Case Study Series Documenting the Trump Foundation’s Activity in Middle School

The Trump Foundation was established in 2011 to support Israel’s education system in expanding the circle of excellence in mathematics and science in secondary schools. In its early years, the foundation focused on high schools, aiming to increase the number of students graduating with five units of study in mathematics and physics. Once this effort gained traction and demonstrated measurable success, the foundation shifted its activity to middle schools, with the goal of strengthening, expanding, and diversifying the foundations of excellence across the education system.

Our roadmap for middle schools centered on developing challenging instructional materials aligned with international standards, particularly those based on PISA’s conceptual framework and applied mathematics. In collaboration with municipalities, school networks, and districts, hundreds of new excellence classes were established across the country, and thousands of teachers underwent professional development to equip them to effectively implement these new learning tasks in their classrooms.

When the initiative reached approximately 25% of schools in Israel, the Ministry of Education decided to adopt and scale it nationwide, declaring it would change the national middle school curriculum and establish an excellence track known as “High-Tech Matriculation.” This process unfolded during a time of significant challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic, through frequent changes in government, to the ongoing war. In such a turbulent period, the importance of promoting excellence in the public sphere became even more apparent, as did the value of cross-sector collaboration in both education and philanthropy.

Now, as we mark 15 years of the foundation’s activity, we propose commissioning a new series of case studies, authored by external experts, to document and reflect on the foundation’s work in middle schools. These studies will examine the foundation’s role in the following key areas:

• Development of innovative instructional materials aligned with international standards
• Professional development and training teachers in applied mathematics
• Establishment of excellence classes through partnerships with municipalities, school networks, and districts
• Plan the “High-Tech Matriculation” track
• Influence on national education policy to promote excellence
• Strengthen the cultural value of excellence in Israeli society
• Contribution to the philanthropic landscape in Israel
• Engagement of excellence-track students in advancing social and community values
• Effectiveness as a convener, connector, and network-builder
• Response of the foundation’s during the COVID-19 crisis, the period of social instability, and the war

Each case study will be written by a subject-matter expert and span approximately 20–30 pages. The foundation will appoint a project coordinator to oversee the writing and editorial process and prepare the case studies for publication as a book in Hebrew. The book will be published in an open-access digital format, and printed copies will be distributed to the foundation’s partners. The contents of the case studies, in both Hebrew and English, will also be made available to members of the International Advisory Council in preparation for their discussions in November 2026.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 632