About this event
Please join the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) for the third event in a speaker series celebrating the 10th anniversary of the EDU Core Research program: "Mathematics and Science Achievement Gaps Begin Early, Persist, and Are Largely Explained by Modifiable Factors"
Addressing mathematics and science achievement gaps in United States elementary schools may help to broaden participation in the STEM workforce. During this lecture, Paul Morgan, director and endowed professor at the University of Albany, will present findings from a series of studies analyzing data from population-based cohorts. These findings indicate that mathematics and science achievement gaps are already large by kindergarten. These gaps are highly stable across the subsequent elementary grades. Regression modeling indicates that the family’s socioeconomic resources and the student’s initial level of knowledge about mathematics, science, and reading by kindergarten substantially or fully explain between-group differences in mathematics and science achievement across elementary school. Collectively, the findings suggest that economic and educational policies introduced prior to or by kindergarten may be needed to address mathematics and science achievement gaps in U.S. elementary schools and to broaden participation in the STEM workforce.