An Exploratory Study of the Economic Understanding of Elementary School Teachers

Abstract

Professor McKenzie administered the SRA Test of Economic Understanding to 144 elementary teachers in southwest Virginia and compared their performance with that of several other groups. It is concluded that elementary teachers whose formal economics training is comparable to that of high school teachers are equally knowledgable. His results raise further questions about the effectiveness of two semesters of economics as compared with one, at least as far as long-run impact is concerned. The so-called “Stigler hypothesis” was also tested, McKenzie concluding that Stigler was probably “overly pessimistic about the lasting effects of the college economics course.” Several suggestions for improving the teaching of economics at the elementary level are included.