Bnei Akiva High Ability Groups

Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and Ulpanot Center is an educational organization for Jewish religious students established in1954. It operates more than 60 institutions, from middle schools to colleges, spread from the North of Israel to Eilat in the South. It has 58 middle and high schools serving 14,772 students, divided in 23 schools for girls and 35 schools for boys. The top educational priority in these schools is religious studies. However, since the majority of children come from families with relatively strong academic and economic backgrounds, parents push for excellence in mathematics and the sciences as well. As a result, in 2020, 25% of the twelfth grade students graduated the five-unit mathematics track.

The pipeline that drives this result relies on high ability groups in middle school, which 50% of the students attend. Nonetheless, in 10^th grade, only 37% of them enroll in the five-unit track and more than 10% drop-down towards twelfth grade. Bnei Akiva believes that the reason for this drop down is insufficient preparation in middle school and lack of excellence classes (only 3% of the students are enrolled in two excellence classes). Therefore, they now plan to strengthen the mathematics foundation of students in high ability groups and to open additional options to learn at a level of excellence in middle school.

The program Bnei Akiva proposes will target all of the students in the current high ability groups, as well as students who will register for 25 new enhanced ability groups that the network will open in 25 schools. Their studies will include high order applied mathematics, based on learning material developed via the foundation’s portfolio, to align with the 5-6 levels of PISA. Bnei Akiva will allocate two additional weekly teaching hours in mathematics for the new enhanced ability groups, on top of the five hours of mathematics all the high ability groups already study every week.

Fifty mathematics teachers who teach these students will participate in two professional learning communities. In the teachers’ communities, they will become familiar with teaching applied mathematics and solving complex real-life problems. An academic institution will coach the communities. During the first year, twenty teachers will receive instructional coaching, since some will be teaching for the first time in enhanced ability groups. The teachers of the high ability groups will implement at least 10 tasks in their classes each year. A pedagogic coordinator will also organize and assist with the teachers’ communities and instructional coaching.

In addition, 35 mathematics department heads will attend a special course in which they will learn how to provide instructional coaching for the teachers in their schools. The school principals will convene in four meetings every year in order to share knowledge and follow up on progress. Bnei Akiva will organize conferences and study days for teachers, department heads and principals to help them create momentum around excellence in mathematics and the sciences, as well as events for parents and students.

The goal is that by 2025, 27% of the middle school students will graduate from enhanced ability groups. The desired outcome is for 75% of these students and those from the high ability groups to succeed on a diagnostic test developed by CET which aligns with the 5-6 proficiency levels of PISA.