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School Match-up
School Intervention
Student Advocacy
Bagrut Exam System
Teen Olim Support Groups
High School Fair
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School Match up
MaLaCH can suggest appropriate school options for your children by offering the following services:
Defining the Israeli educational high school system
Describing the differences between the American and Israeli Religious schools
Exploring options for high schools
Analyzing each school's Academic, Social, Religious, and philosophical educational approach toward their students.
Oleh Chadash
The first year of school in Israel is a year of big change. The transition can be particularly rough when your child finds himself in a foreign country and new school that is nothing like he expected. Making a pilot trip and personal visits to Israeli school campuses before you and your teen make your choice can give you insights that can make the difference between a comfortable fit and a lot of surprises when school starts.
Oleh veteran
Some of you may find the process of searching for the right high school overwhelming, whether because you find it difficult to converse in Hebrew (and finding out the information you need is difficult), or because finding the time that is necessary to search for the right high school is difficult, or because it is difficult for you and your teen to figure out and agree on expectations and wishes. Another frequent complaint is that school administrators are put off when you ask too many questions about their program.
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School Intervention:NBCD Approach
A close look at the interface between your teen's basic needs, unique NBCD (see below) make-up, and demands made by external environments may raise important questions as to how your teen will experience support from the school you have chosen. Perceptive parents will know how appropriate a high school option may be for their child when considering all of their teen's needs.
The NBCD approach, created by Dr. Stuart Chesner, internationally recognized clinical psychologist, postulates that children's focus is determined by the interaction of their neurological system (N), behavior (B), cognition (C), and a child's internal world dynamic (D). These factors are all part of a person's psycho-social constitution. They may determine and/or influence individual needs.
A MaLaCH works with parents, mechanchim, guidance counselors, principals, and students themselves, to foster communication and create the support teens need to succeed.
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Bagrut Exam System-Accommodations
The Bagrut are a series of tests administered by the Misrad Hachinuch (Ministry of Education ) during high school. Most schools space them during the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. The Bagrut examinations are utilized to assess the students' knowledge about subject matter learned in high school. Even though they are frequently compared to the U.S. system based N.Y. State Regent exams and National Advanced Placement (A.P.) courses, the results of the Bagrut Exams have even greater implications for the individual's future. In Israel, acceptance into choice divisions of the army, university or certain career positions are dependent upon completion of Bagrut examinations.
It is wise to investigate a high school's Bagrut options before enrollment. High schools sometimes offer choices on the amount of Yechidot (credits). The courses for the Bagrut include required, required elective and elective subjects. In order to obtain Bagrut certification students in the religious school system are required to pass courses totaling to a minimum of 24 points and a maximum of 40+ points.
Olim Chadashim are entitled to modified Bagrut examinations determined by thie school and Misrad Hachinuch.
Hakalot l'Bagrut (leniencies) are additional accommodations for students with learning disabilities. Students, parents, and educators who feel that students are eligible to take Bagrut examinations with hakalot should be assessed within three years prior to taking their first Bagrut examination. Parents may request assessments from local psychological services or they may choose to refer to private evaluators accredited by Misrad Hachinuch.
MaLaCH can walk parents and teens through the Bagrut Exam System and explain the criteria needed for modifications for them by Misrad Hachinuch.
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Student Advocacy
MaLaCH stands by parents and teens just when it seems that everything has gone wrong and everyone else has abandoned them.
The intervention process focuses directly on the students and their presenting need.
MaLaCH works together with the student, students' parents, teachers, guidance counselor, and health care professionals as a team to provide a strong unified task force to correct previous destructive educational approaches.
MaLaCH advocates for students and asks school faculty members to look differently at olim students when the "system" let them slip through the cracks.
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Teen olim support groups: "Teenspeak"
MaLaCH runs a teen olim support group in Bet Shemesh that meets once a month for eight sessions. Teen olim may have a difficult time integrating into the Israeli school system. Being uprooted from their social group, academic environment, American ethos, and developing understanding of themselves in the teen culture puts them up against significant challenges. Olim teens are searching for supports to help them through this difficult process. Older teen olim who are going through this process and who have already integrated into the teen Israeli culture can play a significant role in assisting these teens.
Teenspeak offers them a unique opportunity to meet other teens with similar challenges with a chance to share their experiences and express themselves without having to worry about "being appropriate".
MaLaCH can support adolescents' basic needs such as meaning, pleasure, belonging and achievement when olim teens feel traumatized when moving to Israel.
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High School Fair
Today's teens and parents are searching for schools that will support them academically and emotionally. There are a variety of reasons as to why parents choose a particular high school for their teen. Some of these may include the following: their teen's individual needs, their own convenience, religious observance and/or hashkafa, academic environment, social atmosphere, and security issues. The process of finding the right school can be overwhelming and frustrating, especially when the system is unfamiliar and the options are unknown.Helping our kids choose the right school is one way in which school administrators, community leaders, and mental health and educational professionals, can play an active role in guiding teens through their adolescent years, especially in our difficult times.
The Dati Leumi sector in Israel has become aware of growing problems among its teens. Perhaps as a result of the growing tensions in the world around us, reconciling the modern world with our traditions, and defining their own identity, some teens have been experiencing difficulty in withstanding academic pressure, social isolation, low self-esteem, learning difficulties, religious identity, and individual and spiritual expression, among other problems. Although adolescent Anglo-Saxon olim have the compounded stress of acclimating to a new culture, recent research proves that many teens in the Dati Leumi sector are suffering from these related issues. A great number of teens are dissatisfied with their high schools, failing out of high schools and/or being expelled for failing to meet school standards.
This evening has been designed to help guide teens and parents, olim and native Israelis, through the challenging process of finding the best school to suit their needs as emerging individuals. This program will be presented as Stage 1 of the search process. It is an introduction to finding out about the various high schools and their diverse educational programs in the Bet Shemesh and Jerusalem areas.
MaLaCH provides parents and teens with the necessary information to help them make good High school choices that will best facilitate realizing the strengths and potential of each individual student.
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