The great success of the 5 units (highest matriculation level) mathematics reform turned Mohana Farres, Director of the National Programs Division of the Ministry of Education, into a sought-after speaker traversing the country to share how to change a “fated” outcome in a short time. When Mohana was asked to speak on a recent panel, he wanted to bring a success story – a young woman from an Ethiopian background from Netanya who scored a full mark of 100 in 5 units of mathematics, a feat few achieve…
“What do you want me to talk about?” she asked. “Talk about your dreams. What do you want to be when you grow up?” he answered. “I don’t know. I don’t have a dream.”
Mohana realized that the successful revolution in 5 units of mathematics, which had already met its national objectives, was just beginning. The reform, called “5 x 2,” began with a define objective: double the number of students nationally in subjects. Led by a unique tri-sector coalition STEM including the Ministry of Education, Sheatufim, the Trump Foundation, the Rashi Foundation, Intel and 60 high tech companies, San Francisco Jewish Federation and Cleveland Jewish Federation, it succeeded within four years: the number of students matriculating in 5 units of mathematics doubled. An increase was recorded in the center and the periphery.
Though peripheral towns received significant resource allocation, their gains were more modest. Mohana came to MAOZ’s -Day Accelerator to 100 understand why. Mohana was convinced that the cause was a mental gap among students and local authorities: students need to feel they are capable, and local authorities need to believe in achieving excellence. “Our experience with girls led me to understand this,” said Mohana. “Many students drop down from 5 to 4 units (a less rigorous course). 4 units is 60% girls, and all of whom excel in their studies. Our focus was on perseverance. We convinced teachers to keep girls in 5 units. The number of girls completing 5 units increased.
The girls didn’t change, the way they were treated changed.”Up until now, we didn’t think we needed to do anything other than teach,” explains Mohana, “There’s a mental axis that we weren’t seeing which impacted the youth’s achievements in the periphery. 5 units of mathematics is a key for life. It means opening doors to dreams.”
Mohana sat down with the partners to develop the correct work model. They chose a local government model – each local authority appoints leaders for reform: at the city level and at the middle and high school levels.
The model is based on three anchors: Growth Mindset, Motivation Calibration (motivation to reach a goal and dividing it into intermediate steps), and Role Models from similar backgrounds. A pilot is beginning in 14 towns in the north and south, including Kiryat Malachi, Hura and Beit Shean. “We’ll take students to the science museum and a laboratory at Tel Aviv University to meet researchers,” Mohana explains. “We’ll speak with parents. We’ve set ourselves an objective – in three years, 14% will complete mathematic units. We won’t give up until we reach the national average of 15.6%.”