Israel's educational system has suffered two blows over the past two days - poor showings on its own Meitzav achievement tests, and a below-average international placement in the PIRLS reading literacy tests.  However, both results are very much affected by the low scores of the Arab sector.

For instance, though Israel finished in 31st place out of 45 countries in the PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) tests, the Jewish sector's scores placed it in the equivalent of 11th place, while the Israeli-Arabs alone would have finished in 40th.

In Israel's national achievement tests, the Meitzav tests, the results are not good - but here, too, the low Arab sector scores brought them down even further.  The 5th-grade test in "mother tongue," for instance, showed a great gap: The Jewish classes scored an average of 79 in Hebrew, while the Arabs registered 60.9 in Arabic.

The average score for 5th-graders in math is a poor 56.9, where the Jewish pupils scored 61.3 and the Arabs registered 45.9.  Other national Meitzav scores: 68.8 in science and technology (72.5 in Jewish classes), and 72.5 in English (74.2 in Hebrew-speaking classes). 

The Meitzav tests are administered each year to 2nd, 5th and 8th graders across the country in Math, English, Hebrew/Arabic, and science and technology.  Meitzav is a Hebrew acronym for "School Efficiency and Growth Standards."

The PIRLS test is an international test given every five years by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) in participating countries. Translated in Israel into Hebrew and Arabic, the test measures trends in children’s reading literacy achievement. Over 3,900 children in 149 schools - none of which were hareidi-religious or special-education - were tested.

Army Radio Exchange
Army Radio program hosts Jackie Levy and Avri Gilad discussed the gap between the Arab and Jewish scores on their morning broadcast.  Gilad said, "This reflects poorly on the way we treat the Arab sectors in our midst, and especially the Bedouin sector." 

Levy retorted, "The way we treat them? I would like to tell you this story. My children go to a mixed kindergarten, where there are both deaf and hearing children, as well as Arabs and Jews. I want them to see that there are different types of people... There is a plaque on the wall there listing the donors to this important school - and not one of the donors is Arab! Why is it only that Jews from Chicago or Zurich feel a school like this is important enough to support?  Where are all the Arab millionaires?  They can only support Kassam-manufacturing plants?"

Gilad then said, "What you are saying relates back to what was said at Annapolis. It appears that the Jews are always taking responsibility for the problems of others, while [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas was barely able to mention the word 'terrorism' ... The Arabs always take the role of the victims, and never the ones who take responsibility for effecting change."

Israel Poverty: One In Three Children Are Hungry

By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
and Joel Leyden, Israel News Agency

Jerusalem----October 12......As Israel enters into Yom Kippur one fact remains unchanged. One Israel child out of three is poor, a poverty report reveals. Every third child in Israel lives below the poverty line, according to an annual National Insurance Institute (NII) poverty report released recently.

The figures indicate that one-third of all poor families are Israeli Arab, according to Mossawa, the Advocacy Center for Arab Palestinian Citizens of Israel. The group said it estimates that 60 percent of all Arab children in Israel live below the poverty line. Mossawa said the percentage of poor families in the Arab sector in 2004 stands at 49.9 percent, up from the 2003 mark of 48.4 percent.

After six years of relative stability in Israel, the year 2003 marked the start of the ascension of poverty rates. In that year, the proportion of poor families rose from 18.1 percent of the population to 19.3 percent. The report was released just as the 2006 budget is expected to come up for cabinet approval. The Finance Ministry responded to the report by saying that two-thirds of the poverty "focuses on the Arab and Haredi population, two groups which are characterized by multi-children families as well as small percentage of people who take part in the job market."