The 2009 Science National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) at Grades 4, 8 and 12 shows that only 34 percent of fourth-graders, 30 percent of eighth-graders and a strikingly low 21 percent of high school seniors performed at or above the proficient level in science.
Racial and ethnic disparities in science proficiency were present at all three grade levels, but the gaps at the 12th grade level show—perhaps more than anything else—the degree to which those disparities might manifest themselves among diverse groups of students at the college and university level.
