Closing achievement gaps between Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking students in Israel: Findings from TIMSS-2003

Closing achievement gaps between sub-populations in Israel, and among them between students in the Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools, continues to be one of the priorities of Israel's education system. TIMSS-2003 findings provide first evidence that efforts made during the 1990s to close these gaps were in the right direction although inequality in input between the two sectors still remains. This paper on the one hand highlights factors that still perpetuate the achievement gap and on the other detects factors that explain why these gaps have narrowed.