Convening in 2021

The first phase of the foundation’s roadmap in middle school concentrated on development of new learning material, training teachers to use it and opening of additional excellence classes where the new material is now taught. This was a necessary three-year stage to prepare and showcase the practice of teaching applied mathematics at high level and to set the grounds for wider implementation at scale.

Now, we are at the threshold of a second step. As the foundation’s Advisory Council recommended, we must now create partnerships and embark on a convening endeavor. The goal is to bring together the professional community of teachers, developers and school operators to align their efforts. Then we must bring on board the ecosystem of stakeholders and policy makers, so that they provide support and backing.

The foundation’s annual work plan for the second half of 2021 prioritizes this effort. We formed a new convening department within our team and already started convening our partners even through the lockdowns and restrictions of COVID-19. An annual exchange fair (“Shuk 15”), a “market” for developers to present their programs to operators, was organized through a designated online platform, attended by 170 participants.

In addition, small groups of representatives of school networks, mathematics instructors of the Ministry of Education, and curriculum developers, arrived in our offices for a series of ‘breakfast club’ meetings. Together they are planning the next joined steps for the period once the pandemic is over. Now, since Israel succeeded with the vaccination campaign sooner than anticipated, we are proposing to start the convening program immediately.

At the heart of the convening program will be a series of dissemination workshops, conferences and events, which concentrate on exposing the new learning material to a wide audience of users. The developers of the new learning material will lead these events with the participation of mathematics instructors from the districts, heads of education departments at municipalities, school networks, school principals and teacher leaders.

Additionally, three learning networks for our grantee partners will convene in line with their area of work: instructional practice, content development and systemic organizing. The leaders of projects funded by the foundation will meet routinely to share knowledge, learn together and develop joint standards. They will also invite teacher leaders from their programs to join them for designated seminars.

Reaching out to a wider circle of stakeholders will take place mostly through partnerships with Sheatufim and the ‘It’s Time for Education’ magazine. With Sheatufim, the “Top 15” Collective Impact coalition will launch in May 2021, with dozens of high-tech companies, universities, municipalities and education organizations, supporting together a shared effort to help Israel reach the top 15 excelling countries in PISA.

This group will engage the government and seek its leadership, and provide the professional community with public support and momentum. With ‘It’s Time for Education’, a series of online interviews with education leaders is now being filmed, focusing on the steps needed in the post-pandemic era, which will leapfrog Israel’s education to top levels. Special meetings with international experts are also planned in the coming months, as well as peer-learning fora with leaders of partner organizations.

* The text  above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 367