Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative 2022-23 Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT

3 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

A year full of exciting surprises

6 INNOVATION & PROGRESS Programs bolster teachers, students, partners, and communities

10 DEVELOPMENT Financial support through generous gifts and prestigious grants

11 LOOKING AHEAD

This is just the start

ABOUT THE ANNUAL REPORT

The Annual Report for the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative and the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State provides an overview of their progress during the preceding fiscal year with an eye to the future.

ON THE COVER Initiative Director Boaz Dvir welcomes 30 teachers from 15 states to a week-long institute in June. The program is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Fiscal Year 2022-23 full of exciting surprises

Few emails spawn a lifelong memory. In 2022, one such correspondence popped up in the Initiative’s inbox. It came from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) official. He requested to meet with us via Zoom to discuss the federal agency’s decision regarding our teacher-training grant application.

The invitation spurred mixed feelings. On one hand, we anticipated rejection. We heard from experienced colleagues around the country that the NEH tends to turn down first-time applicants. On the other, we felt encouraged by the meeting invitation. The agency, we speculated, must have seen potential in our “Making Holocaust and Genocide Education Relevant Through Inquiry and Classroom Application” proposal. The official, we thought, probably wanted to give us feedback and urge us to reapply the following year.

So, when he quickly got to the point during our Zoom meeting, we needed a minute to process it.

The agency awarded us the grant.

It approved our full requested amount—$190,000.

This was just one of several exciting surprises in the 2022-23 fiscal year, including:

• A $5 million pledge by Penn State alumni Vic and Dena Hammel to endow the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State and create the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative.

• Data showing our pilot-year professional learning’s extremely positive impact. We knew that even during our very first year, our programs would greatly help K-12 educators and students. But we were pleasantly surprised to see just how effective they were out of the gate.

• A trailblazing partnership—led by Initiative affiliate faculty Hollie Kulago, an associate professor at Penn State’s College of Education, and Logan Rutten, an Initiative education program specialist—with the Navajo Nation. Although we had been collaborating and planning with the Department of Diné Education since 2021, we were still pinching ourselves to have the opportunity in 2022-23 to support Navajo Nation teachers.

• Repeat “customers.” After finishing our rigorous, yearlong 2021-2022 program, nearly half of our Red Lion Area School District participants went on to complete a second yearlong program in 2022-23. They did so to dive deeper into this pedagogical work and create opportunities for their students earlier in the school year.

• Penn State alumnus Jordan Rednor’s incredible hospitality. We had no doubt Jordan would do an excellent job hosting our June event at the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Aspen, Colorado. But he went above and beyond in every way, clearing three full days from his busy schedule running the Roaring Fork Broadcasting Company and serving as Decoded Advertising’s COO to join our meetings with local leaders.

• Vic Hammel and former Penn State trustee Elliott Weinstein’s increased activity. They’ve been working closely with us for years. But in 2022-23, they stepped up their game, elevating key aspects of our efforts, including outreach and fundraising. Maybe this did not surprise as much as it amazed us.

As if to come full circle, we spent the very last week of the 2022-23 fiscal year hosting 30 5th-12th-grade Holocaust teachers from around the country as part of our five-month NEH-grant program.

The teachers, with whom we spent June 25-28 on Penn State’s University Park campus and June 29-30 in Philadelphia, impressed us with their hard work and dedication to improving how they teach the Holocaust.

We could not think of a better way to conclude such a terrific fiscal year.

We wonder: What exciting surprises does 2023-24 hold for us?

Boaz Dvir

INNOVATION PROGRESS

In 2022-23, the Initiative made considerable progress toward improving K-12 education by creating and delivering an innovative approach to difficult-topic professional development (PD) that incorporates the latest research. Some of the achievements include:

IN PENNSYLVANIA

• Quintupling the number of Pennsylvania school district partnerships

º Went from one in its pilot year to five in 2022-23

º Constructed six customized, yearlong programs

• Expanding the partnership with the Red Lion Area School District

º Doubled the number of cohorts

º Nearly half of the pilot-year participants joined and completed a second year of Initiative training

º Customized the program at the district level with Red Lion leaders

º Conducted research about the program to boost its efficacy

» Collected data

» Interviewed participants and district leaders

» Observed participants teaching difficult topics in their classrooms

» Data showed strong, positive impact

• Securing reauthorization to provide Act 48 professional development credits to Pennsylvania teachers

• Disseminating the Trauma-Informed Practice online module

º Helped educators identify and cope with trauma among their students, themselves and colleagues

º Awarded Act 48 credits to hundreds of Pennsylvania educators who have completed the module

º Studied the module’s efficacy

º Received positive feedback as well as suggestions for further improvement

º Worked to implement changes and continued to seek ways to strengthen this offering

• Starting to create the content for the Initiative’s second online module

• Writing its first research paper

º Submitted it to a peer-reviewed journal

º The data showed strong impact

• Presenting its research at three Pennsylvania conferences

º “Supporting Pennsylvania teachers in navigating difficult topics,” Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE), Harrisburg

º “Insights from four Pennsylvania school districts,” SAS Institute Conference of the Pennsylvania Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit 5, Hershey

º “Supporting educators in challenging times,” Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (PASCD), Hershey

• The Initiative’s founding director, Boaz Dvir, testified in front of the Pennsylvania state Senate Education Committee about boosting the effectiveness of professional learning to help with teacher retention

The work is immediately applicable … it has emboldened me to try things that I would not try.

— Wendy Smith, 5th grade teacher, Red Lion Area School District

BEYOND PENNSYLVANIA

• Launching a partnership the Navajo Nation’s Department of Diné Education (DODE)

º Offered a year-long training program for Navajo Nation educators in Arizona

º Worked closely with Indigenous education researcher Hollie Kulago, a Penn State associate professor of education and an Initiative affiliate faculty

• Winning a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant

º Put out a call for applications

º Selected 30 participants from 15 states

º Hosted a weeklong institute for the 30 participants in University Park and Philadelphia

• Forging new collaborations across the nation:

º Built a New Jersey partnership

» Collaborated with Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District

» Supported by the NJ Department of Education’s Holocaust Commission

» Planned a 2023-24 program for Egg Harbor educators

º Set up and planed a 2023-24 program for South Carolina teachers

» Worked closely with the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust

» Joined forces with Gratz College

PROGRAMS

Curwensville

Interboro

Keystone Central National Endowment for the Humanities

Navajo Nation

PENNCREST

Reading

Red Lion

South Carolina

7 Initiative staff

2 graduate students

14 Initiative affiliated faculty

PRESS

8 articles (outside media)

10

Penn State news pieces

This collaboration has been so valuable. Investing into our own professional learning ultimately does trickle down to the students and helps promote their sense of belonging, their empathy, their respect.

— Victoria DeLuca, Assistant Principal, Reading School District

DEVELOPMENT

Philanthropic engagement and grant support have inspired innovation while creating invaluable partnerships that have highlighted the importance of the work. These are some of the partnerships, grants and gifts that supported the Initiative in 2022-23:

• Raising more than $5 million from individual donors and foundations

º Secured the permanent endowment for the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative and created of the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative

º Tripled the number of overall contributors

• Applying for and receiving two Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) grants

º One grant ($500,000) helped the Initiative provide in-person and hybrid PD to Pennsylvania educators over two years

º The second grant ($400,000) assisted the Initiative in designing, building, testing, improving, and disseminating online PD modules

• Winning the prestigious, $190,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH)

LOOKING AHEAD

Although the Initiative is proud of its progress and achievements, leadership and staff know this is just the start of a transformational educational program. At the Initiative, the eye is always on the future and here are some of the plans for 2023-24:

• Training educators in seven Pennsylvania school districts

• Facilitating a second year of supporting Navajo Nation educators

• Launching four new programs outside Pennsylvania

º A partnership with the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust

º A partnership with Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District in New Jersey

º A partnership with Aspen School District in Colorado

º A partnership Samford University

• Offering the first nationwide program, a partnership with the NEH

• Offering a workshop as part of Penn State’s Readiness Institute for high school students

30 educators joined NEH