The Arab indigenous minority in Israel constitutes approximately 20.2% of the state’s population. Arabs live mainly in their own communities separate from Jewish communities. Most live in rural areas and suffer economic deprivation. The Arab minority includes 82.1% Muslims, 9.4% Christians and 8.4% Druze, all of whom share social norms and cultural values (CBS, 2015). Arab society is mainly a traditional-patriarchal, collectivist and less egalitarian culture, viewing strict hierarchy and control as the “correct” form of social organisation (Arar, 2015). Education in Israel is segregated, with separate educational sectors for religious and secular Jewish children and for Arab children. Each sector includes both state and non-state schools; Jewish children study in Hebrew, and Arab children study in Arabic (Gibton, 2011). The Arab education system is state-funded and supervised. It is subject to government control of educational contents, resources and organizational structure. Arab leadership is largely excluded from state education decision-making. Despite increased proportions of youth studying in Arab schools since 1948, Arab students’ achievements are 28.5% lower in Grade 4, and 29% lower in Grade 8. In 2012, 67% of Jewish public school students, but only 42% of Arab public school students were entitled to a matriculation certificate (Balas, 2014). The study aimed to clarify educational administrators’ acts to reduce gaps in achievements between Jewish and Arab students in national and international exams. Qualitative methodology is adopted and provides detailed understanding of narrative biographies of administrative stake-holders. Semi-structured interviews are currently being conducted (Creswell, 2009) with the government’s chief education officer for Arab education, Arab superintendents, and members of the Follow-Up Committee for Arab education, and three managers of local Arab government education departments, who can potentially alter the appearance of the education system. The research questions are (1) what steps do education administrators in the Arab education system take to reduce underachievement of their students, widen circles of cooperation and empower change agents during crises that deepen achievement gaps between Arab and Jewish students? (2) Do Arab superintendents and local government education officers understand their interplay with government policies as empowering or disempowering to improve exam scores and the cultural relevancy of the curriculum? (3) To what extent do the superintendents believe a cultural change is required to empower them to empower school communities to become societal innovators for equity, peace and renewal (Horizon, 2020) within existing administrative structures. Findings will be read through Gross (2014) turbulence theory.

Arar, K. (2015). Leadership for Equity and Social Justice in Arab and Jewish Schools in Israel: Leadership Trajectories and Pedagogical Praxis. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 17(1), 162-187. Balas, N. (2014). Trends in the development of the education system: Students and teachers. In D. Ben-David (Ed.), Report on the situation in the state – social, economic and political. Jerusalem: Taub Center. [Hebrew]. CBS (2015). The Image of Israeli Society: Education and Learning. Retrieved on Sep. 28 2016 from: http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications13/rep_06/pdf/part04_h.pdf [Hebrew]. Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed-Methods Approaches. London: Sage. Gibton, D. (2011). Post-2000 law-based educational governance in Israel: From equality to diversity. Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 39(4), 434- 454. Gross, S. J. (2004). Promises kept: Sustaining school and district innovation in a turbulent era. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Gross, S.J. (2014). Using turbulence theory to guide actions. In C.M. Branson, & S.J. Gross (Eds.), Handbook on Ethical Educational Leadership (pp. 246-262). New York: Rutledge. Horizon 2020 (2015) CO-CREATION-01-2017: Education and skills: empowering Europe’s young innovators. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/co-creation-01-2017.html accessed 21 December 2015.