The municipality will reduce the number of mathematics students dropping down from five- to four-units by working with school principals, teachers and students
The city of Yavne has approximately 50,000 residents and over the past three years has been undergoing a process of growth. In the next few years the city’s population will increase further to 100,000. Yavne is home to diverse communities with large socio-economic gaps between them. Its education system comprises two small and two large high schools with 2,729 students. 85% of them study in the two large high schools which are expected to merge to one in the upcoming school year, and another new high school is to be opened in 2020. The diversity among the population is also reflected between the schools, where there are gaps of teaching quality and student achievement.
The rate of graduates of the five units track in mathematics in Yavne is on the rise since 2013. It increased from 7.9% to 11.9% (above the national average), mostly due to an intervention program (Kodkod in Education, initially supported by the foundation) in one of the large schools. However, the city is far from meeting its potential. Almost 30% of the students in middle school study at advanced level, but many drop down in high school (65% between 9th and 11th grade). The municipality reports that the reason for this drop down lies in ineffective management of the pipeline, as well as lack of awareness, motivation and skill among students and teachers.
To address this issue, the municipality now wishes to decrease the number of students which drop down from 5 to 4-units, and to increase the pool of advanced middle school students. Over three years, the program aims to see an increase in the percentage of 5-unit mathematics students from 11.9% to 20% by working with principals, teachers and students:
A steering committee will be established which will meet three times a year. They will build the program with specific attention to the expected merge of the two large high schools and the opening of a new school, and to the gaps between the city’s diverse communities. The program management consists of the deputy head of the education department and a mathematics coordinator. The program will be guided by an academic institution which will assist in planning and coaching. The municipality will commit to provide supplementary teaching hours, to execute mathematics summer camps, conferences for teachers and principals and events to encourage parents to become more involved with mathematics excellence.
* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 295