The 2022 results of the PISA test in mathematics revealed a decline of 32% in the number of excelling female students in Israel (in comparison to an 11% increase among male students). This downturn among Israeli female students correlates with similar trends in other Western countries following the COVID-19 pandemic. We assume this decline is […]
Since the lockdowns of schools during the pandemic in 2020, we have witnessed a decline in performance among female students at the highest levels of the PISA assessment in mathematics. This decline correlates with reports of higher levels of stress and anxiety, and a decrease in self-confidence and efficacy among female students. Since the war […]
How to prepare the young generation for an era of machine learning and artificial intelligence is now the new burning issue for education systems around the world. Still in their infancy, several countries are already rolling out rapid steps to start teaching these new innovative topics. Their emerging curricula cover relevant content, skills and values […]
In June 2020, the foundation approved a grant to the Branco Weiss Institute for a program to implement applied mathematics assignments in 240 middle school excellence classes and high ability groups in the Central District. When implementation of the program began, there was a huge demand for it from Hebrew-speaking schools. This year, 500 teachers […]
The turnaround over the past few years in the number of high school graduates of the five-unit tracks in mathematics and the sciences has been a result of a special combination of government policy, academic R&D and teaching practice. Many players across the Israeli spectrum have joined hands to ignite momentum and create a supportive […]
Israel’s National Security agencies are now building a cyber-security and warfare capacity which would allow them to monitor computer communications, to defend national infrastructure from computer hacking, and so forth. This endeavor is expected to have a ripple effect on many elements of life in Israel. For example, alumni of these agencies would have the […]
Israel relies on exceptional human talent, that led the creation of a remarkable science-based tech economy. For many parents and children in Israel, fulfilling “the Israeli dream” has meant graduating high school with five units in mathematics, serving in an elite army intelligence tech unit, studying engineering at university, and then finding a lucrative R&D […]
In 2022, female students comprised 50.1% of the high school graduates from the five-unit track in mathematics. This marked a significant milestone after years of substantial efforts to reduce gender gaps, resulting in female students constituting a slight majority for the first time. This improvement was intentional, as many high achievers in the four-unit track […]
The results of PISA 2022 revealed large gaps between students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, 19.2% of students from families in the top third of the socioeconomic scale achieved a top-performing score (levels 5-6), compared to only 1.8% of students from the lowest income third. These substantial gaps have placed Israel in an […]
Bnei Akiva is a veteran religious school network in Israel, founded in 1954. The network includes 58 secondary schools serving more than 20,000 students. Studies are separate for girls and boys, who learn in gender-based institutions. In the 22 schools for girls, at 8th and 9th grades, there are 3,000 students, of whom 660 (22%) […]
Every school grade in Israel comprises approximately 140,000 students, of whom about 30,000 are Arabic-speaking students. In the 2012 PISA cycle, only 0.5% of them reached the top levels (5-6) of performance, representing about 150 students in total. Additionally, 3% (~900) of the Arabic-speaking students achieved the medium level 4, representing the future potential pool […]
Amit is the second largest network of schools in Israel, serving mainly religious Jewish students. Thirty-two thousand students attend its secondary schools, including almost 15,000 female students, studying in separate, single-gender, or mixed education frameworks. The network is a veteran partner of the foundation in doubling the rate of its graduates of the five-unit track […]
The 2022 PISA results of Arabic-speaking students in mathematics are 98 points lower than those of Hebrew-speaking students (according to the OECD, every 20 points reflect a gap of one school year). This gap has slightly reduced from 111 points in the 2018 cycle of the study. Nevertheless, when zooming in on high achieving students […]
The war caught the Israeli school system in a vulnerable condition. A growing shortage of teachers, a toxic relationship between government and the unions, and frequent turnover at the Ministry of Education, all contributed to a general ineffectiveness. These factors are exacerbated by the long-term consequences of COVID and the judicial reform, leading to severe […]
When the foundation embarked on its middle school strategy in 2019, we turned to ‘Sheatufim’ to create a coalition of stakeholders to support the effort. Relying on the success of a previous joint effort that concentrated on five units in high school, Sheatufim initiated the formation of a network of partners. Using the “Collective Impact” […]
“It’s Time for Education” is the largest digital education magazine in Israel, with a subscription base of more than 60,000 educators. Established and operated by the Trump Foundation since 2014, the magazine provides educational content for and by teachers on a weekly basis. It includes best practices of teaching, research-based pedagogical methods, as well as […]
Meytiv Center for Positive Psychology is an expert in growth mindset and development of cognitive resilience among teachers and students. Meytiv is a veteran partner of the foundation, with numerous joint programs along the years for students and teachers of mathematics and physics. It is also a close partner of the Ministry of Education, and […]
The Center for Educational Technology (CET) is among the first grantee partners of the Trump Foundation. In 2012, CET created the “Virtual High School”, that allowed high school students in the periphery to study mathematics and physics at the five units level. Since then, CET has been collaborating with the foundation in many programs, including […]
As a result of the war, there is a risk that many high school students, who were preparing towards the five-unit matriculation in computer science, will drop out. This risk is imminent, since computer science is typically chosen as a second (optional) major, and the learning process requires continuous practice and ongoing preparation of assignments, […]
The Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem hosts 170,000 visitors every year, of which 70,00 are school students. Students visit the museum as part of their science curriculum, to experience hands on engagement with exhibits and labs. When the war started, the museum staff volunteered on an individual basis in various locations. Now, the museum contacted […]
Over the last seven years, the foundation has been partnering with Bar Ilan University, to develop scenarios, scripts, and simulations for mathematics teachers. Hundreds of teachers participated in professional development workshops, using these simulations, to enhance their teaching practices. The workshops concentrated on the development of growth mindsets, techniques for implementing applied mathematics tasks in […]
Over the past 10 years, the foundation has invited the publication of a series of books on quality teaching together with the Branco Weiss Institute. The 15 books that have been published so far include translated Hebrew versions of innovative studies on education by renowned scholars from around the world, and two edited books with […]
The Schwartz Reisman Science Education network is a philanthropic initiative of a Jewish Canadian family, in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute. The network established seven science centers, offering formal studies of physics and chemistry to high school students in Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion, Rehovot, Kfar Saba, Akko, Jerusalem and Netivot. The Center in Netivot teaches […]
The city of Sderot in southern Israel is home to 35,000 residents. Hamas terrorists infiltrated the city on October 7th, causing numerous casualties and leading to a complete evacuation of the city. Before the war, the city operated two high schools, both run by the Amit School Network, a secular school with 1,300 students, and […]
Back in 2012, the foundation approached the Weizmann Institute to create a framework for operating professional learning communities (PLCs) for physics teachers across the country. The idea was to encourage the teachers to embrace student-centered teaching approaches and to sharpen their professional expertise together. Three hundred teachers participate in these PLCs every year. As of […]
Education during wartime requires creativity and perseverance. Teachers, therapists, and volunteers found themselves thrown into an abnormal reality, confronting enormous challenges and trying to create order in a hectic situation. This involves establishing learning groups at evacuee centers, reusing physical spaces as temporary schools, combining professional staff with volunteers, integrating trauma specialists, providing online learning, […]
The Community Stress Prevention Center (CSPC) was established in 1981 by Professor Mooli Lahad, to serve as a frontline trauma treatment center in Northern Israel. Mooli Lahad is a world-renowned expert in psychotrauma and the founding president of the International Stress Prevention Center. In consultation with the Ministry of Education’s psychology unit, we approached CSPC […]
In January 2023, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the University of Haifa, embarked on a three-year process of adapting the national mathematics curriculum in middle school. The Ministry was convinced that alongside its traditional focus on procedural fluency and abstract thinking, the curriculum should also include applied modelling and reasoning skills. A joint […]
The City of Haifa is home to 300,000 residents, of which 20,000 are secondary school students. In 2012, the municipality partnered with the foundation to increase graduation rates of the five units track in mathematics, leading to a growth from 16% in 2013 to 24.5% in 2022. In middle school, the municipality operates 51 excellence […]
After the October 7th attack, approximately 25,000 residents of Israel’s southern and northern borders were evacuated to Jerusalem. They were removed from their homes, staying in 51 hotels and guest houses, now for more than two and a half months. They are facing enormous challenges in all areas of life, receiving assistance from government authorities […]
