This paper examines the effects of offered and required coursework covering financial and economic topics in U.S. high schools over the past 20 years. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I ...look at the effects of economic and financial curricula on several post high school outcomes such as education attainment of potentially exposed groups, tax credit filing behaviour, and differences in poverty status. Analysis is done with 3 levels of geographic fixed effects; at the state level, county level, and contiguous county pairs that straddle state borders where discontinuities in coursework offerings or requirements are present. The results of this study do not suggest that potential exposure to economic or financial courses, whether they be offered or required, has any significant economic or statistical impact on education attainment for the affected population at the high school or post-secondary level. Exposure to coursework does not have a large economic impact on poverty reduction in potentially affected populations, but does result in some increase in both the likelihood of claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, as well as the amount claimed.
Graduate
In order to evaluate the suggestions frequently made to teachers of secondary level classes of educable mentally retarded adolescents that the classified advertising section of newspapers be used for ...instruction in reading, a study of the reading difficulty level of such materials was made. Three samples of at least 100 continuous words were selected from each of five newspapers published in the South and grade reading level was computed using the Lorge Formula for Predicting Readability. In general, it appears that at least fifth to sixth grade reading ability is needed for minimal comprehension. Formulas such as the Lorge underestimate the difficulty of this material; an even higher reading level is needed. Questions are raised about the appropriateness of this material for such classes. AA
Though the Wechsler tests are widely used to assess the intellectual ability of hearing-impaired children, data on the reliability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) ...with this population have been lacking. The Performance Scale of the WISC-R was administered to 59 prelingually deaf children attending a state-supported day school program. The reliability coefficients & standard errors of measurement were computed for each subtest & for the Performance Scale IQ. Results compare favorably with those found by D. Wechsler with the standardization sample. 3 Tables. HA
Fifty-nine prelingually deaf children were tested with both the Performance Scale of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude. Present ...results show that scores from the WISC-R Performance Scale are comparable to scores from the H-NTLA and can be used in any way that scores from the H-NTLA would be used.
Several studies appear to establish the occurrence of a relatively high level of auditory memory skill for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade black children, especially those from the midwest. ...This study is concerned with the development of this ability in black and white children in the southeast and the generalizability of the previous findings. The sample consisted of 122 black children and 120 white children in kindergarten through the third grade in two racially mixed schools in a large southern community. Scores on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities were subjected to a two way ANOVA. Results did not support previous findings as reported in the literature. Nor did the data support a superiority of black children in the skill tested
The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of two measures commonly used to predict school achievement of black and white deaf children. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for ...Children-Revised and the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude correlated significantly with Stanford Achievement Test scores for 23 black children but not for 36 white. Even though the groups differed significantly in WISC-R Performance IQ, Hiskey learning quotient, and in CA, they did not differ in achievement level. While the WISC-R and Hiskey appear to have some predictive validity for the black sample, the findings of no differences in achievement suggest little practical validity of these measures for grouping or placement or for making administrative or instructional decisions.
This volume in honour of Jan N. Bremmer consists of a variety of contributions offering a broad spectrum of original ideas and innovative approaches in the history of religions both past and present, ...thus reflecting the nature of the scholarship of Bremmer himself.
