A new analysis of data on Jewish college students is furnishing fresh evidence of the efficacy of Jewish day schools in instilling a connection to Jewish identity and practice and to Israel.

Reviewing a three-year study of Jewish college students conducted by Eitan Hersh of Tufts University, Odelia Epstein, the director of knowledge, research and data at Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, found that alumni of Jewish day schools are more connected to and engaged with Judaism and Israel compared with peers who did not attend Jewish day schools. They are significantly more likely to say their Jewish identity is important, to attend Jewish programming on campus and to report feeling connected to the Jewish community and to Israel. 

“These findings strongly suggest that Jewish day schools contribute to fostering a lifelong commitment to Jewish life and values. At a time when college campuses are often arenas of tension for Jewish students, this evidence provides a compelling case for Jewish day school education as a means of ensuring a vibrant committed Jewish future,” Epstein wrote in the study, which was published this week.

These disparities between day school alumni and non-day school alumni generally remained consistent regardless of the denomination of the student, though day school alumni from an Orthodox background reported the highest levels of Jewish engagement and identity, according to the study.

In Hersh’s study — which was performed in partnership with College Pulse and with funding from the Jim Joseph Foundation — 1,006 Jewish college students were surveyed, of whom 220 attended Jewish day school. Of the day school respondents, 90 grew up Orthodox and 130 respondents identified as growing up Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, “Just Jewish” or other. The respondents did not report for how long they attended Jewish day schools, if it was for their entire K-12 education or just part of it, so for the purposes of the Prizmah study, alumni refers to anyone who reported attending a Jewish day school.

While there is evidence of greater interest in Jewish day schools — particularly following the rise in antisemitism over the past year and a half — the primary practical obstacles to greater enrollment remain in place: high tuition and geographic distance. 

According to the study, a large majority of Jewish day school alumni — 81% — reported that their Jewish identity was “very important” to them, compared to 35% of non-day school alumni. The plurality of non-day school respondents — 44% — said their Jewish identity was “somewhat” important to them. 

A majority of day school alumni — 61% — said they “very much” feel a connection to Israel, nearly four times more than their peers who did not attend Jewish day schools, 16% of whom reported the same level of connection to Israel.

On the topic of connection to Israel, a clear difference can be seen between Jewish day school alumni from an Orthodox background and from a non-Orthodox background. Eighty percent of those from Orthodox families reported feeling a strong connection to Israel, compared to 49% of those from non-Orthodox backgrounds. 

Day school graduates regardless of background were also significantly more likely to participate in Jewish events on campus weekly (56%) compared to their non-day school alumni peers (23%).