The purpose of this study is to investigate science achievement of Australian students and how this achievement can vary from school to school. The proposition that gender and socioeconomic inequities in Australia are the result of school systems designed to reproduce an unequal social order is be examined with reference both to current sociological literature and methodological techniques which account for the hierarchical nature of students nested in schools. Additionally, student-level and school-level variables are investigated for their ability to explain gender and socioeconomic differences in science achievement, as well as general student variability. Even after adjusting for the students' individual characteristics and home backgrounds, as well as the context of the school, there were significant gender and socioeconomic differences in science achievement across Australian schools. The importance of variability in science achievement between schools is shown in this study, with specific reference to how this variability can be attributed to the school system. Contains 54 references and an appendix that describes student and school level variables. (Author/MDH)