In the age old history of traditional Jewish education, the Bais Yaakov concept is relatively new. Yet from its modest beginning in Poland in 1918 and the inspiration of a prophetic Sarah Schenirer, Bais Yaakov has become an integral part of the ever-growing Day School and Seminary movement in America and throughout the Jewish world.

The fi rst Bais Yaakov School outside of New York City was established in Baltimore in 1942, with a kindergarten class of two girls. From its very inception, Baltimore’s Bais Yaakov has been dedicated to the education of Jewish girls from all backgrounds in the Jewish community, in the spirit of fi rm commitment to Torah ideals and observance.

Bais Yaakov is a Jewish girls’ school with a comprehensive academic program, serving students from pre-school through high school. The student body is comprised of girls with varying intellectual, social, and economic backgrounds. Bais Yaakov is committed to meeting the widely varying needs of all its students, recognizing those with special needs by ability grouping, modifi cation of the classroom program, tutorial, remedial, and enrichment programs.

Bais Yaakov seeks to develop the total personality, and to provide its students with opportunities to acquire the social and citizenship skills of the ideal Jewish woman, the mother of tomorrow. The program is devised to provide a well-rounded educational experience that takes into account not only the intellectual, but also the emotional and social development of the students.

Bais Yaakov is dedicated to inculcating in its students an appreciation and love for the tradition of Torah and Halacha (Jewish Law), loyalty to America and respect for its democratic ideals, as well as a love for the land of Israel.

Bais Yaakov subscribes to the educational creed that maximal achievement for each individual is attained when students are intrinsically motivated and embark on a discovery approach to learning. Teachers are to act as facilitators of learning, and it is their function not only to teach specifi c skills, but also to arouse student curiosity and to provide experiences which will lead students to further explore, discover, and analyze. Bais Yaakov’s gauge of its educational success, therefore, can be measured by the degree to which a student is committed to Torah values and to furthering her education after leaving school.