Gaps in achievements of students in Israel in mathematics and science - are the highest in the world

Throughout a decade, the achievements of Israeli students in mathematics and science have remained unchanged, but the gaps in Israel are still among the highest in the world. This is according to the International Times report for 2019, which will be published this morning.
According to the report, there is a slight increase in the achievements of 8th grade students in Israel in mathematics and science, but the gaps between outstanding students and weak students remain among the highest among the countries that participated in the study. According to the study, the higher the socio-economic background, the higher the students' achievements.
The gaps between Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking students are still large, although they have narrowed slightly.
Israel is ranked 9th in the ranking of countries' achievements in mathematics out of 39 countries
And in 16th place in the ranking of countries' achievements in science. The first places are occupied in both mathematics and science by Far Eastern countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
The TIMES study is an international study conducted by the International Organization for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in Cycles of one to four years. The study was designed to evaluate the knowledge and skills of eighth graders in math and science.
The achievements of Hebrew-speaking students are higher than those of Arabic-speaking students in both mathematics and science. The main achievement gap between the language sectors is explained by the difference in the composition of the students in terms of their socio-economic background.
Compared to the previous Times report conducted in 2015, among students in the Arabic-speaking sector, there was a significant improvement in the average achievement, an increase of 16 points in mathematics and an even greater increase of 25 points in science.
On the other hand, the achievements of Hebrew speakers recorded stability. As a result, the achievement gap between language sectors has narrowed in the current study cycle. In both mathematics and science, significant gaps were found in the average achievement between students from different groups of socio-economic background in favor of students from higher backgrounds. In Israel, the gaps in achievement between students from high socio-economic backgrounds and students from low socio-economic backgrounds stand at about 120 points in mathematics and about 100 points in science.
There are also gender gaps in Israel. Boys 'achievements are higher than girls' achievements in mathematics.
Among Hebrew speakers, boys 'achievements are higher than girls' achievements in both mathematics and science. In contrast, among Arabic speakers, girls 'achievements are higher than boys' achievements in science.
The rates of students in Israel who are very confident in their ability in mathematics and science as well as those who highly value mathematics are much higher than the average rate among the countries participating in the study.