ABSTRACT
The meaning of any social-educational program can be evaluated only in the frame of reference of a total political, social and economic system at a certain stage and pattern of modernization. This chapter presents conceptualization of the confrontation and coping of the Israeli school system by suggesting the five stages. The five stages are the pioneer-voluntary stage, the formal equality stage, the compensatory education stage, the school reform stage, and the experimenting school stage. The first pioneers and their supporters in Europe established elementary and secondary schools according to their value orientations. In both the Formal Equality stage and the Compensatory Education stage, the disadvantaged were the only group forced to attempt adaptation and change. One should also realize that the demand for school reform has broader foundations than just the needs of the disadvantaged groups.
