Grants and Contracts Details
Description
In April 2021, the Anti-Defamation League reported that in 2020 Kentucky experienced “the
highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the state” since the ADL began reporting such
events in 1979. In this era of rising anti-Semitism and misinformation, the Commonwealth
urgently needs greater education about both the Holocaust and how to combat anti-Semitism.
In 2018, the Kentucky State legislature recognized this need and unanimously passed the Ann
Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act mandating Holocaust education in Kentucky
middle and high schools. However, Kentuckians who identify as Jewish make up less than 1% of
the state’s population—about 10,000 people clustered mainly in Louisville, Lexington, and
Paducah. Not surprisingly, most Kentuckians are not personally acquainted with Jewish people,
nor do most children encounter Jewish children in school. Given Kentucky’s unique
circumstances, the 2018 Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act must be
implemented with care, so that Kentuckians’ first introduction to Jewish culture, heritage, and
religious practices is not solely through the lens of the Holocaust and its survivors. To ensure
pedagogically sound state-mandated Holocaust Education, University of Kentucky Jewish
Studies faculty propose a pilot professional development education initiative to collaborate
with and train Kentucky high school and middle school teachers to develop and teach this vital
curriculum, first in Fayette County Public Schools and then across the Commonwealth.
To design and implement this Holocaust Education Initiative, UK Jewish Studies Faculty will
work with key partners: Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) middle school English language
arts and high school social studies teachers and the UK Center for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning (CELT) to create high-quality middle and high school Holocaust curriculum to be used
across the Commonwealth. This initiative builds on UK’s history as a leader in Holocaust
education, dating back to 1979 when Prof. Jeremy Popkin introduced one of the first college
level Holocaust history courses in the country, and our more recent experiences training future
teachers enrolled in education programs at UK. On October 13, 2021, UK Jewish Studies and UK
College of Education faculty collaborated with FCPS teachers to develop and implement a
Holocaust education workshop for 44 future high school and middle school teachers currently
enrolled in the Masters in Certification and Middle School education programs at UK. The
workshop’s success led to a commitment from both UK Jewish Studies and College of Education
Faculty to continue the workshop annually in the fall semester to allow student teachers to be
trained prior to entering FCPS classrooms in the spring semester. With the parallel Holocaust
educator initiatives aimed at future teachers trained at UK and across the Commonwealth, UK
Jewish Studies is poised to create a national model for exemplary Holocaust teacher training.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 12/1/21 → 8/31/23 |
Funding
- Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence: $47,119.00
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