I quote:
"Twelfth-grade students assessed in NAEP science in 2009 were asked
what science courses they had completed or were taking currently.
Their responses were then collapsed into three categories to create
the 2009 science coursetaking results presented below.
Twelfth-graders who took biology, chemistry, and physics scored
higher on average than students who took just biology and chemistry,
and both groups scored higher than those who took just biology or
other science courses. ...
166 biology/chemistry/physics
148 biology/chemistry
133 Biology only or other
The proportion of students in each of the three coursetaking
categories varied by student group. A higher percentage (58 percent)
of Asian/Pacific Islander students than students in other
racial/ethnic groups reported taking biology, chemistry, and physics,
and the percentage of White students taking all three was higher
(35%) than the percentages of Black (26%) and Hispanic (30%) students
taking the same courses. There were no significant differences in the
percentages of White, Black, and Hispanic students taking just
biology and chemistry. The percentage of male students (37%) who
reported taking biology, chemistry, and physics was higher than the
percentage of female students (32%) taking the same courses; ...
MORE QUOTES FROM THE NAEP REPORT: GRADE 12
For this first assessment based on the new science framework, the
overall average student performance at grade 12 is represented by a
score of 150 on the 0 to 300 scale. Performance at or above
Proficient represents a score of 179 or higher on the NAEP science
assessment. About one-fifth (21 percent) of twelfth-graders performed
at or above the Proficient achievement level. Average scores did not
vary significantly between White and Asian/Pacific Islander students,
or among students attending schools in suburban, town, and rural
locations. ... One percent of students performed at the Advanced
level.
Proficient (179). Students performing at the Proficient level should
be able to demonstrate relationships and compare alternative models,
predictions, and explanations. They should be able to explain trends
among elements in the periodic table; conservation laws; chemical
mechanisms for metabolism, growth, and reproduction; changes in
populations due to natural selection; the evolution of the Universe;
and evidence for boundaries and movements of tectonic plates. They
should be able to design and critique observational and experimental
studies, controlling multiple variables, using scientific models to
explain results, and choosing among alternative conclusions based on
arguments from evidence. They should be able to compare scientific
costs or risks and benefits of alternative solutions to problems at
local or regional scales.
Advanced (222). Students performing at the Advanced level should be
able to use alternative models to generate predictions and
explanations. They should be able to explain differences among
physical, chemical, and nuclear changes; the wave and particle nature
of light; paths of specific elements through living systems;
responses of ecosystems to disturbances; evidence for the theory of
an expanding Universe; and evidence for human effects on the Earth's
biogeochemical cycles. They should be able to design and critique
investigations that relate data to alternative models of phenomena.
They should be able to compare costs or risks and benefits of
alternative solutions to problems at local, regional, and global
scales.
Because NAEP assessments cover a breadth of content in each subject
area and include more questions than any one student could reasonably
answer, each student takes just a portion of the assessment. The 179
questions included in the twelfth-grade science assessment were
divided into 11 sections, each containing between 16 and 18 questions
depending on the balance between multiple-choice and
constructed-response questions. Each student responded to two
25-minute sections.
37.5% physical science, 37.5% life science, 25% earth and space sciences