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Proposed Changes to
Graduation Requirements in Hawaii

A Case for Four Credits of Social Studies

The Hawaii Council on Economic Education supports the continued graduation requirement of four social studies credits. When economics is offered in schools, it is an elective to fulfill the current social studies credit. Eliminating the fourth social studies credit will not only reduce the incentive for schools to offer economics, it will also reduce the opportunity for students to take a stand-alone economics course. Continue ...

 

2003 Economic Literacy Survey


The Hawaii Council on Economic Education completed a survey with SMS Research in July 2003 to assess the economic and financial literacy of Hawaii's workforce, age 16 and over. Overall, the typical respondent scored 65 percent on the survey, answering 12.96 of 20 questions correctly. Question topics ranged from the effects of rent control to the distribution of gains from international trade to the function of money. Continue ...

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Economic and Financial Education In Hawaii
Assessing the Present, Finding the Future

Economic education in Hawaii's K-12 schools got its formal start in the early 1970s, with the first courses in economics and consumer education being established in high schools. The number of students enrolled in economics courses in public high schools increased dramatically over the next 15 years, with roughly 25 percent of high school seniors in public schools enrolled in an economics course in 1986. Between 1986 and 1999, enrollment rates would almost double, to 47 percent of high school seniors. By 1999, Hawaii public enrollment rates were close to national private-public enrollment rates. This record of success would move into reverse gear in 1999. Between 1998-99 and 2001-02, enrollment rates in economics courses at public high schools tumbled, from 47 to 29 percent. Reasons for the enrollment declines include a drop in the number of public high schools offering economics since 1999; fewer available trained teachers; declining student interest in the elective; as well as scheduling and resource pressures. The enrollment rate in economics courses in Hawaii's private high schools stood at 66 percent of high school seniors in 2002-03, more than double the public school rate. Continue ...

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