Elementary School Evaluation Results

Summative Evaluation:

Objective-Referenced Tests

Objective-referenced tests reveal that JA students have a better understanding of economic concepts than do non-JA students. The difference in scores between JA and non-JA students was significant at each grade level. The positive effect was particularly dramatic for the Our City® (third grade) and Our World® (sixth grade) themes.

Alternative Assessments

Alternative assessments demonstrate that Junior Achievement students have a deeper understanding of economic concepts and better problem-solving skills than non-JA students. JA students are also better at applying concepts to new situations.

The educational impact was dramatic for students in the Our Community® (second grade), Our City® (third grade), Our Nation® (fifth grade), and Our World® (sixth grade) themes.

A longitudinal study of program impact, conducted from 1993-1999, tracked students across years to assess the cumulative effect of the curriculum. During the 1998-99 school year, a national sample of sixth-graders that participated in the Elementary School Program since the first grade were administered objective-referenced tests (ORT) and alternative assessment exercises. Their resulting performance was then compared with students who participated in the program for the first time while in the sixth grade.

Figure 1.  National Mean Performance on the Our World ORT

Longitudinal Evaluation