The results of the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), run by the OECD, paint a very troubling picture of student achievement in Israel. Only 54% of 15-year-old students reached at least the basic proficiency level in mathematics, 59% in reading, and 60% in science. It is worth pausing for a moment to consider what these figures mean: nearly half of 15-year-olds in Israel do not reach the basic proficiency level in mathematics, and four in 10 do not reach it in reading and science. In all three subjects, Israel recorded its lowest scores since it began participating in the PISA assessments.
But the findings of the international assessment point not only to low achievement, but also to very large disparities between population groups. In mathematics, only 23% of Arabic-speaking students reached the basic proficiency level, compared with 62% among the other students who took the test; in reading, the figures were 25% versus 68%; and in science, 32% versus 67%.
Is this really a surprise?
A few months ago, the results of the Tnufa assessments, held by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education, which evaluates performance, efficiency and learning for ninth-grade students were published, and they already showed the same pattern—low achievement levels alongside significant disparities. For example, in Hebrew language, only 44% of students in Hebrew-speaking schools met the curriculum requirements, compared with 19% in Arabic-speaking schools. In English, the rates were even lower—27% versus 9%, respectively.
PISA, then, does not reveal a new problem, but reinforces a picture that emerges time and again from different assessments. One can debate this test or that, the methodology used to measure achievement, or the point in time at which the test was conducted. But when different national and international assessments repeatedly point in the same direction, it is difficult to treat the results as an isolated event. They reflect a systemic and ongoing problem that will not disappear with the publication of the next report.
In its responses to the concerning PISA results, the Education Ministry emphasized that the assessment was conducted after nearly a year and a half of war. Indeed, war has a profound impact on the education system, and it may explain some of the decline in the results. But it cannot explain the existence of disparities between population groups, which predate the war by many years and have been evident over time across different measures.
An education system cannot be satisfied with simply raising the national average. When belonging to a particular population group is so clearly associated with a student’s chances of reaching the required level of academic proficiency, this is a question of the equal opportunities that the education system is able to provide. The consequences of these disparities do not end when students leave school: they can limit students’ opportunities later in life and deepen inequalities that already exist in society.
The information is on the table, and now we need to move from knowledge to action. Improving achievement and narrowing disparities must be at the top of the national agenda, with binding targets, clear accountability for results, external assessment, and effective support reaching every student. The task is twofold: to raise the level of achievement among all students while, at the same time, breaking the link between a child’s background and their chances of succeeding in the education system.
The next assessment should not tell us the same story again. It should show that change has already begun.
The author is the CEO of Yecholot, an organization working to reduce educational disparities, prevent dropout, and promote equal opportunities in education.