NAEP Report Card: Science

NOTE: The NAEP science scale ranges from 0 to 300. In 2019, the digitally based NAEP science assessment was administered for the first time. The 2019 science report includes results from students who took the digitally based assessment and students who took the paper-based assessment. For more information, see the About page. The 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2019 NAEP science assessments were based on a new science framework introduced in 2009, which replaced the one used for the 1996, 2000, and 2005 assessments. The 2009 framework started a new NAEP science trend line so the results from the 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2019 assessments cannot be compared to those from previous assessment years. The 2011 NAEP science assessment for grade 8 was a special administration to permit comparisons with the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Results are not shown for data points where the sample sizes are insufficient to permit a reliable estimate or where data are not available. Black includes African American, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin. In compliance with new standards from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for collecting and reporting data on race/ethnicity, additional information was collected beginning in 2011 so that results could be reported separately for Asian students and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students. Students who identified with two or more of the racial/ethnic groups (e.g., White and Black) would have been classified as "other" and reported as part of the "unclassified" category prior to 2011, and classified as "Two or More Races" in 2011 and later assessment years. Results for these students are presented under the "Two or More Races" category in the graphics and tables in the report. Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, states could additionally categorize students as eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) by including them in their Community Eligibility Provision; therefore, the percentage of students categorized as eligible may have increased in comparison to 2009 and 2011 due in part to this provision. Readers should interpret NSLP trend results with caution. The information about “Eligibility for NSLP” variable is based on available school records. If school records were not available, the student was classified as "Information not available." If the school did not participate in the program, all students in that school were classified as “Information not available.” Because students’ eligibility for NSLP may be underreported at grade 12, the NSLP results at grade 12 are not included in this report. The category “students with disabilities” includes students identified as having either an Individualized Education Program or protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The results for students with disabilities and English learners are based on students who were assessed and cannot be generalized to the total population of such students. See more information about student group variables. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding or the omission of categories. Although the estimates (e.g., average scores or percentages) are shown as rounded numbers in the charts, the positions of the data points in the graphics are based on the unrounded numbers. Unrounded numbers were used for calculating the differences between the estimates, and for the statistical comparison test when the estimates were compared to each other. Not all apparent differences between estimates are statistically significant.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 2009–19 Science Assessments.