JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel has recorded its worst-ever results in the international PISA assessment of educational systems, with 15-year-old students posting significant declines in mathematics, reading and science, according to results released Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

There was no improvement in any of the three areas tested. Compared with Israel’s results in the previous PISA assessment, conducted in 2022, the country fell eight places in science, seven places in reading and six places in mathematics.

Education Ministry officials who spoke ahead of the report’s publication reportedly described the results as a “catastrophic event on a historic scale.”

In science, Israel ranked 44th out of 90 participating education systems. Its score was below the OECD average, with several countries ahead of Israel despite also performing below the OECD average, including the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Uruguay and Chile.

The highest-performing education systems in science included Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Estonia and South Korea, along with several other advanced economies.

In mathematics and reading, the comparison is made among the 44 OECD countries participating in the assessment. Israel ranked 43rd in mathematics, with only Albania performing lower. In reading, Israel ranked 37th, with 12 OECD countries scoring below it.

The results place Israel significantly below the OECD average in all three domains. According to the report, Israel’s 2025 PISA results are the lowest ever recorded for the country in mathematics, reading and science.

The decline is particularly striking when compared with earlier assessments. Relative to 2015, the proportion of Israeli students performing below proficiency Level 2 increased by: 14 percentage points in mathematics, 14 percentage points in reading and 9 percentage points in science.

PISA defines Level 2 as a basic threshold of proficiency, below which students may struggle to apply essential skills independently to relatively straightforward problems.

Only 54% of Israeli students reached Level 2 or higher in mathematics, compared with 65% across the OECD. At this level, students are generally able to recognize how a simple real-world situation can be represented mathematically without explicit instructions—for example, comparing distances along two routes or converting prices between currencies.

At the top end of the scale, only 5% of Israeli students achieved Levels 5 or 6 in mathematics, compared with 8% across the OECD. Students at these levels are capable of interpreting complex situations mathematically and selecting, comparing and evaluating appropriate strategies for solving problems.

In science, approximately 60% of Israeli students reached Level 2 or higher, compared with 74% across OECD countries. Only 4% reached the highest performance levels, 5 or 6, compared with an OECD average of 7%.

Students performing at these levels can apply scientific knowledge independently and creatively to unfamiliar situations. At Level 2, students can generally identify the correct explanation for familiar scientific phenomena and use basic scientific knowledge to determine whether a conclusion is supported by available data.

In the highest-performing education systems, including Singapore, Estonia, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, more than 85% of students reached Level 2 or higher.

Reading results were similarly troubling. Approximately 59% of Israeli students reached Level 2 or higher, compared with 69% across the OECD. Only 5% achieved Level 5 or higher, compared with an OECD average of 6%.

Students at Level 2 can generally identify the main idea of a moderately long text, locate information according to explicit criteria and reflect on a text’s purpose or form when given clear guidance.

Students at the highest levels are able to understand lengthy texts, deal with abstract or counterintuitive concepts and distinguish between fact and opinion using implicit clues concerning the content or source of information.

The report also challenges the argument that Israel’s poor results are primarily the result of widening socioeconomic gaps. According to the assessment, between 2022 and 2025 there was no significant change in the gap between Israel’s highest- and lowest-performing students in mathematics and science. In reading, the gap actually narrowed. The problem therefore appears to extend beyond the performance of Israel’s weakest students and reflects a broader deterioration across the education system.

The OECD also found that a smaller proportion of Israeli students than the OECD average reached the highest performance levels in at least one subject. At the same time, fewer Israeli students than the OECD average achieved at least Level 2 across all three subjects.

The PISA — Programme for International Student Assessment — is conducted every three years by the OECD and measures the knowledge and practical skills of 15-year-old students. Unlike traditional school examinations, PISA is designed to assess how effectively students can apply what they have learned to real-world situations.

The assessment focuses primarily on mathematics, reading and science, including skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and the ability to interpret and communicate information.

The OECD said that Israel’s 2025 data met the organization’s quality standards and were considered suitable for reporting.

The latest results come amid growing concerns over educational achievement in Israel and follow years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and subsequent war.

The figures are likely to intensify debate over the state of Israel’s education system, including teaching quality, curriculum, student preparedness and the country’s ability to reverse a decline that has now persisted across multiple PISA cycles.