Sunday, September 09, 2007

Good Scores on National Economics Test

The nation’s high school seniors performed significantly better on the first nationwide economics test than they did on other recent national exams in history and science, and demonstrated a better understanding of basic market forces like supply and demand than officials expected.

Results of the economics test, which was administered last year, are being released this morning. A summary report is available on the web at nationsreportcard.gov.

The Department of Education translates student scores on the test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, into three achievement levels: advanced, proficient and basic. On the economics test, 42 percent of 12th graders performed at or above the proficient level, and 79 percent performed at or above the basic level. An economics course is required for graduation in only about one-third of the states.

“The numbers here are pretty good, really,” said Darvin M. Winick, the chairman of the bipartisan body set up by Congress to oversee the test. “Given the number of students who finish high school with a limited vocabulary, not reading well and weak in math, the results may be as good or better than we should expect.” ...

This from the New York Times.

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