Following a large drop in 5-unit mathematic graduates, the city of Be’er Sheva began to recover, and since 2013 the city has annualy increased its number of students who complete 5-unit mathematics matriculation from 5.5% in 2012 to 10.3% in 2016. This was a remarkable growth, however Be’er Sheva is still below the national 11.4% average. Therefore, in 2016, the foundation approved a grant to help the city achieve its goal to further increase the rate of 5-unit mathematics graduates to 20% (450) by 2019. The program is showing results and 11.3% of the students completed 5-unit mathematics matriculation in 2017.
A necessary element in this program is a larger cadre of capable teachers. In the past two years the city made an effort to train existing teachers to be able to teach 5-unit mathematics and today 39 of its 201 mathematics teachers already teach the five-unit track. However, in order to prepare for the upcoming growth, Be’er Sheva is in need for additional 35 new five-unit teachers.
In consultation with the foundation, it soon emerged that these new teachers will have to come from outside the existing city ranks. Therefore, Be’er Sheva is now proposing to collaborate with Achva Academic College to jointly develop a teacher-training program to prepare 35 new mathematics teachers in 3 cohorts. Achva is an expert in preparing new mathematics teachers for Southern Israel and a veteran partner of the foundation. In the past three years, it operated a clinical teacher residency training program for 5-unit mathematics teachers to teach in schools in all of the south of Israel. This program keeps very high standards and is very positively perceived by its graduates.
Be’er Sheva will publish the program in its local press, calling potential city residents to submit their candidacy. A rigorous selection process will follow in order to choose together the most suitable students. After a summer course to refresh their mathematical knowledge, the students will join high schools in Be’er Sheva in order to practice teaching two days every week and receive pedagogical coaching and feedback from experienced teachers. The program will prepare the students to first teach in middle school, and also to be able to teach 5-units in high school. Clinical teaching tools will be at the heart of the program, so that they focus their instruction on individual student thinking and learning progress.
In the second year of the program, the municipality will assist in placing each new teacher in a local school for an internship year and the college will operate an internship workshop. In the third year, the new teachers will receive instructional coaching at the municipal teacher community.
* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 301