Once again Israeli public school students scored low in math, science and reading when compared to other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations. This is based on international literacy tests given to students in OECD countries to determine the level of education. No less alarming is the results show the gap between the successful and unsuccessful continues to widen, indicating all of the Ministry of Education programs targeting the periphery communities, promising to raise their level of education, as not as successful as one is led to believe.
The PISA test results were published on Tuesday by the National Testing and Evaluation Authority. The test was administered in Israel in March of 2015 during the tenure of Education Minister Shai Piron. 6,598 students from 173 different schools, primarily tenth graders, took the exam which measures ones literacy in mathematics, science and reading.
A total of 70 countries took part in the testing, including 35 nations belonging to the OECD, with Israel being one of them.
Sadly, the scores reveal there has been no improvement in the fields tested in comparison to the exams given in 2012.
Math
The tests are scored 200 to 800 and in math, the average Israeli score was 470 of 800. The OECD average was 490. This places Israel in 39th place among 70 nations.
Reading
The OECD average on the test was 493 while the Israeli average was only 479. Israel ranked 37th place out of 70 in this category.
Science
The Israeli average was 467 as compared to 493 for the OECD which leave Israel in 40th place out of 70.
Israel was ranked number one in the category of the gap between strongest and weakest students in the country. Of the 70 countries, Israel ranked the third largest gap in math between best and worst scores, beating out China and Malta. Israel beat China and Malta, rated in third place with the largest gap in reading as well and in science, Israel beat only China.
As far as areas in which Israeli students excel, 3% of Israeli students excel in math (4% OECD average) while 20% of Israeli students show considerable difficulty with the three subjects they were tested upon as compared to a 13% OECD average.
Hebrew-speaking students scored high than their Arabic-speaking counterparts by a margin of 104 in math, 115 in reading and 87 in science.
Education Minister Naftali Bennet was quick to point out the exams were given prior to his tenure and they clearly signal the need for much improvement in the system.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Why is the Education Minister worried about chareidim not being taught core subject when they should be more concerned about their public school students scoring low in core subjects?
“Hebrew-speaking students scored high than their Arabic-speaking counterparts….”
Speaking of basic literacy….
I suppose it is too much to expect the YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem, to include information about the standard deviation for each of the relevant tests. Without that information, there is no way to know whether the Israeli averages are really “worse” than the world-wide averages.
It is an old but true saying: “You get what you pay for.” Teachers are paid peanuts so you get mainly monkeys.
The public school system in Israel has always been a disaster. The ruling elite sends their children to private schools and then secures cushy positions for them in the IDF where they get advanced education for free. Under communism, you do not want a highly educated population. They need to be educated just enough to be good drones in the industrial-military machine but not enough to be able to make trouble. That is why so little is invested in education in Israel.