K-12 students – STEM Dreams https://idreamstem.org For the next generation of STEM dreamers Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:12:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 STEM, Income and Race https://idreamstem.org/stem-income-and-race/ Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:12:04 +0000 http://idreamstem.org/?p=205 According to a National Science Foundation (NSF) study, female K-12 students perform about the same as male K-12 students on standardized science and mathematics tests.

The biggest gaps in performance appear when they looked at the racial and socioeconomic standings on the test takers. In other words: “larger gaps exist between students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds or family income, with white and Asian/Pacific Islander students and those from higher income families scoring higher than their counterparts who are black, Hispanic, or American Indian/Alaska Native or who are from lower income families.” [National Girls Collaborative Project]

The NSF study says that K-12 students who come from a poor background and/or whose parents were less educated were not likely to take the classes that help them do better on these tests. This sets these students up for not being ready for a STEM career, in the long run.

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