Author ORCID Identifier

Jamie Wagner

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-13-2016

Publication Title

The Journal of Economic Education

Volume

47

Issue

2

First Page

121

Last Page

131

Abstract

This study disaggregates posttest, pretest, and value-added or difference scores in economics into four types of economic learning: positive, retained, negative, and zero. The types are derived from patterns of student responses to individual items on a multiple-choice test. The micro and macro data from the Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE) are used to show how aggregate scores can be reinterpreted based on their learning components. The regression analysis shows the relative contribution from learning components to aggregate scores. A value-added or difference score has a potential problem because it is a mixture of positive and negative learning.  A better alternative would be to use the positive learning scores to assess improvement in economic understanding.

Comments

This is an original manuscript / preprint of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Economic Education on 13 April 2016, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220485.2016.1146104.

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