Grant amount
NIS 180,000
The Noam Tzvia Education Network is launching a program to deal with the decline in female students’ achievements in mathematics
Promoting Applied Mathematics Skills among 1,200 Female Students in High-ability groups
Promoting Applied Mathematics Skills among 1,200 Female Students in High-ability groups
The national religious education stream in Israel serves 14% of Israeli school students. It includes schools operated by the Ministry of Education, municipalities, and a range of independent school networks. One of these networks is the Noam Zvia Education Network, which includes 33 high schools, of which 11 are Yeshivot (religious high schools for boys) for 3,100 boys and 22 are Ulpanot (religious high schools for girls) for 7,900 girls.
When the PISA results for 2022 were published, we reached out to the religious school networks regarding the significant decline in performance among female students in the national religious stream, especially in high-level mathematics where only 4.3% were succeeding. The first to react were the Amit and Bnei Akiva networks, which had already diagnosed the mathematical abilities of their female students, finding them to be at 5%, and are now preparing for an intervention program.
Now, Noam Zvia is proposing a one-year program to raise awareness among their Ulpanot and to double the overall rate of excelling students. The program will commence with a mathematics competition for 1,200 students in the high-ability groups in mathematics in 9th grade and the five-unit track in 10th grade from all 22 Ulpanot. The competition will be aligned with the PISA framework, so it can be used to diagnose the baseline level of students.
Upon determining a measurable goal for the program, the network will add two weekly teaching hours to their 15 high-ability groups in mathematics. The 20 mathematics teachers of the excellence classes, the high-ability groups and the five-unit track will participate in learning communities focusing on applied mathematics (operated by the University of Haifa), simulations (run by Bar-Ilan University), and a summer camp. In addition, they will convene conferences and workshops for principals, teachers, and parents.
* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 576