LEAD - Learning for Strategic Development

Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University

LEAD is my research group on education finance policy - one of three groups I lead, alongside Competitiveness - STAC and Cohesiveness - EDS. LEAD sits at the bridge between the two: it studies redistribution and resource-allocation mechanisms, funding formulae, and equity analysis, using longitudinal, nationwide student-level data.

Current work includes developing a new funding formula and resource-allocation mechanism for improvement, reconceptualizing the relationship between performance levels and achievement gaps (Improvement in Educational Achievement Distribution, or IEAD), and measuring equity in outcomes via Gini-based indices (EGini) and Lorenz curves.

Current group members

  • Sami Atar, Elinor Ben-Levy - Resource allocation
  • Yifat Betser-Nahum - Efficiency in local funding - thesis link →
  • Roi Arjeh Wolf - Politics of budgeting - dissertation link →
  • Ruth Meoded - Fiscal decentralization and equity in school finance - thesis link →

LEAD: ISF International Workshop

Bar-Ilan University · May 5–7, 2025

In May 2025 I led a major international workshop under the LEAD banner. It brought together leading scholars in education finance to develop the theoretical and empirical grounding of the Middle-Line Model - a framework for advancing both state competitiveness and social cohesion through education finance policy, rather than treating them as a trade-off.

Funding: Israel Science Foundation (ISF) International Workshop Grant.

Speakers included:

Links:

This workshop followed directly from my ISF-funded research project on equity in education finance (ISF 2020/1835), and its findings continue to inform my current work on the Middle-Line Model. More on my research agenda →