Trump Master Teacher Award 2017

In 2012 the Trump Master Teacher Award was launched in order to recognize excellent teaching of mathematics and the sciences. The award aims to celebrate master teachers of these subjects and introduce them to the public as role models for high quality teaching practice in Israel, thus igniting discussion around the question: ‘What constitutes excellent teaching?’ In 2016 we launched a fifth cycle of the award attracting 35 candidates from across the country (slightly less than in previous years), who received excellent recommendations by their colleagues and school principals.

Five finalists were filmed while teaching in their classroom, and then interviewed by the committee, who announced the winner as Alex Vainberg, a physics teacher at the Naomi Shemer High School in Gan Yavneh. An honorable mention was awarded to Dr. Hili Marom, a mathematics teacher at the Nofei Golan High School in Katzrin, and to Gennady Akselrod, a physics teacher at the Emek Harod Multidisciplinary High School and at the Virtual High School. Nobel prize Winner Professor Michael Levitt presented the award to Alex during a modest ceremony at his school and the Prime Minister, who was not able to attend this year, sent a recorded congratulatory message.

In parallel, in 2016, as part of the foundation’s five-year end-to-end review, we conducted an external evaluation of the Master Teacher Award. The study gathered evidence, relying on a public survey to assess the public’s level of familiarity with the award and public attitudes toward teachers, data from social networks and digital media, and conducted ten in-depth interviews with winners, committee members (past and present) and leading figures from the professional community. The final report was presented and discussed at the Advisory Council in November 2016, and led to a number of key insights and recommendations:

1. The selection criteria were set before the foundation developed its portfolio of programs and refined its strategy. It would be advisable to synchronize the criteria with the foundation’s quality teaching compass in order to ensure that the foundation speaks a uniform language.
2. The award does not attract a large amount of media attention, and its public presence is limited. Holding the prize ceremony under the auspices of the Prime Minister has a positive effect, however it is recommended to add to the uniqueness of the prize and enhance its public exposure.

To address these recommendations, we propose that in 2017, on an experimental basis the award differ from other prizes, by becoming an award ‘for teachers, by teachers’. The selection committee will comprise of excellent teachers and past winners and the selection criteria will be based on the compass for quality teaching. In addition, a small-scale media campaign using traditional as well as digital media will expose the prize to the public.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 242