Last update - 00:00 28/11/2007
Report: Wide gaps between test scores in Jewish, Arab schools
By Or Kashti, Haaretz Correspondent
The Education Ministry published statistics Wednesday that indicate significant differences between the test scores of students attending Jewish and Arab schools. The statistics were drawn from the Measure of Efficiency and Growth in School standardized tests (Meitzav), which were last given at the end of the last school year.
The average mathematics score for fifth-graders was 56.9 percent last year, while English and technology scores were higher, at around 70 percent. On the language test (Hebrew and Arabic), students from the Jewish sector achieved an average of 79 percent, while the Arab students' average was 60.9 percent.
The report also revealed that one third of the students were unsatisfied with their school, and that 15 percent of them had been involved in various violent incidents.
The tests were administered in 937 schools to 80,000 students from the second, fifth, and eighth grades. The exams focused on four main subjects- language (the student's mother tongue), mathematics, English, and technology and sciences. In addition, the test evaluated topics related to teachers-student relations, and the "social climate" at the schools.
The scores in the various subjects reveal significant differences between the Jewish and Arab students. For example, the average mathematics test score (which assesses the students' knowledge of natural numbers, simple fractions, geometry, and measurements) was 61.3 percent in Jewish schools as opposed to 45.9 percent in Arab schools. In English, the average score among Jewish students was 74.2 percent compared with 68.6 percent among Arab students. In the sciences and technology test, the scores for the Jewish and Arab students were 72.5 and 60 percent, respectively.
Gaps between males and females
The gap between males and females on the national level was considerably small, according to the statistics, but when each sector was evaluated separately, it emerged that in Jewish schools, females reached higher averages in Hebrew and English than males, but lower in mathematics. In the Arab sector, females reached considerably higher averages than males in all the subjects.
The data also revealed that in each subject and within both sectors, there was a correlation between the socio-economic status of fifth grade students and their academic performance. For example, there is a 10-20 point gap on average on the different tests. The greatest gap was seen on the mathematics test, where students from low socio-economic strata had an average of 44.9 percent, as opposed to 65.8 percent among students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
With regard to the "school social climate," it was found that two-thirds of the students reported high satisfaction with their schools (higher satisfaction was found with fifth-sixth graders than with seventh- eighth graders), but only 46 percent of them related positive relations with their teachers, expressed through feelings of respect, closeness, and concern. When asked in more detail, only 43 percent of the students agreed with the statement "most of the teachers do not act in a hurtful or offensive manner."
Israel ranks 31 in international reading test
Israeli students ranked in 31st place out of 45 states in an international test which evaluated fourth graders' reading literacy. The test, called The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), conducted by Boston College, assessed 215,000 fourth-grade students' ability to read both literary and informational text.
The ranking was not much higher than the Israel's previous 2001 ranking.
Russia topped the 2006 PIRLS study, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore
and researchers said students' reading ability in those places had improved dramatically since the last study period in 2001.
The worst performances came from South Africa, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar,
Indonesia, Iran, Trinidad and Tobago, Macedonia, Georgia and Romania.
"Most of the highest-achieving countries in 2006 showed significant
improvement since 2001," Ina Mullis and Michael Martin, directors of the
Boston College research center that conducted the survey, said in a statement.
Some 40 countries were involved in the 2006 study while the 2001 survey
looked at reading performance in 26 countries, making ranks from five years ago not directly comparable.
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