A SURVEY OF ECONOMIC EDUCATION AMONG DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS STUDENTS IN THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER MANDATORY ECONOMIC EDUCATION (MARKETING, FREE ENTERPRISE)

A study was conducted in the state of South Carolina to determine: (1) Did the distributive education students tested in the study demonstrate performance on the Test of Economic Literacy which was indicative of the acquisition of economic concepts? (2) Did the economics students tested in the study demonstrate performance on the Test of Economic Literacy which was indicative of the acquisition of economic concepts? (3) Did the performance of the distributive education students compare favorably with the performance of economics students tested on the Test of Economic Literacy. (4) Did the economics students' performance on the Test of Economic Literacy compare favorably to the performance of students in other parts of the country? (5) Were there specific cognitive areas within the Test of Economic Literacy where demonstrated performance of the South Carolina students was inconsistent with the performance of students in other parts of the country?;While the results of the study indicated that the South Carolina students did not perform at a level equivalent to that of the rest of the nation, economics students in South Carolina were performing at a level near the mean of the Southern United States. With respect to the cognitive levels of Bloom's taxonomy, economics students in South Carolina performed at a level that was nearly equivalent to the national norm for the knowledge, comprehension, and application dimensions. For the levels of analysis and evaluation, the performance of South Carolina students decreased in comparison to the rest of the nation.;The results of this study indicated that while favorable gains were experienced by both groups, the aggregate gain experienced by the distributive education students was greater than the aggregate gain experienced by the economics students on the Test of Economic Literacy. Results were analyzed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the distributive education and economics programs with respect to the economic education effort in the state of South Carolina.