Disaggregated Outcomes of Gender, Ethnicity, and Poverty on Fifth Grade Science Performance

Abstract

This nationwide study examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, and poverty with fifth graders’ (n = 8,741) science performance. Extant fifth grade data files (2003–2004), from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), were used. An ANOVA test revealed that males performed significantly better than females on science assessments, and this difference was maintained across ethnic groups. The science scores, in order of ethnicity from the highest to lowest scores, were White, Asian, Hispanic, and African American. Asian fifth graders showed the largest ethnic discrepancy between students above and below poverty. The unique features of this study were the depth of the disaggregation of the data and statistical analyses. Disaggregation of data by all three variables revealed compounding consequences for students at the extremes. White “at/above poverty” males had the highest mean science IRT scale score, while African American “below poverty” females had the lowest mean score.