Testing the Economic Literacy of K-12 Teachers: A State-Wide Baseline Analysis

27 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2007

See all articles by Paul W. Grimes

Paul W. Grimes

Mississippi State University - College of Business; Pittsburg State University

Meghan Millea

Mississippi State University - Department of Finance and Economics

M. Kathleen Thomas

Mississippi State University - Department of Finance and Economics

Date Written: February 2007

Abstract

Without a National Council on Economic Education affiliated state council, Mississippi lacked a formal economic education advocate for more than two decades. A new state council along with two university-based centers have recently undertaken an aggressive push to elevate the role and importance of economics in Mississippi's K-12 school systems. This study examines the level of economic literacy, as measured by standardized test scores, exhibited by K-12 teachers in the state near the beginning of this endeavor. A standard regression model is estimated to reveal those factors associated with the teachers' test scores. The results suggest that teachers, particularly elementary teachers, had relatively low levels of initial economic understanding. The degree of economic literacy was found to vary across gender, racial ethnicity, age, annual family income, and the previous levels of formal economics instruction. Additionally, teachers who taught economics as a separate discipline and those without a broad portfolio of teaching responsibilities scored higher, holding all else constant.

Keywords: economic literacy, teachers, public schools, Mississippi

JEL Classification: A21

Suggested Citation

Grimes, Paul W. and Grimes, Paul W. and Millea, Meghan and Thomas, M. Kathleen, Testing the Economic Literacy of K-12 Teachers: A State-Wide Baseline Analysis (February 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=962781 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.962781

Paul W. Grimes (Contact Author)

Pittsburg State University ( email )

101 Kelce Center
Pittsburg, KS 66762
United States
620-235-4590 (Phone)
620-235-4578 (Fax)

Mississippi State University - College of Business ( email )

Box 9580
326 McCool Hall
Mississippi State, MS 39762-0964
United States
662-325-1987 (Phone)
662-325-1977 (Fax)

Meghan Millea

Mississippi State University - Department of Finance and Economics ( email )

Mississippi State, MS 39762
United States
662-325-7476 (Phone)
662-325-1977 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.msstate.edu/dept/finecon/millea.html

M. Kathleen Thomas

Mississippi State University - Department of Finance and Economics ( email )

Mississippi State, MS 39762
United States
(662) 325-2561 (Phone)

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