Are All Students Getting Equal Access to High-Quality Science Education? Data From the 2018 NSSME+

This report focuses on whether students from different groups have access to high-quality science education. Although not designed primarily as an equity study, the 2018 NSSME+ provides data on some indicators of the extent to which students across the nation have equitable educational opportunities. To this end, data from the study were analyzed by four factors historically associated with differences in educational opportunities:

• Percentage of students in the school eligible for free/reduced-price lunch; 

• Community type;

• Percentage of students in the class from race/ethnicity groups historically underrepresented in STEM; and 

• Prior achievement level of the class.

When possible, data from the 2018 and 2012 studies were compared to examine whether the magnitude of differences between groups changed across the two time points.

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Are All Students Getting Equal Access to High-Quality Science Education? Data From the 2018 NSSME+ (PDF)