Coping with a Heterogeneous School Population in the Junior High School / ההתמודדות עם הטרוגניות רמת ההישגים של התלמידים בחטיבות הביניים

In the attempt to bring the ethnic groups together in Israel and to improve the academic situation of disadvantaged groups, directives were set forth by the Ministry of Education and Culture for the drawing up of heterogeneously composed Junior High School districts. In addition, further instructions were given that meant the creation of heterogeneously composed classes, in which both bright and slow pupils studied together. At the same time, however, various authorized measures were placed at the disposal of the schools, geared at easing the inevitable difficulties bound up with a diverse classroom population. These measures, which included ability grouping in a limited number of school subjects, the establishing of a slow-learners' class, and the encouragement of certain students to enroll in special education schools, were not equally employed by all the school. Furthermore, certain schools not only made use of the specified means, but even added several unauthorized measures, in an attempt to reduce student heterogeneity in the classroom. The unauthorized means resulted in greater homeroom class homogeneity and a higher transfer and dropout rate. Since the use of the various means differed from school to school, the thesis was put forth that employment of such measures was indicative of a selective educational approach, and the assumption was made that schools could be ranked as to the degree of selectivity which characterized their policies. Selectivity in this sense was seen as the manner in which students were processed from the time of their enrollment in the Junior High School until their graduation; it was an approach which in essence resulted in the nurturing of the more-gifted and a certain neglect of the less-gifted students. In the course of the study which is presented, a selectivity index was created based on the degree of class homogeneity and the percentage of students leaving school. The next step was to determine why certain schools were very selective in their treatment of students, while others were much less so. In the attempt to discover the factors influencing selectivity, it was found that a combination of objective and subjective factors accounted to a considerable extent for the phenomenon. The general picture which emerged was that religious schools, affiliated with comprehensive high school and having a high proportion of students of Asian-African origin and a relatively low overall achievement level, tended to adopt a selecti