Israel's PISA Scores Plummet Amid War, Experts Cite Multiple Factors

Israeli students have experienced a significant decline in their performance on the latest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests, with education experts pointing to the ongoing "Swords of Iron" war as a major contributing factor. The results, released Tuesday, show a sharp drop in reading comprehension, mathematics, and science compared to the 2022 assessment. In reading comprehension, Israel fell five places to 31st out of 38 OECD countries, while in science and mathematics, it dropped to 33rd place.

Education experts, including Professor Iris Ben-David Hadar from Bar-Ilan University, emphasize that the tests were conducted under the shadow of a major crisis, impacting teachers, students, the regularity of studies, and the general morale. "The education system continued to function under conditions no other system in the OECD has faced," she stated, highlighting the unprecedented challenges. She also noted that a global decline in reading comprehension is evident across developed nations, partly due to the cumulative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and changing reading habits among screen-reliant youth.

However, some experts caution against solely attributing the decline to the war. Professor Yizhar Oplatka from Tel Aviv University argues that the education system was already in a state of decline prior to the conflict, calling the PISA results a "resounding wake-up call." He stressed the need to recruit and retain quality educators, warning against a "brain drain" from the education sector similar to that seen in academia and medicine. Others point to methodological changes in the PISA tests themselves, such as the introduction of adaptive testing and the use of AI in grading open-ended questions, which may have influenced the scores, particularly for Hebrew and Arabic speakers.

Despite the overall negative trend, there was a bright spot: Israeli students performed slightly above the OECD average in creative thinking, excelling in idea evaluation, improvement, and solving social and scientific problems. Experts suggest that focusing on reducing the percentage of struggling students through differential resource allocation, more quality teachers, and individualized support could improve national averages over time. The Parents' National Federation described the results as a "severe indictment" of the education system, emphasizing the loss of approximately 160-170 effective school days due to the pandemic and war, and urging a shift from seeking excuses to finding solutions through a national plan to close learning gaps.