استخدام و عملکرد دانش آموز در اصول اقتصاد

his paper examines the effect of several variables on student performance in Principles of Economics at the historically black university. The results indicate that the attendance, class size, GPA, number of hours worked per week and SAT scores significantly affect student performance. Especially, the grades of the students who work more than 20 h/week are negatively and significantly affected.

Economists have used evidence from Principles of Economics classes to investigate relationships between academic achievement, attendance and paid employment. This paper adds to this literature through a study of undergraduates attending one university in the US which caters largely for students from an Afro-Caribbean background. When evaluating the effects on achievement of students’ experiences in and out of-it is important to control for students’ characteristics. For example, several studies (Anderson et al., 1994) have suggested that males perform better than females in college economics. However, more recent studies have found no significant gender effect on student performance (Parker, 2006 and Swope and Schmitt, 2006). Unsurprisingly, measures of students’ average prior academic performance (such as in Grade Point Averages, GPA, or Standard Assessment Tests, SATs) are also correlated with achievements in economics (e.g. Park and Kerr, 1990).

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of paid work on student performance in Principles of Economics. We conclude that, for students attending this historically black university, there is a significant negative association between the number of hours of paid work and academic achievements in Principles of Economics courses. Our results largely confirm the findings of previous studies (Park and Kerr, 1990, Arias and Walker, 2004, Stanca, 2006, Marburger, 2001, Marburger, 2006, Durden and Ellis, 1995 and Romer, 1993) that the attendance, class size, GPA, and SAT scores have significant effects on student performance in Principles of Economics classes. Further research is needed to identify what extent of working hours may not affect student learning in Principles of Economics classes because students logically need sufficient time to devote to their studies.