WASHINGTON, D.C.
When it comes to knowing the basics of economics, such as how banks use money deposited into checking accounts to fund loans and what the nation’s primary source of revenue is, Black students are the most clueless, according to the Nation’s Report Card on Economics.
The assessment result was released last week by the National Assessment Governing Board, an independent board that includes governors, legislators and educators, as part of the board’s annual evaluation on the condition of education in the country.
In the sample of more than 11,000 12th-graders from both public and private schools across the country, the average score in the basic achievement range of what students should already know about economics and the American economy, Blacks scored the lowest.
Black students’ average achievement level score was 127 compared to White students who scored 158; Asian and Pacific Islander students, 153; American Indian/Alaska Natives, 137; and Hispanics, 133. The mean score was 150 out of a 300-point scale.
“I was not terribly surprised at the overall results. There is a racial gap on every NAEP assessment,” said Dr. Cecilia A. Conrad, dean of faculty at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., and member of one of the committees that reviewed the questions.
