A Single-Group Summary of Black Boys' Science Achievement on the NAEP

Following QuantCrit's tradition of highlighting the significance of race and racism in the U.S., we sought to investigate salient factors in the disproportionate representation ofBlack boys and in turn, Black men in STEM. We examined factors such as science dispositions and opportunities to learn as well as Black boys' specialized content knowledge using NAEP assessment data from both 2009 and 2015 for Black boys in fourth grade. The analysis revealed not only that schools have unprepared 4th-grade Black boys who lack appropriate levels of science proficiency but also indicated that most Black boys did not see science as their favorite class despite having confidence in their understanding of the subject matter. Thus, our study provided implications for future research, such as examining how science achievement and dispositions affect Black boys' decision-making in advanced science courses and careers. Our findings might provide an avenue for future studies on the relationship or lack thereof between science achievement and interest in STEM outcomes.