Building Professional Infrastructure and Supporting Municipalities to Advance High-Tech Matriculation
The government’s program to promote the “high-tech matriculation” goal was launched in the current school year. Each year, 120 secondary schools from the lower two-thirds of the socioeconomic scale will join the program. In each school, excellence classes will be established at the middle school level, with four additional weekly teaching hours devoted to mathematics and either physics or computer science. At the high-school level, participating schools will receive financial incentives to expand their physics and computer-science tracks.
In addition, the program is preparing to partner with 100 municipalities with the greatest potential. The Ministry of Education will appoint professional coaches for the municipal Education Department and the principals in each city and will allocate an annual resource package of 200,000-500,000 NIS to purchase educational programs. Each municipality will be required to appoint a city-level high-tech matriculation coordinator, establish a local steering committee, and define specific goals, metrics, and prepare a municipal work plan.
In consultation with the foundation, the Ministry of Education approached the Cities of Excellence Network at the Institute for Local Government of Tel Aviv University. The foundation established this network eight years ago to support dozens of municipalities advancing the expansion of five-unit mathematics in high school and PISA-related skills in middle schools. The Ministry now seeks the Cities of Excellence Network’s assistance in building a professional support network for advancing the high-tech matriculation goal across municipalities.
Negotiations between the Ministry and the University are at an advanced draft-agreement stage. At this point, the Cities of Excellence Network has turned to the foundation for help in providing the professional capacity required. Implementation of the joint program is planned for the next three years and will serve municipal programs in promoting high-tech matriculation in 100 municipalities. The Cities of Excellence Network’s support will include:
1. Training and professional development for 100 municipal high-tech matriculation coordinators, comprising three training cohorts (nine sessions each over one year), and a national professional community meeting four times per year. The program will include workshops and field visits and will focus on navigating the local high-tech matriculation landscape and data, setting goals and metrics, instilling data-driven management, and building local partnerships.
2. Professional coaching for the 12 members of the national program headquarters team, as well as 10 expert advisors who will provide professional support to municipalities and their schools. The support will include seminars and workshops (30 hours per year) focusing on in-depth study of municipal education systems, best practices, and targeting challenges emerging from the field.
3. Establishing a national high-tech matriculation database covering all participating cities. This database will serve as the basis for municipal work plans. Each city will be provided with a dedicated dashboard that also incorporates its own local, updated data to track progress. Each year, the Cities of Excellence Network will publish a municipal-level “State of High-tech Matriculation” report.
4. Convenings for municipal education leaders, including heads of Education Departments and high-tech matriculation coordinators. Activities will include an annual conference for 250 participants, three municipal study visits each year, and four shared learning seminars annually.
The Cities of Excellence Network proposes to establish a steering committee for the joint program, meeting twice a year, with representatives from the Ministry of Education, the University, local government, and the foundation.
* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 638