The population

Four Israeli schools were chosen for the sample:

8.1.1. The Tel Aviv Municipal “Bet-Gimmel” school – Zeitlin

In the Zeitlin religious junior- and high school in Tel Aviv, 236 questionnaires, from 9 classes – 4 boys’ and 5 girls’; 3 7th, 4 8th, and 2 9th grade classes were filled. The school has over 1100 students, all learning in single-sex classes;

The Tel Aviv Municipal “Bet-Gimmel” [= school, named after the late

Rabbi Aaron Zeitlin, is comprised of a boys’ school (“Bet”) and a girls’ one (“Gimmel”). The school policy has an admissions priority for Tel Aviv residents. The two criteria for acceptance of pupils who are not residents of Tel Aviv are a high academic level and a “very good” grade in “behavior”. Every year three new scientific 7th grade classes are opened: two for girls and one for boys. Every 6th grader who wants to ensure acceptance to one of these classes has to take psychometric tests given at the end of the first term, and score at percentile 85. The school admits new students to the 8th, 9th, and 10th scientific classes if there are vacancies due to dropout of students from the existing classes. The school does not admit students to the non- scientific classes, where the dropout rate is much higher. Thus, while the average number of 7th grade classes open every year is 8, there are always just 5-6 12th grade classes.

About two thirds of the school population are girls. In the 2001/2 school year the average class size was 34. However, the class size varied by the type of the class: scientific 7th grade classes were the largest; non-scientific 8th grade classes – the smallest.

The school’s socio-economic profile is mixed: most of its students come from southern suburbs, which are considered lower class to low middle-class neighborhoods, and only about a quarter come from the northern parts of Tel Aviv, which are middle to upper middle-class neighborhoods. The male population at Zeitlin is at least 90% of Asian-African origin. In spite of this fact the percentage of 12th graders entitled to the matriculation certificate in one of the highest among all Tel Aviv schools.

8.1.2. The Tel Aviv Alliance school

The Alliance junior- and high school in Tel Aviv is a mixed school with 24 junior high school and 20 high school classes. 260 questionnaires were filed in 8 classes – 2 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade classes;

The Alliance school located in Ramat Aviv, a northern suburb of Tel Aviv, is one of the best schools not only in Tel Aviv but also in the whole country regarding the success rate in the matriculation examinations. In the year 2001 it scored with 95% success rate of its graduates (Ilil Shachar, 27.3.2002).

French is an obligatory subject at the Alliance school, thus students who are admitted to one of its 7th grade classes must belong to one of the three categories:

i. Be a native speaker of French;

ii. Be a new comer from a French speaking country;

iii. Belong to a wealthy family that can pay for private French lessons.

As pupils from the first two groups are a small minority of the Israeli population, most of Alliance students belong to the third one. In addition, as the school is not municipal acceptance has always been limited to students with high academic achievements in other subjects as well.

In the 2001/2 academic year the Alliance school had 43 classes with 1605 students. The average class size was over 37 pupils – higher than the average in the Jewish sector and similar to the Arab one. The number of boys was almost equal to that of girls in all school grades and all classes: the total was 798 boys and 807 girls.

8.1.3. The Um El-Fachm El-Razi junior high school

The El-Razi junior high school is located in Um El-Fachm, a large religious Muslim village a few kilometers from the border of the Palestinian Authority.

El-Razi is a mixed-sex school with over 800 students. 237 questionnaires were

collected in 7 classes: 2 7th and 8th classes, and 3 9th grade classes. In 2001/2 15%- 40% of the 12-15 year old girls In the El-Razi school already cover their heads, and according the headmaster this tendency increases every year, especially among younger girls. Almost all female teachers were wearing traditional dresses and covered their heads as well, while the headmaster and all male teachers and students were wearing western cloths.

The school is considered a good one in comparison to other schools in the Arab sector in general and to the other junior high schools in Um El-Fachm in particular. The school is non-selective and the dropout rate is low. The average class size is 34-35 children in all grades.

The socio-economic background of the students is about the average of that in the Arab sector.

8.1.4. The Um El-Fachm Hadige high school for girls

The Hadige high school for girls in Um El-Fachm was founded in 1992 as an initiative of parents who wanted their daughters to study in a single-sex school. The school is non-selective: there are no entrance examinations or other conditions for girls who wish to be accepted the school.

The Hadige high school consists of 21 classes: 7 10th grade classes, 6 11th-, and 8 12th grade classes. Both 10th grade classes participating in my study had 37 students in each; as no student was missing or refused to fill a questionnaire 74 questionnaires were filled in these two classes.

Like in Zeitlin each school grade in Hadige has two scientific classes, to which students are selected according to their 9th grade report and entrance examinations. Unlike in Zeitlin there is no dropout policy. All girls who wish to take the matriculation exams are encouraged to do so; many other tracks are open for the girls who find the scientific track too demanding. In the non-scientific classes the number of students is lower thus the average school number is 31 students per class.

The 621 girls who studied in Hadige in the 2001/2 school year belonged to all social and financial classes in Um El-Fachm and in the villages around it. Um El- Fachm is considered very religious – its previous mayor resigned in the year 2000 in order to become leader of the Israeli Islamic Movement. In the Hadige high school about 75% of the girls cover their heads, and all students as well as female teachers wear traditional long dark costumes.

8.1.5. Distribution of the questionnaires in each cell

822 questionnaires were collected; 808 of them have been analyzed. The questionnaires can be divided to 5 groups, according to the 5 following independent variable:

1. Gender:

1. Boys – Zeitlin: 93, El-Razi: 111, Alliance: 131. TOTAL: 335

2. Girls – Zeitlin: 143, El-Razi: 126, Alliance: 130, Hadige: 74. TOTAL:

473