STEM Inequities Persist in High School, New Tool Illuminates Trouble Spots | Education Trust:
New data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ High School Longitudinal Study paint an alarming picture of opportunity squandered by our nation’s high schools. The NCES data show that 18 percent of all ninth-graders reported taking no science courses in 2009.
The numbers are even worse for low-income students and students of color: 25 percent of African-American, 22 percent of Latino, and 27 percent of low socio-economic status students took no science their freshman year. In math, the numbers are equally disturbing, with almost 1 in 5 low-SES ninth-graders taking no math at all.
A new tool from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights illuminates key information about course taking in high school, and can help advance efforts to get students the rigorous math and science courses they so desperately need.
