High school seniors have a relatively adequate economics background, according to The Nation’s Report Card, a national evaluation of student performance. This marks the first-ever measurement of high school economic knowledge by a branch of the U.S. Department of Education.
The study, released Wednesday, revealed that 79 percent of students had a basic understanding of economics. Forty-two percent qualified for the proficient level and 3 percent qualified for the advanced level. The results exceeded expectations for some involved with the analysis.
“Several of us were pleasantly surprised. Economics is a complicated subject,” said Arnold Goldstein, reporting director for the Assessment Division of the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Department of Education that administers the test and collects data from the results. Students in the region that included the Washington metro area scored close to the national average, within the margin of error, Goldstein said. Data was not available by state.
The high percentage of students who either took economics classes or had some economic education incorporated into social studies or history was also unexpected, Goldsteinsaid, with 87 percent of students exposed to some economics, 49 percent taking a general course and 16 percent taking an advanced course.
In Fairfax County public schools, for example, an economics course is offered as an elective, and economic knowledge is also incorporated into the social studies curriculum, spokesman Paul Regnier said.
The prevalence of economics material in the high school curriculum may be due to the interest in maintaining the “competitiveness of our country with other countries,” Goldstein said.
This captures the attention of those in the business world.
“I think that many people feel, particularly those in the world outside of education, that economics is a critical issue,” said Darvin Winick, chairman of the independent National Assessment Governing Board, which decides on the test’s policy content. Winick, who has a background in banking, said, “It is hard for me to argue that you can be a good citizen without exposure to history, civics, government and economics.”
