Achievement Gap: The atypical case of Israel for the years 2008-2018

• In Event: Education Finance in times of Global Crises: Lessons from Comparative Studies

Proposal

An equitable and quality education system that aims at developing all school-age children is one of the important mechanisms for increasing the wealth of the nation and for maintaining social cohesion. Education serves as a national infrastructure and encompasses major factors in providing equal opportunities, but equitable education narrows the achievement gap. Furthermore, it is essential for narrowing social gaps (Lucas, 2002; Piketty, 2014; Stiglitz, 2013). The consequences of educational inequality are key issues that have many social and economic aspects, and therefore, they highlight the importance of this research.
The objective of this research is conceptualize an innovative framework for measuring educational inequality, to measure trends in educational inequality over time, and to analyze its underlying origins, based on educational quality indices developed in this work.
The research method is based on applying the Gini Coefficient to the field of education.
A unique data base was specifically developed for this research by the Ministry of Education. This data base includes data on student levels for the years 208-2018 .
The findings of the analysis of inequality according to Gini coefficient indicate that the level of overall inequality decreased throughout the years 2008-2018 (by 22%). This trend is salient in cross-sectional analysis because of the variables of gender, region, and maternal education.
The theoretical and empirical importance of this research lies in its conceptualization, development, and measurement of the factors affecting educational inequality.

Author

• Zehorit Dadon-Golan, Bar-Ilan University and Hemdat Hadarom College of Education