Gifted programs in Israel: how the screening test works
Updated
Israel identifies gifted children very early, through one national program. It is run by the Ministry of Education's אגף למחוננים ולמצטיינים, the department for gifted and excellent students.
If you know gifted and talented (G&T) screening from an American school district, or a "more able" register from a British primary school, the idea will feel familiar. The timing will not. The first test takes place in kita ב (second grade in the US, Year 3 in the UK), often a few months after a family arrives, in a language the child is still learning. Taking part is a right, not an obligation. But the school gives the test to the whole class, unless the parents object in writing beforehand.
How the screening works
The process has two stages.
Stage א (aleph) takes place in the classroom at the start of winter: on December 1 for the 2025-2026 cycle. It runs in the public schools of all three streams, general, religious and Haredi. It covers kita ב in Jewish schools and kita ג (third grade) in Arab schools. It focuses on reading comprehension and math, and the school team uses it to send about 15% of the class on to the next stage.
The ministry recommends putting forward only children with truly exceptional ability in kita ב, and testing the others in kita ג, at the parents' request. The parents choose the year.
Stage ב (bet) takes place in the spring, in the afternoon, at regional test centers. It is for the students the school referred. Parents can also request it online: if the school did not refer their child, if it did not run stage א at all, or if the child needs an adapted test.
After stage ב, the students recommended for the מחוננים (mehunanim, gifted) programs are those who reach roughly the 97th national percentile of their whole age group, not just of the children tested. The מצטיינים (metzuyanim, excellent) programs run in fewer centers and take students up to 5 percentile points below that line who live in the center's area. The two groups do not open the same programs.
The programs start the following school year, so in kita ג or kita ד.
One point closes a door many parents try to open: only the department's own tests count. A private assessment by a psychologist, however thorough, does not give access to these programs.
The two kinds of program
Gifted classes (כיתות מחוננים). These are enriched classes inside ordinary schools, where every subject goes further. Few schools host one. If your town has none, your child may be offered a place in a school in a nearby town, which means a daily commute you should weigh seriously.
These classes run all the way to the end of high school.
Enrichment centers (מרכזי העשרה). The child stays in their usual class and joins an outside program, usually one day or half a day a week. Think of a weekly pull-out program. It is the most common format, the least disruptive, and the one that suits a child who is still learning Hebrew best.
What an oleh child can ask for, and will not be offered
This is the heart of the problem. A test of verbal reasoning in a language the child has been learning for eight months does not measure verbal reasoning. It measures Hebrew.
Olim students can get accommodations at stage ב. Your child can take the test in English or in Russian, or take a Hebrew test designed for olim, with up to 25% extra time and instructions read more slowly. For an English-speaking family, the English version is the one to ask for. None of this is automatic. Parents request it online, on the ministry's parents' portal, and state the language. The window is short: from late December to late January for the 2025-2026 cycle, at a time when a newly arrived family has a thousand other things to deal with.
Three practical steps:
- Tell the מחנך (homeroom teacher) that your child is an oleh at the start of kita ב, without waiting for anyone to mention the test.
- Request the adapted test on the parents' portal as soon as the window opens, and choose English.
- If your child did not sit stage א, because they arrived later or for any other reason, request stage ב online. The system allows it, but nothing in it will do it for you.
Bar-Ilan's math program
Alongside the national program, there are independent programs, and the best known is Bar-Ilan University's math program.
It is for students with strong ability in math and the wish to go further. It takes place outside school, one afternoon a week, and admission goes through an entrance exam that is entirely math. Unlike stage א, which is given in class and in Hebrew, it does not depend on your child's Hebrew at any point. Olim students can ask for extra time.
It is often the best way in for a child who arrived too late for the national screening, or who missed it because of the language: it does not judge Hebrew, it judges math.
Preparation for the Bar-Ilan entrance exam is here.
What stays open if your child is not selected
It needs saying clearly, because many parents take the result as a verdict: not being selected in kita ב or kita ג closes nothing for good.
The excellence tracks (מגמות) in high school, the 5-unit (5 יחידות) level in math and English, roughly the equivalent of the most demanding AP or A-level courses, the university programs for high school students, the army's selective programs: none of these asks whether a child was labeled gifted at seven. They ask what level the student has reached when they apply.
For an oleh child, the factor that sets that level is almost never ability. It is the subject's vocabulary, in the language of the school. The vocabulary decides the grade, the grade decides the group, and the group decides what is still possible three years later.
What each grade covers in math, in Hebrew, is here. For how Israeli schools are organized, read the Israeli school system, explained.
Where to check
The ministry publishes the screening calendar, the details of both stages and the programs on its portal for parents (in Hebrew). The dates of stage א change every year: that is the first thing to check, and the only one nothing can make up for.