Jerusalem, City of Excellence in Education:
Making Jerusalem a Beacon of Educational Excellence

Excellence doesn't just happen; it needs intensive cultivation, resources, and expertise. In order to thrive in today's global economy, Israel and its capital city need their continuing generations of young people to master essential skills, develop creative thinking, and work innovatively within a context of rapid change.

Starting in Jerusalem, IASA envisions systematically and rapidly raising the level of education in Israel by partnering with municipalities and educational authorities.

Jerusalem is Israel's capital city, but in many ways it represents the epitome of Israel's periphery. With its complex mix of secular, religious, and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and its high levels of poverty and unemployment, Jerusalem is a microcosm of the most urgent needs in the rest of the country.

At the same time, Jerusalem's condensed population of approximately 900,000 offers a focused opportunity to address these challenges. Jerusalem is a microcosm of the entire country.

What does the project include?

1)      Implementing the Al Ma Da STEM program in 30 primarily disadvantaged elementary schools in East and West Jerusalem for 3 years. The Jerusalem Al Ma Da program trains teachers in Hebrew and in Arabic, and includes an adapted curriculum to fit the needs of East Jerusalem schools who do not teach the Ministry of Education curriculum.

Al Ma Da is a transformational STEM curriculum which changes the way math and science are delivered to Israeli elementary students.  It includes hands-on science experiments, which changes students’ interaction with their teacher.  Math is taught through games, puzzles and proprietary interactive visualization of math principles.   Math becomes fun, not fear.By empowering teachers to awaken their students' love of learning, the program reignites teachers' passion and motivation to educate and improves the learning of tens of thousands of students in the years to come.

2)      Challenging students through citywide competitions based on scientific themes that are relevant to all of Jerusalem's populations, such as clean air, water quality, sustainability, and recycling. These contests provide a bridge between Jerusalem's populations by fostering investigation and innovative thinking on topics of shared concern. The competitions make learning fun by taking it outside the classroom. The team-based experiential learning framework includes solving puzzles, experimentation, completing online tasks, and building 3-D models.

3)      Bringing STEM excellence to the community: Because our contests include tasks carried out within the students' neighborhoods, students are empowered as ambassadors who make learning a part of their community life. The atmosphere of friendly competition between schools fosters passion for learning and brings educational excellence into Jerusalem's public space.

The Jerusalem, City of Excellence in Education project is a 3-year partnership with the Jerusalem Foundation and with the support of the Jerusalem Municipality.