Research Foci 2021/22
During the current academic year, the CSMD is conducting two main research projects. Prof. Barak-Corren is leading a project that maps the obstacles to the implementation of the national core curriculum in ultra-Orthodox schools and developing ways to mitigate them. Estimates project that by 2050, half of Israeli first-grade pupils will be ultra-Orthodox. Yet half of these students — the boys — do not study math, sciences, or English; they are taught only religious studies, even though their schools receive state funding and are bound by the core curriculum regulations. Through the collection of school data and in-depth interviews with officials, principals, teachers, parents, and rabbis, Barak-Corren has revealed that while the core curriculum policy is appreciated for its practical benefits, it is also perceived as a threat to religious identity. She is now working on a series of decision-making experiments to examine behavioral interventions that can help the government strengthen the practical aspects and reduce the perceptions that it threatens identity.
Prof. Hasisi is investigating the overwhelming level of gun violence being experienced throughout Arab society — across towns, villages and mixed Arab-Jewish cities — that is ruining the lives of hundreds of people and their families, and creating a pervasive atmosphere of terror and horror. Hasisi is leading an evidence-based intervention that harnesses evidence-based lessons from other countries which he first piloted in East Jerusalem with remarkable success. The intervention, a collaborative project with the Israel National Police and Ministry of Interior Affairs, integrates tools from hotspot policing, procedural fairness, and tailored assistance to at-risk youth.
