Low-income and minority children score much lower on national 8th-grade science tests than their white and more advantaged peers, but those gaps already exist before kids start kindergarten.

This story has been edited to add additional information about 12th grade mathematics and reading scores. Eighth grade students’ science test scores have fallen to the level they were in 2009, the ...

Welcome to another edition of “Answering Your ESSA” questions, where we try to get to the bottom of questions from readers about the Every Student Succeeds Act and its implementation. This week’s ...