Israeli Study Finds Parents' Occupations Predict Achievement More Than Education, but Do Not Determine a Child's Future

The analysis centered on 10,336 students, and its finding directs attention to their parents' workplaces. A new Shoresh Institution study, covered this week by Calcalist, Davar and The Jerusalem Post, found that parents' occupational fields were more strongly associated with their children's PISA results than their education. Alongside the finding, the researchers stress a clear limit: statistical association does not prove that a parent's occupation causes academic success or difficulty.

The research was conducted by Ariela Sabin, Professor Ayal Kimhi and Professor Dan Ben‑David. They examined data on 15‑year‑olds who took the tests in Hebrew and whose parents were both employed. This is therefore a defined research population. The conclusions do not describe every child in Israel, and certainly do not provide a formula for calculating a student's future from their parents' jobs.

The striking figure requires reading the fine print

According to the Shoresh Institution study, parental occupations account for about 45 percent of the variation in achievement explained by the statistical model, compared with about twenty‑one percent attributed to parental education. But the entire model explains roughly one‑fifth of total variation. The figure therefore does not mean parents' workplaces explain almost half of all differences between students.

This distinction changes the headline's meaning. The researchers compare the relative shares of factors within the explained portion; they do not allocate all reasons for academic success among professions. Much variation remains unexplained. There is consequently no basis for turning the result into a personal label or assuming a particular student is limited by their family's occupations.

A calculation illustrates the difference: 45 percent of about one‑fifth is roughly nine percent of total variation. This is an approximate editorial calculation based on the study's data, not a separate estimate of causal effect. It shows why we must always ask what whole a published percentage refers to. Even a seemingly very large figure may describe a part within a part, and interpretation changes when it is placed in the right context. That is also why findings should be read alongside the methodology, rather than merely ranking professions by results.

According to Calcalist's coverage, the father's occupation accounted for about thirty‑three percent of explained variation and the mother's for about twelve percent. Education showed the reverse pattern: the mother's education contributed more than the father's. These figures describe a pattern in the analysis, not a ranking of each parent's importance in a child's life.

Who was included, and who was left out

The data come from four PISA cycles: 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2022. As The Jerusalem Post explains, PISA assesses reading, mathematics and science at age 15. The researchers also accounted for background characteristics, including parental education, country of birth, books at home and access to computers and the internet. Including these variables permits a more complex comparison than simply placing two groups side by side by profession.

However, according to the same report, the analysis did not directly control for household income. Students tested in Arabic were also excluded. The researchers explained this by discrepancies found in earlier research between students' reports of parental education and official data. These limitations are particularly important when drawing conclusions about the entire education system.

The period studied also requires precision. This is new research on data from earlier years, not a measurement of Israeli students' situation in October 2026. Publishing the findings now does not turn them into a test of the current school year. They can reveal long‑term associations, but cannot be used to describe changes in classrooms over recent months.

The comparison is not with the average Israeli student

Calcalist's report highlighted relatively high achievement among children whose fathers worked in academia, science and research, and in technology, information and software. Reported differences were about 7.3 percent and 6.8 percent respectively compared with the reference group, conditional on background variables. Positive associations also appeared in engineering, finance and health.

The Jerusalem Post explains that the reference groups were constructed for the study separately for fathers and mothers and do not represent the average Israeli parent. A higher percentage relative to a particular group is therefore not the same gap above the national average. Nor should these percentages be read as identical additions of PISA points.

Davar also reported relatively low achievement among children whose mothers worked in early childhood education or as teaching assistants. It stressed that the study does not establish that mothers' work in these fields causes lower achievement. That caution is part of the finding itself: without examining family circumstances and differences between families, turning correlation into criticism of parenting or a profession would be wrong.

What schools can do with the finding

In an interview with Davar, Professor Kimhi offered several possible explanations for the association. Parents can help children through financial resources or through time, guidance and mentoring, he said. He also suggested that measuring education by degree type alone may miss differences in educational quality and field of study that later appear in employment. These are possible explanations, not mechanisms proved by the study.

This raises a useful question for school principals: what information is missing when trying to understand why a student struggles? Parental education can provide background, but does not replace a conversation about the child's needs, available support and reported difficulties. An advanced degree at home does not eliminate the need for help, and nonacademic employment does not indicate low learning ability.

For parents, the study does not recommend changing careers to improve grades. The practical question is what the individual student needs and what the school can provide without assuming what the family can supply. Kimhi told Davar that the education system's role is to weaken the link between a family's starting point and achievement. That brings the research back to the classroom: background data are useful for identifying missing support, not deciding in advance how far a child can go.