Inspired by Purpose

Hidden Sparks Founded. Debbie Niderberg, Executive Director forms Educational Leadership team comprised of Claire Wurtzel, Dr. Rona Novick and Esther Kramer. (See biographies under Our Team.)2006: Hidden Sparks roles out a school-based teacher training and coaching initiative, launched as a pilot in seven yeshivot and Jewish day schools in the New York area. Now named the External Coach Program, each 5 year cycle enables up to eight schools to participate in this particular program.

Hidden Sparks roles out a school-based teacher training and coaching initiative, launched as a pilot in seven yeshivot and Jewish day schools in the New York area. Now named the External Coach Program, each 5 year cycle enables up to eight schools to participate in this particular program.

Hidden Sparks launched its Internal Coach Program (ICP) to cultivate school-based coaches and help build capacity within schools. These “internal coaches” are trained in the Hidden Sparks approach of understanding and behavior and receive ongoing support from Hidden Sparks Educational Directors and mentors. Internal Coaches work with teams of Judaic and general studies teachers and become resident experts in teaching to diverse learners. In addition, Hidden Sparks initiated the School Change Administrative Leadership Endeavor (SCALE) program for principals of ICP schools. This program, which ran for two cycles, provided a condensed overview of the Hidden Sparks training, and is now being incorporated in school-based workshops.Hidden Sparks roles out a school-based teacher training and coaching initiative, launched as a pilot in seven yeshivot and Jewish day schools in the New York area. Now named the External Coach Program, each 5 year cycle enables up to eight schools to participate in this particular program.

Hidden Sparks, in partnership with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, expands into additional New-York yeshivot with the support of a grant from UJA-Federation of New York’s Caring Commission. In addition, Hidden Sparks Without Walls (HSWOW), a webinar series serving teachers in Jewish day schools across North America was launched.

2009: Hidden Sparks partnered with Boston’s Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, with funding from the Ruderman Family Foundation, to introduce the Hidden Sparks professional development model in seven day schools and yeshivot in Boston. Hidden Sparks also partnered with The Churchill School to produce an innovative “Learning Lenses” curriculum and were awarded a multi-year grant from the Milstein Family Foundation.

2010: Hidden Sparks was awarded the prestigious Covenant Signature Grant for excellence in Jewish education, to support expansion of Hidden Sparks into additional cities and to help support the creation of a Judaic Studies curriculum. This funding fostered partnerships with SHEMESH in Baltimore and REACH in Chicago to bring Hidden Sparks programs to local area schools. Also in 2010, Hidden Sparks partnered with Catapult Learning and Higher Schools to provide Hidden Sparks coaching and workshops through the federal Title Funding program.

2011: Hidden Sparks’ signature Learning Lenses curriculum was completed, and since then Hidden Sparks offers this training multiple times annually in New York, and since 2015, in Israel too.

2013: Hidden Sparks launched HSWOW Parent Connection, for parents of children in Jewish day schools across North America with a grant from the Leo Oppenheimer and Flora Oppenheimer Haas Foundation. In addition, the Judaic Studies curriculum was completed, a collaborative project between Hidden Sparks educators and experts in the field.

2014: Hidden Sparks rolled out the first Blended Learning Lenses Course (a combination of in-person and online learning) and established a School Leaders program for administrators. The same year, a grant from the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York supported an expansion on the HSWOW Parent Connection program. In addition, a partnership with the Israeli Society for Advancement in Education enabled Hidden Sparks to bring its professional development programs to schools in Ramle and Jerusalem.

2015: Hidden Sparks initiated an enhanced Internal Coach Training Program with support from the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation. The program offers select Internal Coaches the opportunity to receive a stipend as they participate in school-based mentoring and ongoing professional development opportunities beyond their first year of training. In addition, Hidden Sparks is planning the expansion of its programs in Israel with the support of a grant from Tmura: The Israel Public Service Fund.

In collaboration with the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Hidden Sparks brought the Internal Coach Program to all five Jewish day schools and Yeshivot in the Boca Raton area. In addition, the collaboration with the Society for Advancement in Jewish Education deepened, and Hidden Sparks became active in five schools in 3 Israeli cities- Jerusalem, Ramle and Ra’anana.

2017 was an exciting year for Hidden Sparks as we were recognized by Slingshot for a 5th year and as our programs in Israel grew to include 9 schools in five cities. It was one of our busiest summers, running our own courses in NY and Israel, and providing a range of professional development opportunities to local yeshiva educators in partnership with the Jewish Education Project.

This year, Hidden Sparks was certified to provide continuing education credits by the New York State Department of Education, and the Ministry of Education in Israel. In addition, Hidden Sparks Without Walls saw record participation with over 800 attendees.

In 2019, Hidden Sparks received grants from the Avi Chai Foundation and the Center for Initiative in Jewish Education, among others, which allowed it to present five Learning Lenses courses over the summer, reaching 150 educators in NY, NJ, Miami, Atlanta and Israel.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and day school need, Hidden Sparks launched a Social-Emotional Learning Initiative, offering training to hundreds of educators across the country, in addition to its teacher training and coaching programs.

During the pandemic, Hidden Sparks expanded its national virtual coaching offerings and ran a virtual conference for teachers across the country on the topic of “Nourishing Ourselves, Nourishing Our Students.”

In 2022, with the support of the UJA-Federation of NY, Hidden Sparks launched a Differentiated Instruction training initiative.  Novel in its scope in addressing both general studies and Judaic studies subjects, the 2-day training was also designed to be presented in modules. Reception was overwhelming and the training was brought to schools around the country in addition to related collaborations with  the Jewish Education Project in NY, Prizmah, and Herzog Global in Israel.