A Municipal Program to Raise the Rate of Graduates of Middle School Excellence Classes

In 2018, the foundation approved a grant to launch a municipal program in Ma’ale Adumim to increase the percentage of five-unit mathematics matriculation graduates from 13% to 20%. In 2019, 15.3% of the students graduated five-unit mathematics. This year, 24% of the twelfth grade students are enrolled in the five-unit mathematics track and the city predicts it will meet the 20% target by the end of this school year.

During the program, professional learning communities were established for both middle and high school teachers. The city has 30 middle school mathematics teachers, some of whom teach only in 7th-9th grades while others teach throughout the six-year continuum. Twenty-two of these teachers participated in a middle school teachers community where they focused on how to create a smooth transition from 9th to 10th grade.

The teachers report that they fully managed to recruit the existing middle school talent. Today, of the 715 students attending 9th grade in seven middle schools in the city, 131 students (18%) are enrolled in four excellence classes in two schools. Therefore, in order to further expand the pipeline, they will now need to add students who would learn at a high level in middle school. These students already study in the high ability group in mathematics, but are not enrolled in a designated excellence class that promotes higher levels of mathematical skills.

Ma’ale Adumim is planning to provide six of these high ability groups with two additional weekly teaching hours in mathematics each (on top of the five hours of mathematics they already study every week) to allow for 150 additional middle school students to learn mathematics at an enhanced level. In collaboration with an academic institution, these groups will study applied mathematics, and focus on high-order mathematical thinking, relying on mathematical models to solve complex real-life problems.

This effort will be supported by professional development for teachers. Twenty teachers will participate in a learning community guided by the academic institution. In addition, ten department heads will attend a course in which they will learn how to provide instructional coaching to the teachers in their schools. The school principals will meet routinely to share knowledge and the municipality will organize collaborative activities, such as events for students.

The end goal of this endeavor is that within three years, the graduation rate from middle school excellence classes and high ability groups in mathematics will increase to 40%. In addition, 80% of the graduates of the excellence classes and high ability groups will succeed on a diagnostic tool, administered at the end of 9th grade, which is aligned with the top 5-6 levels of the PISA tests.

* The text  above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 432