In the past few years the foundation created partnerships with 25 municipalities that targeted excellence in mathematics and science education. Each municipality collected and analyzed its data, defined goals, invested resources and organized its teams accordingly. The foundation helped with professional development for the teachers and management support for the heads of education and […]
The foundation’s roadmap in middle schools requires an effective organization within the schools. Schools need raise the bar, open more opportunities for excellence, develop teaching capacities, implement mangement routines, collect data, engage the staff and smooth the transition to high school. The ultimate goal is to create pathways to excellence for at least 40% of […]
Many teachers find it difficult to determine if their students are fully prepared to the five-units track in high school, in terms of knowledge, skill, learning habits and emotional readiness. The reason is that the middle school curriculum was created independently from the high school curriculum, and that these two schools are operated separately, with […]
International longitudinal research of education systems opened the door for comparative learning. Therefore, as we approach the mission of increasing excellence in mathematics and science education in middle schools, it would make sense to try and study what excelling countries have been doing. What curriculum do they use, at what sequence and depth do they […]
The Branco Weiss school network comprises of 14 high schools with a diversity of socio-economic backgrounds throughout Israel. During 2016-2019, the network has collaborated with the Trump Foundation and set a target to double the number of students who graduate five-unit mathematics to 22% and physics to 14%. The goal in mathematics has been achieved, […]
The city-based partnership in Be’er Sheva to increase the study of five units in mathematics is bearing fruit. From 5.4% of the 12th grade graduates in 2012, the city tripled the five-unit graduation rate in 2018 to 15.7%. The rate of physics students graduating five-units gradually improved during the program, to 11.5% in 2018. The […]
Back in 2013, in collaboration with the Rashi Foundation and Intel-Israel, we turned to Sheatufim, to create a cross organizational partnership around excellence in mathematics and the sciences education in Israel. The partnership, titled “5p2”, aimed to spark a movement focusing on doubling the number of high school graduates with five units in mathematics, science […]
Since 2016, the foundation has partnered with Professor Yoram Harpaz and the Branco Weiss Institute to translate to Hebrew and publish six books on quality teaching. These books represent some of the most important work published around the world on the topic of teaching, offering a combination of academic research and practical knowledge. The goal […]
Israeli adults still do not have high expectations of middle schools. In surveys, parents report they are satisfied with the quality of their children’s schools and with the level of their teachers. They see social relationships as the main goal in middle school, rather than learning and academic achievement. Although parents want their children to […]
At the threshold of a new endeavor in middle schools, the foundation commissioned studies and surveys among students, teachers, principals and parents. We were surprised to learn that, although achievements are low and gaps are widening, adults are not very concerned with student learning. Parents prioritize middle schools to deal with fostering significant relationships and […]
Amal is one of Israel’s veteran school networks that serves students across 27 high schools, 20 of which also include middle schools, and are located mostly in the geographic and social periphery. In recent years, the network has been leading a variety of efforts in collaboration with the foundation to increase the number of five-unit […]
Middle school students come from a variety of elementary school backgrounds. Sometimes, there are significant gaps in their abilities, which are unknown to the middle school teacher. Therefore, the first months of 7th grade are dedicated to bringing all students to a common starting point. This stage can be frustrating for advanced students and for […]
Applied mathematical thinking skills are important for the 21st century and are at the heart of many current educational innovations and reforms around the world, including the OECD attempt to create a global curriculum (the 2030 Project) and the PISA research. However, in Israel’s middle schools, the rate of excellence in these skills is relatively […]
Singapore has one of the highest performing education systems in the world. In the 2015 international PISA test, Singapore was ranked first in mathematics and in science, for both boys and girls. The share of struggling students was the lowest among all participating countries while the rate of excelling students was the highest. Since 2004, […]
Last year, the foundation approved a grant for a joint program by the Schools of Mathematics and Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to train 45 new five-unit mathematics teachers. The grant was smaller than similar programs, with a condition attached to it that if the School of Education hires a mathematics-teaching researcher as […]
Established in 2014, “It’s Time for Education” (Higia Zman Chinuch), the digital arm of the foundation, grew to become the largest online educational community in Israel. We created it to ignite discourse around our efforts in high school, to encourage potential career-changers to become teachers, and to focus public attention on quality teaching, especially in […]
Convening is an important component of our philanthropic toolbox. Our shared strategy is carried out mostly by others – capable professionals and organizations, from civil society, academia and government. They all need to work in tandem, to share knowledge and knowhow, and to align their activities coherently and effectively. Therefore, over the years, our portfolio […]
Personalized learning is very difficult to operate in a large classroom with students of diverse capabilities. Whether by circumstance, choice, or habit, teachers tend to use a ‘one size fits all’ curriculum in their classrooms and expect their students to navigate their way through it. In high school, especially as the five-unit classes expanded, many […]
The foundation’s roadmap for middle schools assumes that the national curriculum encourages teachers to lead their students to high levels of knowledge, skill and expertise. Therefore, we expect to find among the many textbooks and tasks that teachers use, such learning materials that challenge students and push them to excel. Specifically, we seek to identify […]
The ecosystem around middle schools in Israel is very different from that of high schools. Middle schools are directly controlled by the Ministry of Education, whereas high schools are directed by local authorities and school networks. Tests in middle schools are administered by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation (RAMA), in contrast to […]
In preparation for each of the 25 local partnerships the foundation has co-created with municipalities, the municipality collected and analyzed basic data on its five-unit tracks. This data included information on students and teachers, as well as parents, programs and other resources, in order to identify trends, needs, opportunities and bottlenecks. In almost all cases, […]
In 2012, a sharp decline over less than a decade in the number of high school graduates majoring in mathematics and the sciences, indicated an emerging problem for Israel’s education and future. With less than 10% of students ranked “high achievers”, the danger of a drying pipeline of talent has turned the public eye towards […]
The foundation’s clinical teaching strategy always thrived to find ways to help teachers use a personalized learning plan for each and every student in their class. By diagnosing the student’s knowledge and capabilities and adapting the teaching accordingly, we believed that teachers would be able to better address the difficulties, learning styles and pace of […]
Shfaram is a city in the north of Israel and home to a Druze, Arab and Christian population of more than 40,000 residents. The city has a low ranking on the national socio-economic index. Over the past years, many new residents moved to the city, resulting in a more diverse population. This is reflected in […]
In 7th grade, most students in Israel’s middle schools do not yet study mathematics in ability groupings. This leads to highly diverse classrooms which are comprised of students coming from several elementary schools with different backgrounds. The National MEITZAV exams in mathematics, which are taken in 5th and 8th grade, indicate that knowledge and skill […]
Almost three years ago, the foundation approved a grant to the Davidson Institute, to train 40 new instructional coaches of mathematics. The course was envisioned in collaboration with the Ministry of Education that reported an upcoming shortage of mathematics coaches in national and district leadership positions. The course was planned to be executed over a […]
Holon is a large city in the Tel Aviv District with approximately 190,000 residents. The city branded itself as the “Children’s City”, with a children’s museum and numerous cultural activities for kids. The educational system of Holon accommodates more than 37,000 students attending 265 kindergartens, 34 elementary schools, and 19 high schools (of which 11 […]
Tirat Carmel is a small city in the northern periphery of Israel with a population of 24,000 residents. Intensive construction is taking place in the city and its number of residents is planned to double in the coming years. However, the city is on the lower end of the national socio-economic scale in Israel. […]
Hura is a Bedouin Local Council in the Negev Desert that was established in 1989 to settle the local nomad tribes. Today Hura is home to 21,000 residents, of which 60% are children under the age of 17. Hura is located at the very low end of the national socio-economic scale, however in recent years, […]
Established in 1977, the city of Ma’ale Adumim is by now home to 37,600 residents. Its education system comprises of 8,587 students. There are six high schools, where 1,995 students are enrolled in 10th-12th grades. The matriculation graduation rate in 2017 was 89.2% (higher than the 68.2% national average), however only 13% completed with five-units […]
