That’s some math!
AMIT Renanim quadrupled the number of students taking the 5-point math bagrut, an impressive mathematical leap by any account and a ticket for its students to go on to study even higher-level math, advanced physics, and other similar disciplines that can open doors in great careers for their future.
The 5-point math bagrut is the highest level of achievement in the math bagrut exams that students take at the end of their high school careers. These exams, and success in them, enables students to place in universities or obtain higher level posts in the IDF or National Service.
AMIT Renanim officials said that in 2015, there were only 12 out of 120 students who took the 5-point exam. In 2019, there were 45 students who took the test, which was 40% of that year’s 12th grade. (The national average is 21% of students who take this difficult exam.)
“We have transitioned the math teachers into mentors who train the girls to rise to meet challenges and succeed,” said Ofra Peer, the principal at AMIT Renanim.
The teachers at AMIT Renanim work hard to identify students with unrealized potential. They invite the students and their parents to a meeting to encourage the students to challenge themselves in a harder math track.
“The math team supports the girls and helps them believe in themselves,” Peer continued. “They give their all to help their students at any time of the day. Their WhatsApp groups with students are always active.”
The students, proud of their accomplishment, did not let the change to online learning during the school closure of the pandemic sidetrack them from achieving their goals.
Shahaf Cohen, an 11th grade student said, “We completed almost all of our coursework before the corona pandemic began, and what remained was for us to practice what we had learned. The tension before the math bagrut is greater than before other exams, but we took the matkonot (internal, school-based pre-bagrut exams) and most students did really well, so I hope that the bagrut will also go well. Our teachers were here for us at all times. At times it seems like they are more excited about the bagrut than we are.”
Another student, Naama Nitzan, an 11th graders, said, “It caused pressure that our in-person classes ended, and everything switched to Zoom. But since we had completed the material, it was not bad. We mostly had to practice, and we did that on Zoom and through independent work at home. The teachers worked with each of us individually, one by one, to make sure we fully understand the material. They don’t move on until the student successfully solves all of the problems.”
