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District level mandates and high school students' understanding of economics

Author

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  • Grimes, Paul W.
  • Millea, Meghan J.
  • Thomas, M. Kathleen

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of district-level course mandates on students’ end-of-course economic understanding. Data were collected from Mississippi high school students studying economics in three different course environments. Students were either enrolled in a one semester economics course required for graduation, enrolled in a one semester course taken as an elective, or studying economics as an infusion subject within a United States history course. A regression-based selection model was estimated to control for students’ demographic characteristics, educational attributes, market experiences, and school attributes. The results indicated that student test scores were significantly less for those students studying economics as an infusion subject and when taking a mandated stand-alone course, ceteris paribus. The authors conclude that course mandates may result in teacher and student issues that reduce the overall observed level of test performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Grimes, Paul W. & Millea, Meghan J. & Thomas, M. Kathleen, 2008. "District level mandates and high school students' understanding of economics," MPRA Paper 39883, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:39883
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William B. Walstad, 2001. "Economic Education in U.S. High Schools," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 195-210, Summer.
    2. Grimes, Paul W. & Millea, Meghan J., 2003. "Economic education as public policy: the determinants of state-level mandates," MPRA Paper 39884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. William B. Walstad & Stephen Buckles, 2008. "The National Assessment of Educational Progress in Economics: Findings for General Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 541-546, May.
    4. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    5. Becker, William E & Walstad, William B, 1990. "Data Loss from Pretest to Posttest as a Sample Selection Problem," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(1), pages 184-188, February.
    6. William B. Walstad & Ken Rebeck, 2001. "Assessing the Economic Understanding of U.S. High School Students," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 452-457, May.
    7. Belfield, Clive R. & Levin, Henry M., 2004. "Should high school economics courses be compulsory?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 351-360, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cynthia Harter & John F.R. Harter, 2010. "Is Financial Literacy Improved by Participating in a Stock Market Game?," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 10(1), pages 21-32, Summer.
    2. Kimberly Burnett & Sumner La Croix, 2010. "The Dog ATE my Economics Homework! Estimates of the Average Effect of Treating Hawaii’s Public High School Students with Economics," Working Papers 2010-01, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    3. Phillip Saunders, 2011. "A history of economic education," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mandates; Economic literacy; High School; Education policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • A21 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Pre-college

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