`The New Five' – Instructional Coaching for Teachers in a Central District Program to Annually Add 800 Five Unit Graduates in Mathematics
In the previous school year, the Central District of the Ministry of Education launched a new program to increase the number of five unit graduates in mathematics. In collaboration with the Branco Weiss Institute, supported by a grant of 750,000 NIS from the Trump Foundation, the District opened 12 new classes for excelling 10th grade students of four units, and support them in taking the five unit road. The program, which is implemented in six cities (including two Arab cities, Kafr Qasem and Kalansawa) involves a specially designed curriculum, clinical teaching methodologies and additional two weekly learning hours.
So far, more than 80% of the participating students have succeeded to maintain in the five unit track resulting in an increased demand for the program. This increased demand is fueled by the national goal which leads many cities and schools to seek ways to address it effectively. Consequently, the program expanded in the current school year in 40 schools and 14 cities. The District plans to scale up the program even more in the coming three years to 80 schools, adding to the current 2,120 graduates of the five unit track, an average of 800 graduates every year.
The heart of the program is an adapted pedagogy which is customized to address the capabilities and difficulties of the students. Since the students come from the four unit track, many of them need to solidify their mathematical knowledge and skills and to gain self confidence in order to face the five unit challenge. The adapted pedagogy is jointly designed by Branco Weiss and the District’s Instructional Coaches, and it includes learning materials and teaching aids. In the pilot stage, the coaches tested the material with 12 teachers and used their feedback for improvements.
Now, as the program scales up its operation, the District and Branco Weiss are planning to add to it three communities of practice for the teachers, in order to support them throughout the implementation. The three communities will include an average of 85 mathematics teachers each year over a period of three years, who would meet every other week. One community will concentrate on curriculum development, the second on teaching practices and the third will provide instructional coaching in small groups. All the teachers will also participate in four workshops every year which will be devoted to mid-course corrections. Special diagnostics assessments will be developed for the program, and all the materials will be shared with all the teachers via the Internet.