The NYTimes has a story today reporting on the wonderful scores
students attained on the National economics test.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/education/08cnd-naep.html?hp
The final paragraphs:
The Department of Education periodically administers the nationwide
tests in reading, mathematics, science, history, civics, geography
and the arts. But last year’s assessment in economics was the first
in that subject since the federal testing program began in 1969.
A nationally representative sample of 11,500 twelfth-grade students
in 590 public and private schools participated in the exam.
The test questionnaire asked students to list any economics courses
they had taken in high school. Although a minority of states require
economics classes, 87 percent of seniors reported some exposure to
the subject in high school.
But the effect of that exposure was surprising. The test scores of
students who had taken economics courses were not necessarily higher
than those who had not. On average, students who had taken Advanced
Placement, International Baccalaureate or honors courses in economics
scored marginally higher than students who had taken no economics at
all. But students who had taken “consumer economics” or business
courses tended to score lower.
