This study investigated how gender shapes the relationships between classroom environment, achievement goals and maths performance. Seventh-grade students (N = 498) from five urban secondary schools filled in achievement goal orientations and classroom environment scales at the beginning of the second semester. Maths performance was assessed as an average grade four months later. The results indicated gender differences in the perception of teacher and peers support, achievement goals and maths performance. The effects of goal orientations, teacher and peers support on achievement were moderated by gender. Furthermore, the interaction between classroom environment and performance goals on maths grades varied with gender. In the boys’ sample, performance-avoidance goals interacted with teacher support, while in the girls’ sample, performance-approach goals interacted with peers support in predicting maths grades. The educational implications of these gender differences are discussed.

Classroom environment, achievement goals and maths performance: gender differences

Concerns about consumers’ ability to manage their finances have triggered a range of proposals, including interventions aimed at elementary school students. The goal of these approaches is to improve lifelong economic decision making, but the evidence supporting their efficacy is thin. In this article, the authors discuss the trend toward elementary financial education and propose a framework for developing evidence-based programs. They emphasize the need for understanding the underlying mechanisms that facilitate the translation of student knowledge into the ability to make sound economic decisions over the life course. The framework illustrates the importance of articulating the intended mechanisms and effects of education programs. This focus on mechanisms will not only facilitate the evaluation of individual programs, but also the synthesis of evidence across interventions.

A Framework for Developing and Testing Financial Capability Education Programs Targeted to Elementary Schools.

The authors examine endogenous peer effects, which occur when a student's behavior or outcome is a function of the behavior or outcome of his or her peer group. Endogenous peer effects have important implications for educational policies such as busing, school choice and tracking. In this study, the authors quantitatively review the literature on endogenous peer effects through the use of meta-analytic methods. They find a significant and positive endogenous peer effect. It appears to be a genuine empirical effect but is dependent on the measure of educational outcomes, the peer group, publication status, and publication year.

Endogenous peer effects: Fact or fiction?

This review describes the conditions for teaching economics in the kindergarten through twelfth grade (K–12) curriculum in U.S. schools. The first section presents data on course-taking in economics in high schools and state mandates for economics instruction. It discusses the value of the infusion approach to teaching economics either in place of a separate course or as a complement to it. The second section describes the economic content that is taught to students as presented in content guides and standards. The final section presents research findings on (1) test instruments for measuring outcomes from economics instruction, (2) the effect of teacher coursework and training on the student economic understanding, and (3) how instructional materials complement or substitute for instructor selection and training.

Perspectives on Economics in the School Curriculum: Coursework, Content, and Research

Fur die Ausubung einiger Berufe in Deutschland ist eine staatliche Erlaubnis, eine sogenannte berufliche Lizenz, notwendig. Es ist bisher fur Deutschland ungeklart, auf welcher Grundlage diese Form beruflicher Geschlossenheit basiert und welche Konsequenzen sie fur die Verdienststruktur hat. Der Artikel beschreibt, dass berufliche Lizenzierung in komplexe Institutionen eingebunden ist, die sowohl zur Regulation des Marktzutritts als auch zur Regulation der Preisbildung fur berufliche Tatigkeiten fuhren. Die daraus resultierenden okonomischen Vorteile lizenzierter Erwerbstatiger lassen sich am besten als Schutz nach unten deuten. Entgegen vorherrschender Annahmen sind Verdienstvorteile in den oberen Bereichen der Verteilung geringer als in den unteren Bereichen. Dadurch wird die Verdienstungleichheit in Deutschland insgesamt gesenkt. Resultate bedingter und unbedingter Quantilregressionen auf Basis der BIBB/BAuA-Erwerbstatigenbefragung von 2012 unterstutzen beide Thesen.

/pdf/erhohen-berufliche-lizenzen-verdienste-und-die-2tb6lb30xu.pdf

Erhöhen berufliche Lizenzen Verdienste und die Verdienstungleichheit

Education policy analysts and professional educators have called for more and better professional learning opportunities for in‐service teachers, and for at least 30 years economists called for more content training for high school economics teachers. Using new data from all Georgia high school economics students, we assess the impact of in‐service teacher workshops on the performance of students on a high‐stakes end‐of‐course economics exam. Controlling for student characteristics and teacher fixed effects, we find a positive and significant impact of teacher workshop attendance – once teachers have attended three workshops – on student test scores. Furthermore, the results suggest that in‐service workshops for economics teachers offer a cost‐effective way to provide content training.

Does in‐service professional learning for high school economics teachers improve student achievement?

The authors provide the first estimates of the impact of peers on achievement in high school economics. The estimates are obtained by analyzing three years of data on all high school students who take Georgia's required economics course and its accompanying high-stakes End of Course Test (Georgia Department of Education). They use an instrumental variables approach with teacher-level fixed effects to control for selection bias, simultaneity, measurement error in the measure of peer quality, and nonrandom assignment of teachers to students. The authors find that an increase of one standard deviation in the prior academic achievement of peers increases achievement in economics by 0.03 standard deviation.

Do Peers Influence Achievement in High School Economics? Evidence from Georgia's Economics End of Course Test.

Centers for Economic Education across the country have as their primary goal assisting k-12 teachers teach economics Much of this assistance is done through in-service teacher workshops While there is empirical evidence that teacher in-service workshops ultimately increase student achievement, it is useful to know which workshops have the greatest impact In this paper, we analyze the effect of one of the most popular workshops, Teaching High School Economics Using new data on all Georgia high school students, we find that the students of teachers who have attended this workshop achieve significantly higher scores on these tests than other students

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Feej.2011.21.pdf

The Impact of the Teaching High School Economics Workshop for Teachers on Student Achievement

Teacher licensure is a regime where schools are forbidden from hiring teachers who have not completed a program of study in a teacher education program and/or other preparation requirements. This paper specifies a theoretical model of a school hiring teachers who are either traditionalcompleted a program of study in a teacher education program or alternativeentered teaching through an alternative path. We combine the implications of the theoretical model with the empirical literature on teacher labor markets to reach conclusions about how labor market policies would impact teacher quality. Perhaps the most important conclusion is that it is very likely that a regime of teacher licensure would lower teacher quality and student achievement. The key reason why licensure would lower teacher quality is that licensure fails to make the important distinction between marginal and average quality in hiring decisions.

Benjamin Scafidi

Papers

Does in‐service professional learning for high school economics teachers improve student achievement?

Do Peers Influence Achievement in High School Economics? Evidence from Georgia's Economics End of Course Test.

The Impact of the Teaching High School Economics Workshop for Teachers on Student Achievement

When does teacher licensure make sense