Student Learning in the Principles of Economics Course At Predominantly Black and White Universities: Lessons from Two Schools

While much has recently been written about the overall effectiveness of economic education in the U.S. (see Becker, 1997, e.g.), very little systematic research has been done on the economic education of African Americans at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This paper takes a step toward improving the understanding of economic education at HBCUs by examining the learning outcomes of students – as measured by preand post-testing – in a Principles of Macroeconomics course from a representative HBCU and comparing them to those of students from a comparable Traditionally White College and University (TWCU). We find that while students at the HBCU start the course with a lower level of economics knowledge, by the end of the course they perform similarly to the students at the TWCU. That is, students at the HBCU exhibit more value added to their stock of economic knowledge. We thank Terry Seaks and 1999 NEA/ASSA paper session participants for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Nikkita Mitchell, Will Black and Karen Blackwell for valuable assistance in organizing the data for this study. Student Learning in the Principles of Economics Course At Predominantly Black and White Universities: Lessons from Two Schools