At the behest of the Ministry of Education, the Yozma established a working group whose aim is to learn about strategies for measuring improvement in schools in Israel.

Like other parts of the education system, schools in Israel are also frequently measured, and done so using many indices. These measurements make it possible to present a status snapshot of schools at specific points in time. They do not, though, enable the precise examination and presentation of improvements made by a school over a period of time. A simple comparison between different periods could provide insights on this matter but would not, however, answer other questions, such as is a four-point increase in eligibility for matriculation in one school comparable to an identical rise in another school? Does a four point improvement, from an average grade of 90 to an average of 94, have the same significance as improvement from an average grade of 80 to an average of 84?

Participating in the working group are academicians from the fields of education, economics and sociology. Ministry of Education officials from divisions involved in measuring school improvement accompany the working group’s activities.

In order to arrive at the optimal measurement method, the working group will determine the variable or variables according to which improvement should be measured, the range of time over which improvement is to be measured, and the additional background variables which contribute to improvement. The measurement process will include the following activities:

• Examination of existing data about schools in Ministry of Education databases
• Examination of common and accepted methods and approaches in research on school improvement, and the advantages and disadvantages of their use
• Examination of existing methods of measurement of school improvement in Israel
• Examination of the possible implications of measuring school improvement and how to prevent negative implications

In the context of their learning process, the working group will hold discussions with experts in Israel and from abroad, examine alternatives to measurement methods for school improvement, and present examples of measurements of school improvement for one of the measurements selected.

Working group members:

Prof. Audrey Addi-Raccah

Senior lecturer in the Educational Administration, Policy and Leadership program at Tel Aviv University; serves as the program head. Her areas of research include social inequality and the sociology of teaching, and educational administration. In her research, Dr. Addi-Raccah pays special attention to issues of inequality in education systems, the feminization of administration, on the work of principals and more recently, on the relationship between the school and the surrounding environment and community. Dr. Addi-Raccah holds a PhD degree in sociology from Tel Aviv University, received in 1997.

Dr. Iris Ben David Hadar

Senior lecturer in the School of Education at Bar-Ilan University. Founder and co-chair of the Special Interest Group (SIG) on economics and education finance at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES). She is a member of the board of advisors of the National Education Finance Academy (NEFA). In addition, she is a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Higher Education Research in Belt and Road states, under the aegis of the Beijing Institute of Technology (China). She is also an advisor to the Education Commission on the topic of education finance, and a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Education Finance.

Her research addresses the relationships between education and economics with an emphasis on education finance policy. Likewise, she studies methods of allocating finance and budget resources as well as budgetary policies and methods that promote improvement.

Dr. Ben David Hadar has a Bachelor’s degree in economics and statistics, received in 1985, a Master’s degree in education administration, received in 1999, both from Tel Aviv University, and a PhD degree in education administration, supervised by Prof. Zeiderman of the Department of Economics, received from Bar-Ilan University in 2010. She carried out her post-doctoral research at Stanford University.

Dr. Ron Bratslavsky

Directs the Data Processing and Analysis Division at the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA). In his role, he processes and analyzes data from large-scale studies and is involved in the development and application of advanced statistical methodologies and tools. In addition, Dr. Bratslavsky is involved in evaluating the effectiveness of national curricula, intervention programs and reforms.

Dr. Bratslavsky holds a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Master’s and PhD degrees in social-organizational psychology, both received from Bar-Ilan University.

Hila Lankri-Mayost

Head of Division A - Planning and Policy, Senior Division of Strategy and Planning at the Ministry of Education. She was previously head of the Planning, Quality and Control Unit in the Ministry of Education’s Northern District. In her role she implemented quality procedures in accordance with European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) guidelines and planned and implemented strategic processes in the district. She is a graduate of the Public Service Cadets Program during which she interned at the Ministry of Defense and at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.

Ms. Lankri-Mayost, an attorney, holds a Bachelor’s degree in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Master’s degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University.

Prof. Adam Nir

Professor of education administration policy and holds the Abraham Shiffman Chair in Secondary Education at the Hebrew University. He is the former chair of the department at The Seymour Fox School of Education and the past president of the International Society for Educational Planning (ISEP). His research focuses on decentralization, autonomy and school-based management, leadership, and management and human resource management, and on education policy.

Prof. Nir holds a PhD degree in education policy and planning, received from the Hebrew University in 1996.

Dov Nathan

Economist and domain manager (statistical processing and analysis) in the Economics and Budgeting Administration at the Ministry of Education’s Economics and Statistics Department. He is a member of the team headed by Yoav Azulay, department director. The team is responsible for formulating and updating statistical status snapshots for the Ministry of Education and connects between diverse statistics entities in the field of education in Israel and around the world. The team is also responsible for developing and building operational tools using statistical data and making them accessible to the Ministry, as needed, and to the general public.

Mr. Natan holds a Master’s degree in economics, received from the Hebrew University in 2013.