National nonprofit providing free K-12 curriculum, textbook editing, and professional development for educators on Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history; based in Berkeley, California.
The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) is a national nonprofit, founded in 2005, dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 education on Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history in the United States. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, the 501(c)(3) organisation operates nationwide, providing professional learning and instructional resources to K-12 educators across the country. It was founded as an initiative of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and is majority funded by donations and grants.
ICS produces free, standards-supporting K-12 instructional materials covering topics including Ancient Israel, European Antisemitism, Jewish Americans, Jewish Immigration, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, environmental challenges in the Middle East, and religious literacy. Its work spans curriculum development, textbook editing and review, professional development for educators, and the design of standards-supporting instructional resources. The organisation also collaborates with textbook publishers to improve social studies content on Jewish subjects.
Educator professional learning is delivered through live virtual workshops, self-paced online courses, and summer institutes. ICS is a member of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium and partners with institutions including the Library of Congress. Its activities sit at the intersection of K-12 education, education publishing, Jewish education, and religious literacy.
