughout the United States. Prior to her role at ICS, Dori was an educator in both public and private settings for 17 years. Dori earned a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida and an M.A. in Education from Nova Southeastern University.

Dori facilitates professional learning for the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. 

Erika Lowery, Educator

Erika is in her 27th year in education. Before joining ICS, she taught middle school and high school geography courses and was a Secondary Social Studies Coordinator. She was awarded the National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Teaching Achievement award in 2013. She has been President of Texas Council for the Social Studies and President of the National Social Studies Supervisors Association. Erika was honored as the Dr. Rosemary Morrow TSSSA Supervisor of the Year in 2022. She received her Bachelor of Science in Social Studies Education from The Florida State University, was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus in the College of Education in 2020, and a Master of Education Leadership from National Louis University.

Erika facilitates professional learning for the following states: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and the Northeast region. 

Kristen Hallahan, Educator

Kristen presents at conferences and facilitates professional learning for teachers and other education professionals within the Western Region of the United States. Before working with ICS, Kristen was a high school English teacher for 14 years. She has taught in multiple states as well as internationally, including time in Dubai and Bogotá, Colombia. Most recently, she worked for Lakewood High School in Colorado. Kristen has a B.A. in Secondary English Education from Clemson University, and an M.A. in Secondary Education from The University of Alabama International Program.

Kristen facilitates professional learning in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Liz Burns Taormina, Educator

Liz taught for 15 years in independent and religious schools in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. As chair of an interdisciplinary humanities department, she served as a coach for teachers of social studies, ELA, world languages, fine arts, and religious studies. She holds a BA in Religious Studies from Fairfield University and a Master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Liz facilitates professional learning in New York state. 

Our Impact

Participation
0
Teachers have participated in workshops
Host Cities
0

States (plus D.C.) represented by teachers we’ve trained

Recommend
0%
Of teachers would recommend ICS’s workshops to others

Consulting

ICS offers consultative services to publishers, policymakers, and Jewish community organizations regarding accurate K-12 resources.

Inquire about our consulting

Careers

Interested in joining our team?

See our careers

Career - Handshake Icon

FAQs

In 1989, California reintroduced teaching about religion in public schools (there had been a prevailing fear for years that people would teach religion, instead of teaching about religion – a critical distinction). This development, led the Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council to wonder what the new textbooks would teach about Jews and Judaism. Unfortunately, the new textbooks included egregious misinformation and stereotypes. Judaism was depicted as harsh and punitive. Jews were blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus. Jewish holidays and beliefs were misrepresented and not treated with the same respect as other religions. Textbooks presented Judaism as irrelevant or obsolete with the advent of Christianity. The realization that there was such significant misinformation about Jews and Judaism and that there were no national efforts to promote accuracy in this area of history was a driving factor in creating the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) in 2005.

ICS specializes in Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history (ancient, medieval, and modern), and Israel. Its staff have academic backgrounds in these areas. ICS believes that accurate K-12 education is critical to ensuring an informed citizenry and civil society. ICS takes a scholarly, historical approach to Judaism and Jewish history, with a heavy emphasis on primary source documents. ICS believes that key tasks of social studies education include training students to think like historians and preparing them to be informed consumers of information. Part of the work of a historian is to grapple with the messy historical record, which includes a wide range of primary sources. Being an informed consumer means having the ability to apply essential critical thinking skills, including understanding the difference between fact and opinion. In teaching about a topic like the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process, a subject about which many people have strong feelings, teachers have found that ICS’s curriculum and training provide a scholarly, nuanced, and balanced way to teach.

When it comes to teaching about religion, ICS advocates for the application of the same standards of historicity across the board. For example, we contend that it is inappropriate to state that there is no archaeological evidence for the Exodus in one sentence and then to state in the next that Jesus walked on water. We suggest framing religious beliefs as such, e.g., “According to the Hebrew Bible…”and ”According to the Gospels…” ICS believes it is critical to differentiate between religious beliefs and historical facts and to treat all religions with respect and nuance.

Accuracy is a value in itself. At a time when public discourse in America is becoming less committed to accuracy and facts, we think it is all the more important that we study historical documents and ground our understanding of history in them. ICS is non-partisan and does not comment on or endorse particular solutions to conflict. We also welcome diverse points of view and feel that that diversity, which is mirrored in classrooms, enriches everyone’s learning.

ICS’s commitment to accuracy is reflected in teachers’ evaluations of our trainings. 99.5% of teachers who have attended an ICS training would recommend it to a colleague. Teachers repeatedly express appreciation for our approach to difficult topics, our evenhandedness, and our openness to different perspectives and to questions.

We invite you to take a look at our primary source-based curriculum, videos, and other resources. They are freely available on this website.

ICS’s development of curricular resources are guided by, and are in alignment with, state and national standards. ICS looks at state social studies content standards and Frameworks, the national C3 Framework for Social Studies, with a particular focus on Dimension 2: History and Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence.

In addition, ICS resources on teaching about religion are aligned with the Religious Studies Supplement to the C3 Framework (on p. 91 of the Framework). ICS teacher trainings highlight the connections between specific state standards and ICS resources.

ICS offers revenue-neutral professional development to districts across the country. With expert trainer-educators nationwide, ICS works with district education coordinators, directors, superintendents, and other professionals charged with professional development to create a customized training that meets the district’s and teachers’ needs.

Trainings are typically for middle school and high school social studies educators and range between 3 and 6 hours in length. All ICS professional development workshops include historical content aligned with state standards and collaborative experiences that will engage all levels of learners. If you would like to find out more, please contact us.

Yes! ICS operates under the 501c3 status of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council. ICS is responsible for raising 100 percent of the funds for its budget, has a distinct mission, and operates independently in pursuit of that mission.

100% of ICS’s support comes from foundations and individual supporters who share our commitment to ensuring accurate K-12 education on Jewish subjects in public school. Like many of us, ICS supporters are concerned about rising intolerance, bigotry, and antisemitism and view high quality public education as an antidote to hate and prejudice.