Training Program for Mathematics Department Heads to Lead 20 Secondary Schools to Increase the 5-unit Mathematics Graduation Rate by 30%
ORT is Israel’s largest school network, which had traditionally specialized in vocational education, however in recent decades it has shifted its focus towards mathematics, the sciences and technology. The network includes 77 secondary schools and in the current school year 52 of these schools have offered 5-unit mathematics classes, resulting in 9% of its 12th grade students who matriculated with mathematics major. These numbers are far from satisfying the network’s leaders, who are planning a series of steps, such as individual contracts for excellent teachers; providing additional teaching hours; shorter feedback loops, monitoring of students’ progress, and more. As part of this overarching effort, the network has turned to the foundation to assist in upgrading the professional performance of its mathematics department heads in schools. While every school principal appoints a mathematics department head from among its teachers, the network reports that many of them lack the necessary skills to lead the mathematics team, both from the pedagogic and the organizational perspective. They tend to work in isolation from one another and to concentrate on administrative and scheduling issues, rather than focusing on pedagogic tasks such as mentoring teachers how to diagnose their students difficulties, as well as constructing procedures and routines regarding dropout from the 5-unit track.ORT therefore proposes a training program for department heads, who will be selected from 20 schools, in which at least 8% of students have studied 5-unit mathematics for the past three years, and where department heads teach the 5-unit level. The trainees will receive pedagogic support from one of the Trump Foundation’s University-based programs at Weizmann, the Technion or Haifa. They will comprise a learning community, which will be tutored by ORT experts, whose goal would be to enhance their pedagogic and organizational expertise. The learning community will convene 3 times a year for a full-day seminar as well as virtually on an ongoing basis. In addition, the participants will receive individual instructional coaching by three master teachers, to be performed 14 times over a period of two years. In these coaching sessions, the master teachers will assist each department head individually, by observing them during staff meetings, analyzing the manner in which they enlist the principals to lead the program, and help them in monitoring their progress towards the goals.
The goal of the program would be to increase the number of students of 5-unit mathematics in these 20 schools by 30%. The program will gradually scale up from ten schools in the first year to an additional ten in the second year. It is anticipated that ORT will further expand the program to all of its eligible schools as of the third and fourth year of the program.