The Comparisons between Ethnicity and Poverty Level on Eight Graders’Science Performance

Abstract

The purposed of this study was to examine the relationships between ethnicity and poverty level with eight graders’ science performance. This study utilized the 8^th grade data file (2006 - 2007) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) and had the sample size of 7,305 students. A full 2-way ANOVA model was applied to test the ethnicity and poverty level effects on the students’ science performance.  Results indicated that ethnicity and poverty had significant effects on students’ science performance. White students have the highest mean score, followed by Asian, but African American students have the lowest mean scores. The gap on the mean scores between the highest and the lowest group was 20 points.  White and Asian students do better on science performance, while Hispanic and African American students have lower scores.  The impact among the interactions of ethnicity and poverty persisted within the breakdown of 10 subgroups’ outcomes. The subgroup of Asian “at/above poverty” had the highest mean scores, while the subgroup African American “below poverty” had the lowest scores. Future studies should continue to investigate African American students in conjunction with science performance.