School-Based Coaching Program to Increase Graduation Rates of Five-Unit Mathematics in Six Schools in Israel’s Social Periphery
For the past decade, Israeli schools, especially those in the periphery, have focused on increasing the percentage of students eligible for matriculation. To fulfil this goal, they devoted effort and attention to helping weak students, diversifying teaching methods, encouraging motivation and improving general management capacities. Now, as the target is shifting towards expanding excellence in the five-unit tracks, there is a growing need for new toolsets in schools.
We have learned from conversations with school principals in the periphery, that they are concerned that the potential for five-unit students in their schools is limited. They claim that when students arrive in high school, the knowledge gap is already too wide and their learning skills and habits are insufficient. They report that their schools are flooded with intervention programs operated by external bodies that pull in different directions. They find it difficult to lead and manage, as over the years they have been controlled from the outside, without cultivating their own capacity and responsibility.
When seeking how to help school principals address this issue, we approached Kol Israel Haverim – Alliance (KIAH). KIAH is a veteran organization in Israel’s education scene that runs teacher training, operates schools, and in the past decade, has acted as a consultant to more than 90 schools, specifically in the social periphery. KIAH specializes in supporting professional development of the school educational staff, while assisting the school principal in creating management routines and a supportive organizational culture. KIAH is a repeat grantee of the foundation, proving high levels of commitment and execution.
In response to our approach, KIAH is now proposing a package of support services to help periphery schools develop an organizational culture of excellence. It will be tailor-made for each school, and will include organizational consultancy, instructional coaching and expertise in mathematics teaching at the five-unit level. It will include components such as data tools, setting goals and measures, instruments for monitoring and feedback in schools, fostering teamwork, and integrating management routines.
The program proposes to operate for three years on a pilot testing mode in six schools in the social periphery of Israel. Participating schools will have successfully raised their matriculation rate over the years and will express an enthusiasm to raise the quality of the matriculation certificates. In the first stage of the program, KIAH will collect and analyze detailed data about the teaching and learning of mathematics in each of the six schools. A select group of teachers will be chosen and trained, focusing on clinical teaching methods, and how to monitor student progress.
In a second stage, the teaching staff will meet monthly to develop together a coherent instructional system for the ninth through eleventh grades. The principal and the school’s management team will integrate the new pedagogic approach, school goals, supplementary teaching hours and professional development, with help and support from KIAH. Throughout the program, data on student progress will be continuously shared with all the participants, in order to allow for mid-course corrections.