Collaborative working group promoting mathematics excellence in PISA in the social periphery

The results of PISA 2022 revealed large gaps between students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, 19.2% of students from families in the top third of the socioeconomic scale achieved a top-performing score (levels 5-6), compared to only 1.8% of students from the lowest income third. These substantial gaps have placed Israel in an unflattering fourth place among OECD countries. The PISA report adds another perspective on this gap, showing that in Israel, only 7.7% of students from the lowest economic quartile performed at the top quartile of achievement.

For many years, the socioeconomic gap has been a major concern in Israeli society. It aroused interest in government, universities, schools, philanthropy, civil society, industry, and the public. Despite efforts through policies, programs, and budgets, progress has been minimal. The war that started in October 2023 exposed these gaps at intense levels, as evacuees from Israel’s Southern and Northern peripheries were relocated to the more affluent central areas. This encounter often proved counterproductive, especially when students attempted to integrate into local excellence classes, revealing the significant gaps.

To deep dive into this issue, with a specific focus on the high levels of mathematics in PISA, we turned to Unistream, a nonprofit organization that operates entrepreneurship programs for students from low-income families. We asked Unistream to lead one of the subgroups of the renewed Collective Impact Coalition. Unistream is proposing to establish a cross-sector workgroup aiming to identify effective strategies, comprising 50 participants, to hold discussions over a period of eighteen months. The group will learn together and prepare an analysis and a joint set of recommendations.

The group will include members from government, universities, local authorities, high-tech companies, nonprofit organizations, and schools. It will be advised by experts, led by an experienced coordinator and meet for 8 sessions. In addition, they will conduct site visits to municipalities and schools that have demonstrated significant improvement in attaining a high rate of participation in excellence classes, and a high rate of tech-matriculation majors. During these visits, the group will aim to identify the key success factors and assess their potential for widespread applicability. The work will conclude with a final report that will be published and disseminated to policy makers.