Mathematics learning in the Israeli junior high school

Learning mathematics in the Israeli junior high§school has become a serious problem in the education§system in the last 20 years. In Israel the learning§of high level mathematics is a condition for being§accepted to any high prestige university department.§Thus it is crucial to learn what are the educational,§psychological and motivational components involved in§the learning of mathematics. I have examined these§components in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10 of a secular,§mixed Jewish school; religious school with single-sex§classes; secular mixed Arab school, and Arab girls §school, among 800+ students. §The most important results of my study have been that§there is no gender gap in school performance of math§in the Israeli junior high school; motivational§components have had no influence on the actual math§grades in any of the sub-groups; and Arab girls in§single-sex classes scored the highest in internal§motivation and in believability of own math abilities§and the lowest in stability of math abilities. In§addition, within one year the students in the§less-prestige religious Jewish school scored as high§as those learning in the other Jewish school,§considered one of the best in Israel.