Students Struggling With Science Nationally; Some Progress Made in Closing Race, Gender Gaps

WASHINGTON, DC — Students in grades four and eight have shown modest progress in science testing, but the national average continues to fall below "proficient" scores at both grade levels. And tests of high school seniors found no significant progress between 2009 and 2015, according to new results released Thursday from The Nation's Report Card.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing, students were quizzed in three content areas: physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences.

In all three categories, students in grades four and eight saw improvement when compared to scores in 2009 — overall test scores increased by four points for both grade levels. But the average scores continue to fall below what is deemed a proficient understanding of science principles.

In all, 37 percent of fourth-graders and 33 percent of eighth-grade students nationally met the proficiency standards.

High school seniors' scores in the NAEP testing were almost identical to six years ago.

Education Secretary John King Jr. told the The New York Times that he was heartened by progress in the results, but that it also shows there is significant work to do. "We still are not at a place as a country where we are preparing the future STEM workforce that we need," King said.

According to the results, black and Hispanic students have made progress in narrowing the gaps when compared to white students but are still fall far behind. The average score for white fourth-grade students was 33 points higher than black students and 27 points higher than their Hispanic students.

Girls in the fourth grade testing have erased the gender gap when compared with boys. Male students continued to outperform female students in grades eight and 12.

Average science scores at grades four and eight increased in 14 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Scores also increased at Department of Defense education sites.

State-level results were not available for high school seniors. Data was not available for six states: Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

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