Grant Amount
NIS 580,000
Municipal Program in Tirat Carmel to Increase the Percentage of Five-Unit Mathematics Graduation to 15% (36 students) by 2021
The municipality will act to train and increase its 5-unit mathematics teacher cadre
The municipality will act to train and increase its 5-unit mathematics teacher cadre
Tirat Carmel is a small city in the northern periphery of Israel with a population of 24,000 residents. Intensive construction is taking place in the city and its number of residents is planned to double in the coming years. However, the city is on the lower end of the national socio-economic scale in Israel. Its school system includes one large school (924 students) and one small (345 students) one, both for middle and high school grades. 21% of the city’s students study outside the city in private, ultra-orthodox or special education schools.
As per mathematics studies, hardly any increase was seen between 2012, when 6.6% of the students graduated 5-unit mathematics, and 2016, when 6.8% (12 students) graduated. Throughout middle school, the number of students in advanced level mathematics tracks changes erratically each year when students move to the next grade. In the large school in 2018 during the transition from 7th to 8th grade, 31% of the students dropped-down from the excellence track. On the other hand, the transition from 8th to 9th grade showed an increase of 100%. In the second, small high school, hardly any students completed 5-unit mathematics.
According to the municipality this is happening due to a disorganized middle school system where teachers need clearer goals, better management and improved skills. The city identified a need to work on this instable pipeline to improve calibration and alignment between the middle and high school systems. Consequently, they are planning an ambitious three-year program to increase the percentage of 5-unit mathematics students to 15% (36 students) in 2021.
Initially they will deepen their analysis of the needs in middle school grades and work to stabilize the pipeline. As a first step in order to meet the goal, they will open a new five-unit class in tenth grade in each school, so that the number of students in tenth grade will be 58. Then, at the heart of the program, Tirat Carmel will strive to strengthen its mathematics teaching cadre. In collaboration with the Davidson Institute, 7 middle school and 8 high school teachers with potential to teach 5-unit mathematic will form a community of practice, which will meet with experts from Davidson every two weeks for two hours. Together they will work on improving mathematical knowledge, clinical expertise and growth mindset. The Davidson Institute will individually guide twelve teachers by weekly classroom observations and individual meetings of one hour per week.