The Nation's Report Card: Science 2009 (NCES 2011-451)

National and state samples of 156,500 fourth-graders and 151,100 eighth-graders, and a national sample of 11,100 twelfth-graders participated in the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in science. Students responded to questions designed to measure their knowledge and abilities in physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. All results are presented in the form of NAEP scale scores and percentages of students at the Basic, Proficient, and Advanced achievement levels. The report also includes performance of subgroups and gap comparisons by gender and race/ethnicity.