RAMA Report Reveals Severe Educational Deficits and Record Low Test Scores
A new RAMA report shows 81 percent of ninth-graders score low in science, compounding record-low PISA results. Education Minister Yoav Kisch released the data after months of withholding the failures.
A new report released by the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA) reveals severe shortcomings in Israel's educational system, with 81 percent of ninth-grade students scoring low or medium-low in science. Only 3 percent of ninth-graders meet the required standards in science, according to the findings of four newly published Momentum exams (the new Meitzav).
Widespread Academic Declines Across Key Subjects
The crisis extends beyond science. Among sixth-grade students, 48 percent perform at a low level in English, and only 36 percent meet the required standards. In mathematics, 37 percent of sixth-graders fall into the low-level category, though this is considered less severe than other subjects. However, the data highlights deep socioeconomic disparities, showing that 50 percent of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds perform at a low level.
These alarming results compound Israel's poor performance in the 2025 PISA tests for ninth-graders, which marked the lowest scores in the country's history. Israel recorded the second-largest drop among the 75 participating nations. Reports indicate that Minister of Education Yoav Kisch had banned RAMA from publishing test results for months to prevent the public disclosure of these failures. Last night, Kisch released unapproved drafts of the four Momentum exams in an apparent effort to bury the failures amid the broader discourse surrounding the PISA results. RAMA published the official test data today.
Narrowing Gaps and Sectoral Challenges
An interesting phenomenon highlighted in the report is the blurring of achievement gaps between Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking students. For example, in ninth-grade science, the average score for Arab students was only one point lower than that of Jewish students. The highest-scoring groups in this exam were Druze students and Arab students from middle socioeconomic backgrounds. In sixth-grade English, Arab students led by a single point, while in ninth-grade mathematics, 37 percent of Arab students fell into the low-level category, matching the rate among Jewish students.
Experts question whether this trend stems from genuine gap-closing or from a sharp decline in the academic achievements of the non-haredi Jewish educational sector amid the ongoing war.
«Only 20 percent of Arab students meet the curriculum requirements in Hebrew, raising serious concerns regarding higher education and employment integration.»
Particularly concerning is the finding that only 20 percent of Arab students meet the curriculum requirements in Hebrew. Mastery of Hebrew remains critical for graduates of the Arab educational system to successfully integrate into higher education and the labor market. A breakdown of full curriculum compliance in Hebrew reveals that Druze students stand at 29 percent, the general Arab sector at 24 percent, and Bedouin students in the southern region at a mere 11 percent.
