Education Minister Kisch orders sweeping overhaul of Israeli school testing after PISA failures

"After carefully examining the professional review report prepared by Prof. Ami Moyal, I announce that I accept and adopt the report's conclusions and all of its recommendations in full," Kisch said.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Tuesday adopted all the conclusions and recommendations of a professional review by Prof. Ami Moyal of Israel's national school assessment system, ordering a comprehensive overhaul of the country's testing and evaluation framework.

Speaking at a meeting of the Education Ministry's senior management, Kisch said the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA) would not be permitted to continue operating as it had previously until the recommendations were implemented.

"After carefully examining the professional review report prepared by Prof. Ami Moyal, I announce that I accept and adopt the report's conclusions and all of its recommendations in full," Kisch said.

"A national measurement and evaluation system is essential infrastructure, but for its findings to lead to genuine pedagogical and managerial improvement, comprehensive systemic and managerial regulation is required. We cannot continue working in a dysfunctional manner. Therefore, I am determining that until the recommendations are implemented, RAMA will not be able to continue operating as it has until now."

The decision follows a dispute over the national Tenufa Lemachar (Momentum for Tomorrow) examinations, which assess student achievement across the Israeli education system.

Comprehensive reforms to national examinations

Under the minister's directive, the Education Ministry will implement nine measures to change the structure, administration, and reporting of national assessments.

The first measure calls for the development of a comprehensive English assessment framework covering all skills required by the national curriculum, including writing, listening comprehension and speaking.

The ministry will also revise the performance-level model used to interpret examination results. Under the new framework, the highest achievement level will no longer be presented as the only level indicating compliance with curriculum requirements.

Instead, a basic educational benchmark will be established to reflect whether students have met fundamental learning requirements. Additional performance levels will present the full range and distribution of student achievement.

The reform announcement comes amid broader scrutiny of Israel's education system after the country's worst-ever PISA results showed substantial declines in student performance in mathematics, reading, and science.