August 22, 2007
Nationally, data indicates economics doesn't get its due
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In addition to the "three Rs" add economics to the topics that schoolchildren need to learn more about this year, according to Purdue University experts.A report released this month based on the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress test indicates that only 42 percent of U.S. high school seniors were considered "proficient" in economics.
"Economic reasoning is a skill that is essential to financial responsibility, both on the personal and community level, said Harlan Day, director of the Indiana Council for Economic Education located at Purdue.
Most Indiana students do not take a formal economics course until their senior year. Day said the importance of economics education cannot be understated, and, in an effort to help students learn important economic lessons early on, ICEE has been training teachers how to integrate economics into other subject matter, even in earlier grades.
"Last year we trained nearly 2,200 Indiana teachers on a variety of economics topics and curriculum materials," Day said. "The trouble is that many K-8 teachers have to squeeze economics into a curriculum that heavily favors subjects on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress exams."
The State Board of Education has plans to add social studies, which includes economics, to the ISTEP subjects. However, Day said no funds have yet been allocated for that. He said including economics in ISTEP testing would ensure that students receive adequate economics instruction at an earlier age.
Research by Phillip VanFossen, Ackerman Professor of Social Studies Education and associate director of the Purdue Center for Economic Education, shows that Hoosier students in kindergarten through grade three receive only about eight minutes of social studies education daily. Older students receive slightly more, but he said these data indicate that social studies and economic education are not a priority for the state's elementary teachers.
"These results make it all the more important that ICEE trains teachers how to incorporate economics into other lessons in all grades because these principles should be learned at an early age," he said.
The Purdue Center for Economic Education is one of 11 centers that make up ICEE.
"Research shows that students perform better when curriculum standards are high, when their teachers are well-trained and when students take more advanced courses," Day said." ICEE invests heavily in teacher training, especially graduate-level courses in economic education."
The National Assessment of Educational Progress results do not indicate individual state performance levels, but Day said he hopes Indiana students are outperforming others nationally.
"Indiana has a very good high school economics curriculum, and more high school students are taking economics now that it is part of the state's Core 40 curriculum," he said.
VanFossen said Indiana is one of only 17 states that require the teaching of economics.
While not mastering the subject, the national assessment data indicates that 79 percent of U.S. seniors had at least a "basic" understanding of economics, a figure that Day calls somewhat encouraging.
"Efforts of groups like ours across the country may be making a difference," he said.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress test in economics was given last year to 11,500 students in 590 public and nonpublic schools. The data was released this month by the National Assessment Governing Board in a report called "The Nation's Report Card: Economics 2006." A link to the report is available at the ICEE Web site at https://www.econed-in.org/index.asp.
The Indiana Council for Economic Education is a non-profit, educational organization that partners with business, labor, agriculture, education and government groups to increase economic literacy in Indiana. Its mission is to prepare students to become active citizens and productive members of the economy by providing them with the ability to make sound economic decisions.
Writer: Beth Forbes, (765) 494-2722, forbes@purdue.edu
Sources: Harlan Day, (765) 494-8545, dayhr@purdue.edu
Phil VanFossen, (765) 494-2367, vanfoss@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
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