Cooperative Learning Effects on Ethnic Relations and Achievement in Israeli Junior-High-School Classrooms

Abstract

Israel is a country of immigrants whose ethnic ties are roughly divided into two groups: Jews who emmigrated to Israel from the Muslim countries of the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa (referred to as Middle Eastern), and those who came from Europe, the Americas, and South Africa (referred to as Western). The integration of these two major ethnic groups is acknowledged to be one of the central problems confronting Israel’s educational system. The population of the country is roughly equally divided at present between the two groups. Research on various aspects of school desegregation in Israel has been extensively summarized in a recent volume (Amir & Sharan, 1984).