Israeli student grades dropping sharply, initial national evaluation report confirms
Kisch released the RAMA report after the OECD published the international PISA results on Tuesday, with officials describing the findings as a "catastrophic event on a historic scale."
Israeli students are experiencing a significant decline in academic performance, as revealed by an initial report by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA), confirmed on Tuesday. This comes after the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released their international Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, which have been labeled as a catastrophic event on a historic scale.
According to the preliminary findings, only 3% of 9th-grade students are considered to be fully meeting the ministry's requirements in their science and technology education programs, with 16% considered near full requirement fulfillment. In contrast, 36% of 6th-grade students excelled in English, followed by 37% in mathematics and 20% in Hebrew.
These statistics align with the PISA results, which show a sharp decline for Israel, falling eight places in science, seven in reading, and six in mathematics compared to the previous assessment in 2022. Israel's 2025 PISA results are the lowest in the country's history. Despite the report being made available to media representatives well in advance, coordination delays led to a last-minute release, with Education Minister Yoav Kisch attempting to delay its publication.
Kisch expressed disappointment in his tenure, but ultimately had to release the findings after legal advisors and RAMA officials clarified their publication status.
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