Be’er Sheva aims to increase the number of middle school students enrolled in excellence classes to at least 40% by 2022.
The city-based partnership in Be’er Sheva to increase the study of five units in mathematics is bearing fruit. From 5.4% of the 12th grade graduates in 2012, the city tripled the five-unit graduation rate in 2018 to 15.7%. The rate of physics students graduating five-units gradually improved during the program, to 11.5% in 2018. The city reports that the upward trend is continuing, and currently 20% of their tenth grade students are enrolled in five-unit mathematics.
However, it seems that Be’er Sheva will not be able to maintain its success, and go beyond the current achievement. The municipality reports on a bottleneck in middle school, as only 22% of the 7th-9th grade students attend excellence classes. There are doubts whether their knowledge base and skill level would be sufficient and if the current instruction would prepare them to reach high levels of mathematical thinking and application.
Therefore, the municipality intends to open more opportunities for excellence in middle school, while raising the bar of knowledge and skill level. Today, 9 of the middle schools in the city operate excellence classes, and the goal now is to open 16 more classes. These new classes will begin in 8th grade, in order to allow for as many 7th grade students to prepare. By that, Be’er Sheva wishes to expand the number of students completing such classes successfully from 22% to at least 40%.
Each such class will receive additional 4 teaching hours a week. The content will be upgraded as well, focusing on high levels of mathematical thinking and its applications in science. In order to implement such content, which will be provided by an academic institution, the teachers will have to go through intense professional development, including individual instructional coaching and clinical work in professional learning communities. In addition, the municipality will prepare 10 more mathematics and 5 more physics teachers to teach in these excellence classes.
Each school will assign one of the teachers the role of an “excellence coordinator”, to facilitate collection and analysis of data on student progress and engaging the school staff. The school principals will be invited to a professional forum, where the focus of work will be on pedagogical, organizational and mental aspects of promoting excellence in mathematics and the sciences.