Posted on 08/09/2007 7:39:42 AM PDT by The Great Yazoo
Efforts to save up for a first car or stretch an allowance might be helping high schoolers in at least one academic area.
Twelfth-graders did better on a recent national economics test than they did on similar math or reading tests, according to results released Wednesday. Forty-two percent of 12th-graders nationwide scored at the proficient level or better on the economics test, meaning they could handle challenging subject matter.
In contrast, just 23 percent of 12th-graders hit the proficient mark in math, according to results published earlier this year. In reading, 35 were proficient or better
Darvin Winick, chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the tests, said the economics exam included questions about personal finance as well topics such as market economics and international trade. Winick said high schoolers may be picking up lessons about personal finance outside of school—such as at home or at work.
Winick called the economics scores encouraging, noting that high school seniors are nearing independence. "It's comforting that they would know the difference between an asset and a liability," he said.
Economics courses are becoming increasingly common in high school. A 2005 survey of transcripts found 66 percent of high school graduates had taken an economics class, up from 49 percent in 1982.
Students who took a high-level economics course, such as one labeled Advanced Placement or honors, were more likely to score high on the national test than students who did not take a similar course, according to the governing board.
But high schoolers who took a general economics course did not do any better on the economics test than students who didn't take a class, which raises questions about the rigor of those basic-level courses.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Associated Press reporter Nancy Zuckerbrod excitedly reports that 42 percent of 12th graders scored at least “proficient” on the economics section of the National Assessment of Economic Progress.
That’s 42 percent. That’s “proficient.”
“Proficient” should be the norm.
Saying the test results another way, 58 percent of 12th graders are not proficient in economics.
Interestingly, Zuckerbrod reports that 12th graders who took Advanced Placement or honors economics courses in high school scored better than those who did not. But, those 12th graders who took only a general economics course did no better than those who took no economics courses at all.
To restate that last point, an utter lack of formal economics education at the high school level makes no difference at all in economics test scores.
Since 12th graders are either 18 years old or nearly so, and, thus, either at or nearing the age to be eligible to vote, isn’t it comforting to learn that 58 percent of the new voters coming aboard aren’t “proficient” in economics? Maybe the cumulative effect of years of economic illiteracy helps explain why politicians are so proficient at selling to voters policies that defy rational economic analysis.
My guess is that the Economics being taught in HS is more Karl Marx than Adam Smith.
If only I could do high school over, and in four years instead of five.
“But high schoolers who took a general economics course did not do any better on the economics test than students who didn’t take a class, which raises questions about the rigor of those basic-level courses.”
This says it all!
Any chance on having my daughter tutored? She thinks she lives under a socialist roof.
“If you want to understand what’s wrong with education in the United States, read “12th-graders show strength in economics.””
Expectations sure aren’t high in this country if folks get excited over the fact that less than half of high school seniors, folks who are about to be on their own, understand the basics of economics.
Better yet, define “challenging subject matter.”
Since when is “home ec” “challenging subject matter”?
Now quantum mechanics is “challenging subject matter”.
As is differential calculus. But “home ec”?
MV
You don’t want me to tutor her, Pete. I could tell her one thing and with research the answer would be different.
In before the teacher-hating bash/sloganfest.
Most kids get their economic smarts from their parents, aunts, and uncles.
I was a 12th-grader last year. You couldn’t pay me to take economics. It’s gotta be the most boring subject under the sun. Money is great to have, but incredibly dull to study.
When you have money to invest, economics becomes very interesting. I spend about as much time looking at company financial statements as I do reading FR.
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