Education Minister Accused of Hiding Poor Test Results Amid PISA Fallout

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch is facing accusations of attempting to obscure negative national test results by releasing them simultaneously with the fallout from the poor PISA scores. Kisch reportedly delayed the publication of results from four national exams, including the "Tnuafa" (formerly Mitzkev) science assessment for eighth graders, where only 3% met curriculum requirements and 81% were rated low.

This move follows a directive from Kisch to the National Institute for Educational Assessment (NIERA) to withhold the "Tnuafa" results after NIERA refused his demands to alter the data. Subsequently, Kisch banned the publication of all NIERA reports.

The Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, issued an opinion last week stating that the test results must be published. NIERA CEO Alon Gal informed Kisch of his intention to release the results on the upcoming Sunday, though he suggested coordinating a different date. Kisch had requested the results be published at the end of the month.

However, Kisch preemptively released draft results for the four delayed exams on Tuesday evening at 8:31 PM. Critics argue this timing was intended to prevent coverage in evening news broadcasts and effectively hide the "serious findings." Calcalist newspaper stated it would publish the official results once they are formally released, noting the questionable validity of the distributed drafts.