Teaching mathematically gifted students in Israel: The state of the art

This chapter summarizing the situation of teaching mathematics to the gifted elementary- and high school student in Israel. It surveys the various frames of learning: formal learning in the regular and in the gifted class, and the learning of math in the enrichment programs for the gifted - both in the Hebrew an in the Arab sectors. The second part of this chapter summarizes all the existing non-formal programs - acceleration as well as enrichment - for the mathematically gifted child and adolescent. It includes descriptions of these programs, their target audience, the subject learnt in them and the level of studying, the prerequisites - if any, and the contribution to the students in terms of contents as well as certificates or diplomas. The third part of the chapter deals with the contradiction between the well-developed are of learning high level mathematics for gifted students on one side and the comparatively low achievements of Israeli best students in the International examinations- TIMSS and PISA - on the other.