Economic Lens

Question 1

Vignole (2009)

Answer 1

1. The author argues that the economic perspective is all about understanding how societies allocate scarce resources.
2. Economics involves principles of supply and demand.
3. An economic approach to education involves assessing the return on investment that education provides to students.

POP Connection: Many students attend the ESL program due to the ROI for their lives. They need English for Uni and they need Uni for status and income.

Question 2

Berends et al. (2010)

Answer 2

The authors wanted to examine claims that charter schools and school choice produce higher achievement than public schools.

The authors used an economic lens to examine the “black box” of charter schools to see whether achievement would be higher, and, if so, which factors accounted for the higher achievement.

Methods: the authors used a stratified, matched sample of student achievement scores for a school year. They also measured school variables such as level of instructional innovation, and teachers’ achievement expectations.

FINDINGS: Attending a charter school was not associated with greater math achievement. There was a positive correlation between high teacher achievement expectations and achievement. There was a negative correlation between innovation and achievement.