Israeli Education Minister Releases Damaging Test Scores Amid Controversy

Education Minister Yoav Kisch unexpectedly released the results of the national "Mitzav" (Measures of Student Achievement) exams late Tuesday night, after months of attempting to withhold them. The delayed release followed legal advice from the Attorney General, who instructed Kisch that he could not prevent the publication of the data. The ministry released the scores independently, without coordination with RAMA, the National Institute for Educational Assessment, which traditionally handles such publications.

The released data paints a grim picture, particularly in science, mathematics, and English. In science for eighth graders, only 3% achieved a high performance level, with 81% falling into the lowest two categories. For sixth graders, just over a third met high performance standards in English and mathematics. The results also highlight significant gaps based on socioeconomic background, supervision type, and sector, indicating that even high average scores do not guarantee a large cohort of top-performing students.

RAMA's reports show disparities across various groups. For instance, in science, while Hebrew speakers from high socioeconomic backgrounds showed some of the lowest performance, Druze students and Arabic speakers from middle socioeconomic backgrounds achieved the highest scores. Notably, there were no significant performance differences between Hebrew and Arabic speakers in science, suggesting a shared low level of mastery across both language groups. Motivation for learning and parental attitudes were found to positively correlate with student achievement.

Further breakdowns reveal performance differences within educational streams. In mathematics, 37% of students reached a high performance level, but this varied significantly, with only 23% in the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) education sector achieving high marks compared to 40% in the state education sector. Similar trends were observed in English, where 17% of Haredi students reached a high level, versus 44% in state education. The ultra-Orthodox sector also showed the lowest English proficiency among Arabic-speaking students.

The release has been met with criticism. A senior education system official described the move as "like a thief in the night," noting that Kisch had previously questioned RAMA's data reliability. The Movement for Freedom of Information also criticized the release, calling it "general and vague" and suggesting it was an attempt to obscure the findings rather than promote transparency. The Ministry of Education stated that the reports were released in full as received from RAMA, following professional disputes and an external review, and that the minister ordered their publication after claims of an attempted cover-up arose.