NAEP Science: eighth grade gaps

Kentucky's newest science gaps show important achievement gaps by race and poverty in eighth grade as well as fourth.  In eighth grade, the weaknesses look like this:

Again, the gap between white and African-American students remains large and statistically significant, as does the gap between students who do and do not qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program.  Again, these numbers suggest that we have a race problem separate from poverty and a poverty problem separate from race.

At this level, three of the four student groups shown above have a statistically significant lead on similar students elsewhere--but white students who do not qualify for free and reduced-price lunches are only ahead by a single (and insignificant) point.