| Subject: | RE: [socialcredit] U.S. Economics Test | | Date: | Thursday, August 9, 2007 18:07:49 (+0000) | | From: | KEITH WILDE <keithwilde @.........ca>
|
| In reply to: | Message 4954 (written by william_b_ryan) |
Are you going to keep us guessing about the "right" answer?
Keith
>From: <william_b_ryan@yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: socialcredit@elistas.com
>To: socialcredit@elistas.com
>Subject: [socialcredit] U.S. Economics Test
>Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 08:17:59 -0700 (PDT)
>
>The graphic accompanying the article in The New York
>Times, which I've attached below, contains this sample
>question:
>
>"What happens to most of the money deposited in
>checking accounts at a commercial bank?
>
>"A. It is used to pay the bank's expenses.
>
>"B. It is loaned to other bank customers.
>
>"C. It is kept in the bank's vault until depositors
>withdraw the funds.
>
>"D. It is paid to owners of the bank as return on
>their investment."
>
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>F_A_I_R__U_S_E__C_L_A_I_M_E_D
>
>Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
>August 9, 2007
>12th Graders Show Better Grasp of Market Forces Than
>Expected on U.S. Economics Test
>By SAM DILLON
>
>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 higher than
>expected understanding of basic market forces like
>supply and demand than officials expected.
>
>Results of the economics test, which was administered
>last year, were released yesterday. A summary report
>is available online 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 a third of the states.
>
>“The numbers here are pretty good, really,” said
>Darvin M. Winick, 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.”
>
>In contrast, only 13 percent of 12th graders performed
>at or above proficient, and only 47 percent performed
>at or above the basic level on the national assessment
>test in history that was administered last year. On a
>similar test in science in 2005, only 18 percent of
>12th graders performed at or above the proficient
>level, and 54 percent at or above basic.
>
>Bruce L. Damasio, a high school economics teacher in
>Towson, Md., who is president of the Global
>Association of Teachers of Economics, said the
>economics results showed that “many of our 12th-grade
>students have a pretty good grasp of the logic of
>economics.”
>
>“But when we look at the questions they can answer and
>the ones most of them get wrong,” Mr. Damasio said,
>“we see that many students are pretty shaky on the
>terminology of economics and on the actual ways that
>government and financial systems work.”
>
>Mr. Damasio cited a question that asked students to
>identify the most likely effect of an increase in the
>hourly wage of baby sitters. Eighty percent of
>students answered correctly that the time spent by
>teenagers on baby sitting would likely go up, whereas
>time they spent on other activities would decrease, he
>said.
>
>But on a multiple-choice question that asked students
>to identify one of the policy tools of the Federal
>Reserve, only 21 percent chose the correct answer,
>“buying and selling government securities.”
>Thirty-seven percent incorrectly chose “increasing or
>decreasing government spending,” and 31 percent chose
>“raising or lowering income taxes,” he said.
>
>“This means that students haven’t learned that
>Congress and the president determine federal
>spending,” Mr. Damasio said.
>
>The Department of Education periodically administers
>the nationwide tests in reading, mathematics, science,
>history, civics, geography and the arts. But although
>the federal testing program began in 1969, no national
>assessment had been conducted in economics until 2006.
>
>A nationally representative sample of 11,500 seniors
>in 590 public and private schools took part 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, 87
>percent of seniors reported some exposure to economics
>content in high school.
>
>But the effect of that exposure was surprising. The
>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 an honors course in
>economics scored marginally higher than students who
>had taken no economics at all, but students who had
>taken “consumer economics” or business courses scored
>lower.
>-
>
>
>
>____________________________________________________________________________________
>Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's
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>http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222
>
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