- Status Current
- Published February 6, 2014 // Science & Enginneering Indicators 2014
- URL http://ncses.digitalinfo.org/analysis/00002/
Indicator
Mathematics and Science Performance in Grades 4 and 8
Highlights
U.S. fourth and eighth graders have made substantial gains in mathematics since 1990. Although eighth grade scores show a continuous upward trend, fourth grade scores leveled off during recent years. In science, 2011 eighth graders performed slightly better than their counterparts tested in 2009.
- The average mathematics score at grade 4 rose by 27 points from 1990 to 2007 and then remained essentially flat from 2007 to 2011.
- The average mathematics score at grade 8 increased steadily from 1990 to 2011 with a total gain of 21 points over the period.
- The average science score at grade 8 improved slightly, increasing from 150 in 2009 to 152 in 2011. (Earlier science assessment scores were not comparable with recent ones because of framework changes).
Despite improvement, relatively few students reached their grade-specific proficiency levels in mathematics and science on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
- In mathematics, the percentage of students reaching the proficient level remained well below half in 2011: 40% of fourth graders and 35% of eighth graders performed at or above this level.
- In science, 32% of eighth graders performed at or above the proficient level for their grade in 2011.
Performance disparities in mathematics and science were evident among different demographic groups at grades K, 4, and 8. Some score gaps narrowed over time, however.
- At grades K, 4, and 8, students from low-income families or homes where the primary language used was not English had lower mathematics and science scores than their peers from more advantaged backgrounds.
- Black, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native students performed substantially lower than their white and Asian or Pacific Islander counterparts.
- Sex differences in achievement were generally small and favored boys in most cases. Among black students, however, girls performed better.
- Some gaps in mathematics narrowed over time at grade 4. Between 1990 and 2011, the score gaps decreased between white and black students (from 32 to 25 points) and between lowand high-performing students (i.e., at the 10th and 90th percentiles) (from 82 to 73 points).
- Some gaps in science also narrowed somewhat during the relatively short period of time from 2009 to 2011. The white-black gap decreased from 36 to 34 points. The white-Hispanic gap fell from 30 to 26 points. The gap between lowand high-performing students dropped from 89 to 87 points.
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