After 3 years of war: Israeli students’ educational scores plunge

According to the newly released test scores, Israeli students are now performing well below the OECD average in mathematics, science and reading.

By World Israel News Staff

New data has revealed a troubling decline in Israeli students’ academic performance, nearly three years after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacres and the subsequent multi-front war, including two rounds of open conflict with Iran.

The findings were released by PISA, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, which evaluates the academic performance of 15-year-old students in key areas including mathematics, science and reading.

The previous PISA assessment was conducted in 2022, before the October 7 massacres and the wars that followed. The latest results therefore provide a comparison between Israeli students’ academic performance before and after a period of extraordinary disruption to the country’s education system.

According to the newly released test scores, Israeli students are now performing well below the OECD average in mathematics, science and reading.

Almost three in 10 Israeli students are now classified as lacking proficiency in all three core subjects, according to the results.

Israel is also ranked among the bottom nine of the 38 participating OECD countries.
“The declines in Israel are among the sharpest recorded in OECD countries since the PISA study began in 2000, particularly in reading,” the Education Ministry said in a statement about the findings.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch acknowledged the difficult circumstances surrounding the results while taking a relatively optimistic view of the education system’s ability to withstand the upheaval.

Considering the intensity of the war, “the evacuation of communities and profound disruption to the continuity of learning, these results are in my view evidence of the extraordinary resilience of the Israeli education system,” Kisch said.

The Israeli National Parents Association, which represents parents of children enrolled in the country’s school system, struck a considerably harsher tone in its response to the findings.

“If Israel is an outlier compared with OECD countries, it is time to stop looking for excuses and start looking for solutions,” the group said. “PISA tests are not the problem; they are the mirror. Instead of arguing with the mirror, it is time to deal with what it reflects.”