Abstract

Accountability in Israel’s education system intensified with the publication of Meitzav (Hebrew acronym for “School Efficiency and Growth Indices”) test scores at the local authority level (2011–2012) and at the school level (beginning in 2013). This publication was expected to spur municipal education departments and school teaching staff to undertake measures aimed at improving their students’ average test scores.

The study examined whether publishing these scores led to an increase in the rate of students excluded from the calculation of the published average score (including those who did not take the test) and whether it influenced the characteristics of these students. It also investigated the effect of publication on Meitzav scores themselves and on matriculation exam performance (in terms of the number of study units in various subjects and the scores attained). The research focused on eighth-grade students in schools that participated in the Meitzav, as well as on those in seventh and/or ninth grade when their school’s eighth-grade students were tested, as these students could have been impaired if resources were diverted away from them in favor of the test takers.

The study exploits the fact that test scores at the local authority level were published solely in medium-sized and large municipalities; the random sampling of schools participating in the Meitzav exams; and the rotating schedule of exams and subjects tested in each school (including changes in these patterns over time), and relies on comprehensive administrative data on eighth-grade students from 2002 to 2019.

The findings show that the likelihood of students’ exclusion from the calculation of the average eighth-grade Meitzav score is greater for those with weaker socioeconomic backgrounds and lower fifth-grade Meitzav scores. These patterns did not change significantly following the introduction of Meitzav score publication. Between 2009 and 2019, the proportion of students excluded from the calculation of the average eighth-grade Meitzav score rose from about 13 percent of students who otherwise should have been included to about 16 percent, but no link was found between this increase and the publication of the scores.

The publication of the eighth-grade Meitzav scores was not found to have any clear

impact on students ’scores, nor were schools’ participation in the exams or score publication found to have any effect on eighth-grade students’ matriculation exam achievements, including in Meitzav-related subjects. Furthermore, no impact was identified on the matriculation exam performance of students who were in seventh and/or ninth grade at the time their school’s eighth-grade students were tested on the Meitzav.

 

For a PDF of the article in Hebrew