U S Economic Education In K 12 Schools

Economic literacy, a prerequisite to understand major economic issues, usually begins at the elementary school level continues through the middle and high school levels on to the undergraduate and graduate levels of higher education.Economic education is accomplished by teaching students the appropriate economic content with instructional problem-solving techniques.Students acquire the capacity to analyze problems using their knowledge and analysis to derive logical decisions on economic matters which results in improving their lives and those of their communities.This book provides an analysis of the effectiveness of the Economic literacy of K-12 teachers and students in urban, suburban and rural schools in America.The effectiveness of learning was measured using regression analysis to test the variables that affect teacher performance in economic learning.The analysis should assist K-12 administrators and teachers to plan and assess their performance on Economic literacy in their schools as well as the public and government when evaluating policy decisions and businesses when hiring people with good decision-making and problem-solving skills.

This essential guide for curriculum developers, administrators, teachers, and education and economics professors, the standards were developed to provide a framework and benchmarks for the teaching of economics to our nation's children.

This companion to the National Content Standards provides definitions and explanations of key economic concepts as well as scope and sequence guidelines for teaching economics concepts within the K12 curriculum.

The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.

The first complete resource on US educational programing to examine the research evidence for efficacy of education programs, and quantify the economic value of these programs for the US economy, so that federal, state, and local governments can invest their resources wisely.

Economics can be a lens for understanding the behavior of schools, districts, states, and nations in meeting education needs of their populaces, as well as for understanding the individual decisions made by administrators, teachers, and students. Insights from economics help decision makers at the state level understand how to raise and distribute funds for public schools in an equitable manner for both schools and taxpayers. Economics also can assist researchers in analyzing effects of school spending and teacher compensation on student outcomes. And economics can provide important insights into public debates on issues such as whether to offer vouchers for subsidizing student attendance at private schools. This two-volume encyclopedia contains over 300 entries by experts in the field that cover these issues and more. Features: This work of 2 volumes (in both print and electronic formats) contains 300-350 signed entries by significant figures in the field. Entries conclude with cross-references and suggestions for further readings to guide students to in-depth resources. Although organized in A-to-Z fashion, a thematic “Reader’s Guide” in the front matter groups related entries by topic. Also in the front matter, a chronology provides students with historical perspective on the development of education economics and finance as a field of study The entire work concludes with a Resources appendix and a comprehensive Index. In the electronic version, the index, Reader's Guide, and cross references combine to provide effective search-and-browse capabilities.

As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In Whither Opportunity? a distinguished team of economists, sociologists, and experts in social and education policy examines the corrosive effects of unequal family resources, disadvantaged neighborhoods, insecure labor markets, and worsening school conditions on K-12 education. This groundbreaking book illuminates the ways rising inequality is undermining one of the most important goals of public education—the ability of schools to provide children with an equal chance at academic and economic success. The most ambitious study of educational inequality to date, Whither Opportunity? analyzes how social and economic conditions surrounding schools affect school performance and children’s educational achievement. The book shows that from earliest childhood, parental investments in children’s learning affect reading, math, and other attainments later in life. Contributor Meredith Phillip finds that between birth and age six, wealthier children will have spent as many as 1,300 more hours than poor children on child enrichment activities such as music lessons, travel, and summer camp. Greg Duncan, George Farkas, and Katherine Magnuson demonstrate that a child from a poor family is two to four times as likely as a child from an affluent family to have classmates with low skills and behavior problems – attributes which have a negative effect on the learning of their fellow students. As a result of such disparities, contributor Sean Reardon finds that the gap between rich and poor children’s math and reading achievement scores is now much larger than it was fifty years ago. And such income-based gaps persist across the school years, as Martha Bailey and Sue Dynarski document in their chapter on the growing income-based gap in college completion. Whither Opportunity? also reveals the profound impact of environmental factors on children’s educational progress and schools’ functioning. Elizabeth Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines, and Christina Gibson-Davis show that local job losses such as those caused by plant closings can lower the test scores of students with low socioeconomic status, even students whose parents have not lost their jobs. They find that community-wide stress is most likely the culprit. Analyzing the math achievement of elementary school children, Stephen Raudenbush, Marshall Jean, and Emily Art find that students learn less if they attend schools with high student turnover during the school year – a common occurrence in poor schools. And David Kirk and Robert Sampson show that teacher commitment, parental involvement, and student achievement in schools in high-crime neighborhoods all tend to be low. For generations of Americans, public education provided the springboard to upward mobility. This pioneering volume casts a stark light on the ways rising inequality may now be compromising schools’ functioning, and with it the promise of equal opportunity in America.