Publication: Journal of Economic Education
Volume: Volume 25, No. 3
Issue: Summer 1994
Pages: pp. 195-211
Author(s): Michael Watts (Purdue University) and William Bosshardt (Western Michigan University)
Address (Principal Author):Michael Watts, Department of Economics, Purdue University, 1310 Krannert Center, Room 234, West Lafayette, IN 4707 (317) 494-8543
Internet Address (Principal Author): bfp@zeus.mgmt.purdue.edu
Title: Instructor Effects in Economics in Elementary and Junior High Schools
Abstract: Instructor effects in elementary and junior high classes are estimated using a fixed-effects panel data model with data from the national norming samples for the National Council on Economic Education's Test of Economic Knowledge and Basic Economics Test. We find that even in these early grades some teachers are much more effective than others. Comparing estimates across these grades and from high school and university courses that we studied in two earlier papers, the range of instructor effects is greater in courses where instructors have more latitude to decide what and how much economics to teach, and how to teach and test it. At the junior high level, instructors of economics courses appear to increase learning more than teachers who try to infuse economics instruction into other subject areas. At the elementary level, teachers who make an explicit decision to provide economics instruction increase student learning more than those who do not claim to teach this "optional" subject.