Black Female Student Achievement on the NAEP: A QuantCrit Analysis of the Intersection of Gender, Race, and Academic Performance

• In Event: Black Girls Empowered: Lifting, Loving, and Leading Research on Pre-K–12 Black Girls

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize Black female student achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) using Quantcrit as an analytical framework. I address the absence of literature examining Black female achievement by quantitatively summarizing and critically interpreting the NAEP data from 1978 to 2012. This exploratory quantitative review characterizes the performance of 9, 13, and 17-year-old Black girls on mathematics and reading assessments. This descriptive exploratory analysis utilized mean point estimates and 95% confidence intervals to characterize academic performance of Black girls. My hope is that this study will extend the utility of intersectionality, expand the achievement literature, and explicate the intersections between race, gender, and the academic performance of Black female students.

Author

• Jemimah L Young, Texas A&M University