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Orthner trains teachers in Israel on CareerStart curriculum

From June 15-18, Professor Emeritus Dennis Orthner trained over 170 teachers, and their principals and curriculum specialists to implement CareerStart in 20 middle schools in Israel. They are starting in 7th grade classes since that is the year that middle school begins in Israel. These are schools that serve both Israeli and Arab students in the Central District in the southern part of the country.

“It was a fantastic experience with all my slides and materials translated into Hebrew and Arabic, and simultaneous translation for those educators who were not that proficient in my English presentation,” said Orthner. “The teachers I trained will be teaching English, Hebrew, Arabic and science.”

The training was well received. “My teachers came back from their sessions with light in their eyes and even higher motivation to implement the program in their teaching process,” said school principal Shelley Keren.

“Everyone left excited about the possibilities of supporting their students in this new pedagogy. It was so great to do this, and they loved the strong research foundation that we build to support the implementation,” added Orthner.

This is the first formal training and implementation of the CareerStart model outside of the United States.

Orthner helped launch CareerStart in 2005, with one primary goal in mind: to keep more students in school. CareerStart is an intervention program that helps middle school students connect what they are learning in school to future career opportunities, as a way to reach those most at-risk of failing.

Related story: Guide published on how schools can implement CareerStart program