Preparing a Three-Year Workplan Plan to Open 300 Excellence Classes in 300 Middle Schools

Only half of the middle schools in Israel (about 500 out of 1,000) have excellence classes. In these classes, highly motivated and capable students learn advanced mathematics and develop solid foundations in physics and computer science. Graduates of these classes are more likely to excel on the PISA test and often choose the five-unit tracks in these subjects in high school. They then go on to serve in the IDF’s tech units, study engineering and the sciences at university, and secure R&D positions in high-tech.

The Perlmutter Committee, convened in 2022, was tasked with developing policies to significantly increase and promote greater inclusion of diverse populations in Israel’s high-tech sector. Expanding the reach of excellence classes to additional schools was a key recommendation of the committee, with special emphasis on the social periphery, the Arab community, and female students. The committee submitted its recommendations to the previous government and the current government decided to implement them.

The overarching goal of the government decision is to increase the percentage of employees in high-tech from 9% in 2017 to 15% in 2027. A budget of 750 million NIS over five years was allocated to create programs and incentives, starting from middle school and extending to higher education and vocational training. In this initiative, the program proposed for middle school aims to create an additional 300 excellence classes in the most disadvantaged towns in the social periphery of Israel over the next three years.

To implement this program, the Ministry of Education issued a call for proposals for schools to submit their candidacy to join the program. The schools had to ensure that they had capable teachers for mathematics, physics and computer science. In return, they received funding for the excellence class. In addition, they were also entitled to financial incentives for teaching physics and computers at the five-unit level in high school, as well as for opening classes in which at least 50% of the students are girls.

In practice however, just 118 schools responded to the call and their principals attended a designated conference to learn about the program. Only 94 of them were able to meet the criteria, as others did not have sufficient teachers. Once the new excellence classes at the 94 schools began, it was immediately evident that in many cases, the teaching and learning levels were very low. The selection of the target audience for the program was from the most challenging backgrounds, and it became apparent that the baseline gaps in knowledge are immense.

In consultations between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Perlmutter Committee, and the Trump Foundation, it was agreed that the program needs hands-on management. The target audience must be fine-tuned, the scope of emotional support should increase, teacher training needs improvement, and ongoing data monitoring and evaluation require significant upgrades. Adapting the program to diverse populations with different needs would also require special attention.

Therefore, we decided to approach the Maoz Association to provide professional assistance in improving the program’s management. Established in 2011 by Jeffrey Swartz, Maoz operates leadership programs for mid-level executives from government, local authorities and the business, media and social sectors. They also offer selected graduates ongoing professional support for implementing their visions and programs.

One of Maoz’s graduates is Meirav Zerbib, the head of the Science and Technology Department at the Ministry of Education, who oversees excellence classes. Zerbib was previously the head of the Ministry’s R&D Unit. In consultation with her, Maoz is proposing to create a database of students, teachers, classes and schools where excellence classes operate. Within a couple of months, they will prepare and disseminate to the professional community a detailed report on the current situation, challenges, the potential for expansion, and relevant partners.

Maoz will then convene a joint team including the Ministry of Education, which will appoint a dedicated operating staff, to work along with Maoz and the foundation. This joint team will be advised by a steering committee with representatives from high-tech, the Ministry of Finance, universities, and local authorities. It is expected that relevant units of the Ministry of Education, particularly those responsible for teachers and pedagogy, will also join the project’s steering committee.

Together, they will analyze the data and prepare a three-year plan to implement the expansion program, with the aim of reaching 300 schools. By January 2025, the joint team will relaunch the program along with an effective management protocol that will support implementation and facilitate necessary collaborations. The plan will be based on the report and include a performance dashboard of progress data on students, teachers, classes, and schools.

The program will be evaluated using the baseline performance measure of these 300 additional excellence classes. Subsequent success measures will relate to high-performance rates (level 5-6) on the PISA mathematics scale, as well as achieving higher rates of graduation from the high-tech matriculation track that includes five units in mathematics, English, physics and/or computer science.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 580