A7NEWS: Arab Students' Poor Grades Drag Israel Down To Botto Third

Arab Students' Poor Grades Drag Israel Down to Bottom Third
by Hillel Fendel

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."

Calls for Education Minister to Resign
In light of the ongoing, seven-week-long teachers' strike, 40 MKs, including Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, have signed a petition calling on Prime Minister Olmert to fire Education Minister Yuli Tamir.

"In light of the grave blow being suffered by the educational establishment," the petition reads, "we, MKs from all parties, call on the Prime Minister to transfer the Education Minister from her post. Unfortunately, we have not seen the Education Minister show the leadership and involvement necessary for the recent crisis."

The MKs also called on Olmert to become involved in the negotiations to end the strike and to find an immediate solution.