Implementation of new Pisa based tasks

The 2020-2021 school year is a transition period in the foundation’s roadmap for middle school. New excellence classes will open and the new learning material developed by the foundation’s programs will be tested. The new material comprises dozens of innovative tasks, aligned with the top levels of PISA framework. They include a portfolio of assignments that use mathematical models and algorithms applied by students in order to solve complex problems in a variety of real-life contexts.

Adding to the difficulty of implementation will be the implications of Covid-19. During the past six months, the developers have had to modify their products so that they are suited to self-learning and remote teaching. During the summer, leading teachers were intensively trained to use the tasks and to coach their fellow teachers. Currently, municipalities, school networks and districts are organizing to open the new classes under fragile scenarios of remote teaching during lockdown and hybrid teaching when schools are partially open.

It is reasonable to expect that the implementation process will be difficult. Therefore, we intend to maintain a very close dialogue with and among our partners. We will need to measure the progress and to ensure quick feedback loops in order to allow for mid-course improvements. We will investigate both the pedagogic and operational dimensions with an emphasis on the perspective of teachers. Since teachers will be a key factor in this process, we will seek to understand:

• Do teachers actually use the new tasks in their classes following a dedicated professional development program? At what scope and depth do they do so?
• Do they prefer to use the tasks in the high ability mathematics classes or the special excellence classes? Are there differences in teaching practice in each type of class?
• How well do teachers feel they were trained to use the new tasks? Do they feel confident using them and what are the obstacles?
• What do teachers learn from practice, what are their insights, critiques and recommendations for next steps?

In order to address these questions, we propose to use a participatory assessment approach. We will commission a research institute to design the assessment, relying on a small cadre of teachers that will assist the effort by conducting interviews with teachers who use the new tasks, and by observing their training and teaching in class. The teacher-observers will be mathematics and science teachers of excellence classes who are familiar with the new tasks and are representative of the geography and demography of Israel.

Following a brief study of assessment methodologies, the teacher-observers will join 12 of our development and implementation programs. They will work with a professional evaluator that will assemble their ongoing data and prepare interim reports. These reports will be presented to the foundation team as well as to the programs and the professional community. At the end of the school year, the evaluator will submit a final report with insights and recommendations.

* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 414