Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System

Yaakov Gilboa

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

| Peer-Reviewed

Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System

Yaakov Gilboa

Published in International Journal of Education, Culture and Society (Volume 1, Issue 2)

Received: 19 August 2016 Accepted: 2 September 2016 Published: 18 October 2016

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

The Israeli government regularly uses the Educational Needs Index (ENI) to determine the resources needed to educate children growing up in less affluent environments. This paper investigates some results of this practice. By using data from children who were tested in nationwide exams at grades 5 and 8 we find that in Mathematics, at the school level, the negative correlation between the average test scores and the ENI is about 2.2 times higher in grade 8 than in grade 5 and that children from low index schools are more likely to improve their scores. OLS and quantile regressions of a value-added model on a subsample of the data emphasize the importance of parental education to children's educational attainment. It also shows a negative effect of the ENI on test scores. Our final conclusion is that the Israeli education policy fails to fully guarantee equality of opportunity to its students.

Published in	International Journal of Education, Culture and Society (Volume 1, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
Page(s)	58-65
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Equality of Opportunity in Education, Achievement Gaps, Value-Added Model

References

[1]	Ashenfelter, O., & Rouse, C. (1998). Income, schooling, and ability: Evidence from a new sample of identical twins. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113 (1), 353-384.
[2]	Atkinson. A., Burgess, S., Croxon, B., Gregg, P., Propper, C., Slater, H., et al. (2009). Evaluating the Impact of performance-related pay for teachers in England. Labour Economics, 16, 251-261.
[3]	Balas, N. (2009). Inequality in budgeting and affirmative action in alementary and junior high-schools in Israel. Hakol Hinuch – The Movement for Advancement of Education in Israel (Hebrew).
[4]	Becker, G.,& Chaswick, B. 1966. Education and the distribution of earnings. The American Economic Review, 56, 358-369.
[5]	Behrman, J. R., Rosenzweig, M. R., & Taubman, P. (1994). Endowments and the allocation of schooling in the family and in the marriage market: The Twins experiment. Journal of Political Economy, 102 (6), 1131-1173.
[6]	Betts, J., & Roemer, J. (2007). Equalizing opportunity for racial and socio-economic groups in the United States through education finance reform. In L. Woessmann & P. Peterson (Eds), Schools and the equal opportunity problem (pp. 209-237). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
[7]	Buchinsky, M. (1998). Recent advances in quantile regression models: A practical guideline for empirical research. The Journal of Human Resources, 33 (1), 88-126.
[8]	Central Bureau of Statistics (2010). Statistical abstract of Israel 60. Jerusalem, Israel.
[9]	Clotfelter, C., Ladd, H., & Vigdor, J. (2007). Teacher credentials and student achievements: Longitudinal analysis with student fix effects.” Economics of Education review 26, 673-682.
[10]	Erikson, R. (2016). Is it Enough to be Bright? Parental Background, Cognitive Ability, and Educational Attainment. European Societies, 18 (2), 117-135.
[11]	Gilboa, Y. (2004). Kibbutz education: Implications for nurturing children from low-income families. Israel Economic Review, 2 (2), 107-123.
[12]	Holmlund, H., McNally, S., & Viarengo, M. (2010). Dose money matter for schools?. Economics of Education Review, 29, 1154-1164.
[13]	Justman, M. and Gilboa, Y. (2012). The Scope for Promoting Equal Opportunity in Education: Evidence from the Kibbutz. Education Finance and Policy, 7 (4), 489-515.
[14]	Koenker, R., & Bassett, G. (1978). Regression quantiles. Econometrica 46 (1), 33-50.
[15]	Krapohl, E. and Plomin. R. (2016). Genetic Link Between Family Socioeconomic Status and Children's Educational Achievements Estimated from Genome-Wide SNPs. Molecular Psychiatry, 21, 437-443.
[16]	Krueger, A., & Whitmore, D. (2001). The effect of attending a small class in the early grades on college-test taking and middle school test results: Evidence from project Star. The Economic Journal 111, 1-28.
[17]	Ladd, H., & Walsh, R. (2002). Implementing value-added measures of school effectiveness: Getting the incentives right. Economics of Education Review 21, 1-17.
[18]	Levacic, R. and Ross, K. (1999). Principles for designing need-based school funding formula. In Ross, K. and Levacic, R. (Eds), Need-based resource allocation in education via formula funding of schools (pp. 25-55). Paris: UNESCO.
[19]	Miller, P., Mulvey, C., & Martin, N. (2001). Genetic and environmental contributions to educational attainment in Australia. Economics of Education Review 20, 211–224.
[20]	Nicoletti, C. and Rabe. B. (2012). The Effect of School Resources on Test Scores in England. Institute for Social & economic Research. 2012-13.
[21]	Plug, E. (2004). Estimating the effect of mother's schooling on children's schooling using a sample of adoptees. American Economic Review 94 (1), 358-368.
[22]	Rivkin, S., Hanushek, E., & Kain, J. (2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica 73 (2), 417-458.
[23]	Roemer, J. (1998). Equality of opportunity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[24]	Scarr, S., & Yee, D. (1980). Heritability and educational policy: Genetic and environmental effects on IQ, aptitude and achievement. Educational Psychologist 15 (1), 1-22.
[25]	Waltenberg, F. D., and Vandenberghe, V. (2007). What does it take to achieve equality of opportunity in education? An empirical investigation based on Brazilian data. Economics of Education Review 26, 710-724.
[26]	Worgan, Y. (2007). The change in Methods of Allocating Teaching Hours to Elementary Schools. Jerusalem: Research and Information Center, The Knesset. Retrieved November 15 2009 from http://www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/data/docs/m01847.doc (Hebrew).

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Yaakov Gilboa. (2016). Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 1(2), 58-65. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Yaakov Gilboa. Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. Int. J. Educ. Cult. Soc. 2016, 1(2), 58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Yaakov Gilboa. Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. Int J Educ Cult Soc. 2016;1(2):58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15,
  author = {Yaakov Gilboa},
  title = {Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System},
  journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
  volume = {1},
  number = {2},
  pages = {58-65},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  abstract = {The Israeli government regularly uses the Educational Needs Index (ENI) to determine the resources needed to educate children growing up in less affluent environments. This paper investigates some results of this practice. By using data from children who were tested in nationwide exams at grades 5 and 8 we find that in Mathematics, at the school level, the negative correlation between the average test scores and the ENI is about 2.2 times higher in grade 8 than in grade 5 and that children from low index schools are more likely to improve their scores. OLS and quantile regressions of a value-added model on a subsample of the data emphasize the importance of parental education to children's educational attainment. It also shows a negative effect of the ENI on test scores. Our final conclusion is that the Israeli education policy fails to fully guarantee equality of opportunity to its students.},
 year = {2016}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System
AU  - Yaakov Gilboa
Y1  - 2016/10/18
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
T2  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JF  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JO  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
SP  - 58
EP  - 65
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3363
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
AB  - The Israeli government regularly uses the Educational Needs Index (ENI) to determine the resources needed to educate children growing up in less affluent environments. This paper investigates some results of this practice. By using data from children who were tested in nationwide exams at grades 5 and 8 we find that in Mathematics, at the school level, the negative correlation between the average test scores and the ENI is about 2.2 times higher in grade 8 than in grade 5 and that children from low index schools are more likely to improve their scores. OLS and quantile regressions of a value-added model on a subsample of the data emphasize the importance of parental education to children's educational attainment. It also shows a negative effect of the ENI on test scores. Our final conclusion is that the Israeli education policy fails to fully guarantee equality of opportunity to its students.
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Yaakov Gilboa

Department of Applied Economics and Management, Sapir Academic College, Sderot, Israel

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Yaakov Gilboa. (2016). Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 1(2), 58-65. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Yaakov Gilboa. Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. Int. J. Educ. Cult. Soc. 2016, 1(2), 58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Yaakov Gilboa. Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System. Int J Educ Cult Soc. 2016;1(2):58-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15,
  author = {Yaakov Gilboa},
  title = {Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System},
  journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
  volume = {1},
  number = {2},
  pages = {58-65},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20160102.15},
  abstract = {The Israeli government regularly uses the Educational Needs Index (ENI) to determine the resources needed to educate children growing up in less affluent environments. This paper investigates some results of this practice. By using data from children who were tested in nationwide exams at grades 5 and 8 we find that in Mathematics, at the school level, the negative correlation between the average test scores and the ENI is about 2.2 times higher in grade 8 than in grade 5 and that children from low index schools are more likely to improve their scores. OLS and quantile regressions of a value-added model on a subsample of the data emphasize the importance of parental education to children's educational attainment. It also shows a negative effect of the ENI on test scores. Our final conclusion is that the Israeli education policy fails to fully guarantee equality of opportunity to its students.},
 year = {2016}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Equality of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Israeli Education System
AU  - Yaakov Gilboa
Y1  - 2016/10/18
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
T2  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JF  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JO  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
SP  - 58
EP  - 65
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3363
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20160102.15
AB  - The Israeli government regularly uses the Educational Needs Index (ENI) to determine the resources needed to educate children growing up in less affluent environments. This paper investigates some results of this practice. By using data from children who were tested in nationwide exams at grades 5 and 8 we find that in Mathematics, at the school level, the negative correlation between the average test scores and the ENI is about 2.2 times higher in grade 8 than in grade 5 and that children from low index schools are more likely to improve their scores. OLS and quantile regressions of a value-added model on a subsample of the data emphasize the importance of parental education to children's educational attainment. It also shows a negative effect of the ENI on test scores. Our final conclusion is that the Israeli education policy fails to fully guarantee equality of opportunity to its students.
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download