Promoting Academic Achievement

For students across Israel, the matriculation certificate, or bagrut, is the key to higher education--one's achievement in several fields of study and final exam performances determine the breadth of opportunities available when seeking higher education. Thus, students with higher scores in a larger number of subject areas are afforded greater choices for higher education.

ORT Syngalowski Comprehensive High School in Tel Aviv, the first school established by ORT in Israel, seeks to empower all of its 1,300 students to realize superior matriculation scores, which will greatly increase their options for higher education, and lead them towards rewarding and satisfying careers. Serving students from a disadvantaged socio-economic group, ORT Syngalowski Comprehensive High School is creating enhancement programs to ensure that their students are competitive with those from more affluent communities.

Contributions to this project will enable ORT to:

• Establish small study groups, limited to twenty pupils, in the main subject areas of mathematics, English, physics, grammar, computers and electronics;

• Offer auxiliary classes in mathematics and English to underachieving students who require extra support; and

• Identify and steer underachieving students into the Mechanics (CAD/CAM) or Industry and Management Accounting programs.