Course for 100 Middle School Mathematics Department Heads

When the foundation planned its philanthropic steps to assist in raising the bar for middle school mathematics, we focused on two significant areas of work: a) Creating an arsenal of challenging learning material that encourages students to learn about and engage in high-order mathematical thinking and its applications in science, and b) Opening additional excellence classes and enhanced ability groups, where the new content would be taught to a wider and more diverse student population willing to study at a high level.

Soon we learned that there was a third necessary element, one that we needed to address before jumping to the next steps of our roadmap. We understood that teachers and teaching required special attention, since the new content demands a pedagogy, which teachers perceive as being very different. Therefore, the developers of the new material operate designated in-service training and learning communities for teachers, in which the teachers share their practice and improve it together.

In discussion with the developers and the teachers who participate in our programs, they stressed that these professional development activities are necessary but not sufficient. They claimed teachers need closer feedback loops within their school environment. In response, we conferred with the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science. We asked Davidson to think of ways to train middle school mathematics department heads so that they will be able to coach the teachers in their school on a routine basis.

The Davidson Institute is now proposing to organize a course for mathematics department heads which will expose them to the arsenal of new learning material and where they will learn the pedagogical practices needed to teach it in class. They will dive deep into the PISA mathematics framework, acquire coaching techniques and plan together how to provide teachers with feedback and support. The course will include 60 hours of lectures and workshops, which will be conducted both online and face-to-face.

Davidson will operate seven cycles of this course, with the participation of at least 100 department heads. Five courses will be dedicated to department heads in cities that collaborate with the foundation, and two will be open for registration. Each participating department head will commit in advance to dedicate mathematics team meetings to exposure of the new learning material and practices, and to coaching the teachers in how to use at least eight new assignments in class, observing their lessons, and providing them with feedback. Each participant will also submit a report on the coaching process, its success and challenges.

* The text  above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 426