The Davidson Institute's training program will focus on advanced mathematical and pedagogical content in middle and high schools
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 period of two years in two cohorts of 20 participants each. In reality, 26 graduated the first group and are already filling middle level positions, such as district instructors, municipal program managers and regional five-unit community teacher leaders, and the second group of trainees is currently in the second year of training.
However, it turned out that only 2 of the participants in the two cohorts came from Southern Israel. The Davidson Institute and the Ministry of Education believe that this happened mostly because of the long geographic distance between the South and the campus of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, where the course takes place. As a result, current efforts in southern cities suffer from lack of teacher leaders. For example, in our partnership with Be’er Sheva, instructional coaches travel to the city from Tel Aviv and even from a Kibbutz in the North.
This shortage will become crucial as government is preparing to launch a designated program to increase excellence in mathematics studies in 17 periphery cities and towns in the South. The program defined ambitious goals with every city and is willing to provide resources, but has a very limited cadre of local professionals with whom they can entrust these resources. Therefore, in consultation with the foundation, Davidson Institute and the Ministry of Education are proposing a training program for 25 new instructional coaches of mathematics that will be carried out in the South.
The program will focus on advanced mathematical content and pedagogy in middle and high schools, deeper understanding of the new curriculum, mastery of clinical teaching tools, such as diagnostic assignments and video-based analysis, and leadership and management skills. Each city in the government program will send 2-3 leading teachers of mathematics to participate in the program, which will be held in the South on a bi-weekly basis over 120 hours. The participating teachers will be mentored during their training as they create learning communities for the other teachers in their cities. The Ministry of Education will pay the participating teachers for their additional learning and work.