Seminar to Develop a Shared and Aligned Instructional System between 80 Master Teachers and Academic Staff from 8 Teacher Residency Training Programs

In the teacher residency training programs, student teachers are tutored by two different institutions. On the one hand, they gain practical teaching experiences in local schools, closely supervised by master teachers. On the other hand, they study educational theory with the college academic staff. The alignment between them is crucial, so that the teaching students […]

5k Running Race and Workshops to Improve Motivation for Excellence for 40 Mathematics Teachers of 5-units and their Students

To be a truly excellent sportsman requires many hours of practice, effort and investment. Similarly, achieving success in 5-unit mathematics, requires perseverance, exertion, and time. However, while Israeli youth revere excellence in sport, music and physical preparation for military service, and acknowledge the clear connection between investment and achievement; when it comes to high school […]

Television and Internet Campaign on Channel-2 and Mako Targeting Parents of Teenagers to Encourage them to Support their Children’s Efforts to Study Five-Unit Mathematics

One would assume that parents have a reduced influence on children in their teenage years; however, focus groups we conducted in 2012 showed that this is not the case and that parental encouragement and expectations remain very important. A comprehensive study conducted in 2015 by the Ministry of Education reinforces this notion, as it reveals […]

Two Science Education Fellowships in a Prestigious Leadership Program

Leaders of educational organizations operate in a complex eco-system, which can often make it difficult to implement changes and advance new policies, especially if they lack good connections, and expert knowledge of long-term strategic planning. In order to lead system-wide changes, to affect public perception and to turn around nationwide trends, such as the decline […]

Mini-series on Children’s Television Channel to Attract Students to Choose, Persist and Major in the Mathematics and the Science Tracks in High School

In 2015, the Ministry of Education launched a public media campaign titled “Give Five,” encouraging students to choose five-unit tracks in mathematics; and set a national target to double the number of students enrolling in the five-unit track. Indeed, many teachers report that their classes are significantly larger than in the past, but that they […]

Tutoring for 9th and 10th Grade Mathematics Teachers in 25 Schools to Utilize a Data-Driven System to Monitor Student Learning Progress

Here and Now was founded two years ago in order to translate the content and tools of the international Khan Academy project into Hebrew. The Khan Academy project offers video-based tutorials as well as practice-based assignments to allow for more personalized learning. With a seed grant from the Trump Foundation, the advanced mathematics elements in […]

Teaching Development Program to Decrease Dropout Rates in order to Significantly Increase the Number of 5-unit Mathematics and Physics Graduates in Three Years

The Branco Weiss School network was founded 15 years ago to focus on weaker socio-economic populations. Today, it is a small, periphery-based network of 8 fully-owned schools with 7,364 students, and another 4 schools for which they provide pedagogical instruction. Last year 878 students graduated 12th grade, of which 95 (approximately 11%) took the 5-unit […]

Instructional Coaching Training Program for Five Central District Instructors of New Five-Unit High School Mathematics Classes

The Central District, one of eight districts of the Education Ministry, serves 320,000 students of 56 cities and local and regional authorities, and is responsible for 132 high schools which offer upper secondary studies. In 2013, 14,120 of its students participated in the mathematics matriculation, of whom 2,120 (15%) took the advanced five-unit exam and […]

How to Improve Teacher-Parent Collaboration in Supporting Student Learning of Advanced Level Mathematics and Physics – Study Grant

A recent study commissioned by the foundation on the learning experiences of high school students of advanced-level mathematics, pointed to the important role of their teachers and parents. It revealed that parents tend to push their children to select the advanced track, even in cases in which the teacher has recommended otherwise, based on past […]

Student-Centered Communities of Practice and Assessment in Mathematics and the Sciences

Research has established that student-centered teaching, i.e. teaching that caters to the individual needs and capabilities of each student in the classroom, is highly effective but very difficult to practice, particularly in big and heterogeneous classes. Despite being proved significant, there is little professional development and teacher-training and almost no guidance, school support or data-driven […]

Digital Database of Learning Material for the Advanced Tracks of Mathematics and Physics in Upper Secondary School

The database includes videotaped lessons by excellent teachers, assessment tasks, and specific explanations of issues which are typically difficult to learn. It covers curricular content in literacy, civic studies, mathematics and physics. Following the initial success of this enterprise, CET plans to expand the database to be used by students and teachers on a regular […]

Municipal Program in the City of Sakhnin to Increase the Percentage of 5-Unit Mathematics and Physics Matriculation Students by 50% Over Three Years

Sakhnin is a small city of 29,000 residents, located in the Lower Galilee in the Northern District of Israel. The city’s population is Arab, mostly Muslim, with a sizeable Christian minority. There are two public high schools owned by the municipality, which serve approximately 1,500 students. In 2013, 63.6% of the 12th grade students were […]

Study on the Potential for Excellence in Mathematics and Physics in the Haredi School System

The Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox Jewish) community is a minority group in Israel with unique characteristics. Secluding themselves from modern society by choice, the Haredim have traditionally tended not to pursue careers in favor of religious study and thus maintain basic living standards, relying mostly on government subsidies. By holding strong positions in a coalition-based political system, […]

Encouraging the learning of female students in the major of five units of mathematics

Over the last five years, the “Cracking the Glass Ceiling” program has been supporting and empowering female students and their learning, in order to raise the percentage of young women completing high school with a high quality matriculation, including advanced mathematics and a scientific major. The program includes supplemental enrichment activities, such as confidence-building workshops, […]

Pedagogic Solutions to Increase Participation of Female Students in High School Physics and Mathematics Studies – Seed Fund

Preferences for different science majors in upper secondary school seem to comply with a clear gender split. While male students comprise the majority in advanced physics and computer science electives, chemistry and biology classes are filled with predominantly female students. This spit continues to deepen in higher education and the labor market. Student achievements in […]

Seeding a Regional Physics Teaching Center in the Central Galilee

In the rural periphery of Israel, the study of Physics in secondary schools suffers from unique circumstances. Towns and villages are typically small in size, high quality teachers are few and far between, and laboratory equipment is scarce. Under these conditions the emergence of a regional Physics teaching center in the Western Galilee in recent […]

Teaching Assistants in Mathematics and Science

Mathematics and science teachers in Israel teach large, heterogeneous classes. Under these circumstances, diagnosing each individual student’s capabilities and difficulties in real-time and adapting teaching methods accordingly is challenging, even for the most skilled teachers. A consequence of this is that many teachers teach to the average student’s ability, and cannot dedicate the necessary attention […]

Physics Research Projects for High School Students in Yeruham

Physics is a demanding subject which requires high quality and creative teaching in order to attract and retain student interest. The accepted way of teaching Physics in Israeli schools is however very traditional, focusing on ‘chalk, talk and drill’ pedagogy. This method is not very popular both among excelling science students seeking intellectual challenges, and […]

Pedagogical Support Network For Improving Achievements

The study of advanced Mathematics and Physics in Israeli high schools is diminishing. The number of students, who choose to study these subjects for high-level matriculation and perform well, is limited due to a number of factors. One of these factors is that most schools do not set a clear objective to continuously improve their […]