Economics Results of Assessment

"The Department of Economics is made up of a community of scholars who are committed to providing students the opportunity to gain both theoretical and practical knowledge to analyze problems, think strategically, and lead effectively. Students are given the opportunity to develop the skills of decision making, creativity, and independent scholarship."

The economics department has identified the following learning outcomes, which have been assessed during 2001-2002.

The department goals were assessed during the 2001-2002 school year through the use of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) major field exams, in-class examinations, and alumni and student surveys. The value of the alumni and student surveys are limited. Generally both students and alumni indicate that they are satisfied with their education, although students indicate that within the college of business and economics most students believe the economics major is much more difficult than average and the increased work load does not translate into greater salary benefits after graduation. The results of this assessment are presented below.

Finally, although we do not have any goals that specifically relate to salaries of graduates we hope that one by-product of meeting our departmental goals will be salaries that reflect achievement of our goals. Based on data from spring 2003 the average national salaries of economics and finance graduates were $40,084. At Weber State the average salary of economics majors who filled out the survey was $31,466 and the average salary of finance majors who filled out the survey was $27,743. These salaries are substantially lower than national averages, but without data on regional salaries this data is hard to interpret.

Outcomes	Data	Results	Future Goals
All business students will be able to identify the costs and benefits of a global economy	ETS scores place all students in the 73rd percentile in international area.	Results were less than desired. Small work group was formed to gather more data.	Performance in international area will continue to be examined.
Economics majors will be numerically literate, and possess strong written and oral communication skills.	Faculty conversations revealed dissatisfaction with students' research skills. Students did not sign up for an upper- level elective that focused on research.	Economics Department develops a required capstone writing course for majors.	Capstone writing course for majors will have to be approved by the Faculty Senate and can then be offered Fall 2003.
All economics, as well as all business majors, should be able to use the aggregate demand/aggregate supply framework.	ETS scores place all students in the 99th percentile in economics. In class exams stress this point in many classes. Grading practices between adjuncts and faculty vary widely.	Results were viewed as excellent. No changes in curriculum were viewed as necessary. Economics department hired an additional full-time instructor to help limit the use of adjunct faculty	Performance will continue to be examined. ETS scores will be monitored.
All economics, as well as all business majors, should be able to use statistical methods for problem solving (e.g. hypothesis testing, regression analysis).	ETS scores place all students in the 99th percentile in quantitative analysis. Grading practices between adjuncts and faculty vary widely. Thirty percent of graduates take upper division econometrics class.	Results were viewed as excellent. No changes in curriculum were viewed as necessary. Economics department hired an additional full-time instructor to help limit the use of adjunct faculty.	Performance will continue to be examined in both ETS results and in class performance.
All economics, as well as business majors, should be able to use the concept of supply and demand to analyze the current economic issues.	ETS scores place all students in the 99th percentile in economics. Grading practices between adjuncts and faculty vary widely.	Results were viewed as excellent. No changes in curriculum were viewed as necessary	Performance will continue to be examined.