IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jeduce/v47y2016i2p121-131.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The disaggregation of value-added test scores to assess learning outcomes in economics courses

Author

Listed:
  • William B. Walstad
  • Jamie Wagner

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.

Suggested Citation

  • William B. Walstad & Jamie Wagner, 2016. "The disaggregation of value-added test scores to assess learning outcomes in economics courses," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 121-131, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jeduce:v:47:y:2016:i:2:p:121-131
    DOI: 10.1080/00220485.2016.1146104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00220485.2016.1146104
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220485.2016.1146104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koedel, Cory & Mihaly, Kata & Rockoff, Jonah E., 2015. "Value-added modeling: A review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-195.
    2. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad & John J. Siegfried, 2015. "Research on Teaching Economics to Undergraduates," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 285-325, June.
    3. Mark Dickie, 2006. "Do Classroom Experiments Increase Learning in Introductory Microeconomics?," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 267-288, July.
    4. Becker, William E. & Powers, John R., 2001. "Student performance, attrition, and class size given missing student data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 377-388, August.
    5. Nan L. Maxwell & John R. Mergendoller & Yolanda Bellisimo, 2005. "Problem-Based Learning and High School Macroeconomics: A Comparative Study of Instructional Methods," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 315-329, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kuhn, Christiane & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Olga & Brückner, Sebastian & Saas, Hannes, 2018. "A new video-based tool to enhance teaching economics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 24-33.
    2. Emerson, Tisha L.N. & McGoldrick, KimMarie & Wagner, Jamie, 2023. "Decomposing a pre- post-test outcome to measure the effect of cooperative learning on student achievement," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    3. Diego Mendez-Carbajo, 2023. "The Effectiveness of Logical Distractors in an Online Module," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 15-30, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klein, Alina F. & Klein, Rudolf F., 2023. "Improving student performance: Playing Survivor," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    2. Tisha L. N. Emerson & KimMarie McGoldrick, 2023. "An investigation of unsuccessful performance and subsequent retake behavior in principles of economics," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 986-1021, January.
    3. Michael R. Hammock & P. Wesley Routon & Jay K. Walker, 2016. "The opinions of economics majors before and after learning economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 76-83, January.
    4. Lea Cassar & Mira Fischer & Vanessa Valero, 2022. "Keep Calm and Carry On: Immediate-vs. Six-Month Effects of Mindfulness Training on Academic Performance," CESifo Working Paper Series 10099, CESifo.
    5. Matthew A. Kraft & John P. Papay & Olivia L. Chi, 2020. "Teacher Skill Development: Evidence from Performance Ratings by Principals," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 315-347, March.
    6. Majid Mohammed Kunambi & Hongxing Zheng, 2024. "Contextual Comparative Analysis of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa Port Performance by Using a Hybrid DEA(CVA) Model," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Ingo E. Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "The value of a peer," ECON - Working Papers 342, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Paul Anand & Jere R. Behrman & Hai-Anh H. Dang & Sam Jones, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in education: Accounting for the contributions of Sibs, schools and sorting across East Africa," Working Papers 480, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    9. von Hippel, Paul T. & Bellows, Laura & Osborne, Cynthia & Lincove, Jane Arnold & Mills, Nick, 2016. "Teacher quality differences between teacher preparation programs: How big? How reliable? Which programs are different?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 31-45.
    10. Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Teaching Practices and Social Capital," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 189-210, July.
    11. J.R. Clark & Joshua C. Hall & Ashley S. Harrison, 2017. "The Relative Value of AER P&P Economic Education Papers," Working Papers 17-23, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    12. Canales, Andrea & Maldonado, Luis, 2018. "Teacher quality and student achievement in Chile: Linking teachers' contribution and observable characteristics," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-50.
    13. Gerald Eisenkopf & Pascal A. Sulser, 2016. "Randomized controlled trial of teaching methods: Do classroom experiments improve economic education in high schools?," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 211-225, July.
    14. Halliday, Simon D. & Makler, Christopher & McKee, Douglas & Papadopoulou, Anastasia, 2024. "Improving student comprehension through interactive model visualization," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    15. Cory Koedel & Jiaxi Li & Matthew G. Springer & Li Tan, 2018. "Teacher Performance Ratings and Professional Improvement," Working Papers 1808, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    16. Kopp, Daniel, 2024. "Do Recruiters Penalize Men Who Prefer Low Hours? Evidence from Online Labor Market Data," IZA Discussion Papers 16845, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Tim Kaiser & Luis Oberrauch & Günther Seeber, 2020. "Measuring economic competence of secondary school students in Germany," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 227-242, August.
    18. Gourley, Patrick, 2021. "Back to basics: How reading the text and taking notes improves learning," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    19. Arthur Caplan & John Gilbert, 2008. "'D' is for dilly-dally?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(14), pages 1085-1088.
    20. Dickerson, Andy & Ratcliffe, Anita & Rohenkohl, Bertha & Van de Sijpe, Nicolas, 2024. "Anticipated labour market discrimination and educational achievement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 375-393.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jeduce:v:47:y:2016:i:2:p:121-131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/VECE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.