Hi, sorry I didn't see this earlier. The first thing I need you to check is your preferences. Go to edit>preferences>units and rulers. Make sure the ruler is set to inches and points.

I don't use PS Elements but it's probably very similar to PS 7. I also don't use that method of cropping. I just grab the crop tool and crop to the size I want. If you choose to do it that way you may have to go in to get more precise since you'll be doing it manually. Also, turn off Snap, View>snap and snap to. make sure they are not checked so you ahve more control over your images.

If you choose to do it the way your reading or learning just make sure the measurements are in inches as stated above. I just did the lesson and it appeared it was going to crop only two inches rather than the one inch I typed in. It cropped to the one inch even though it appeared to be cropping at 2x2. Try not to be bothered by that because PS automaticaly adjust the image to the size you put in. Go ahead and put your numbers in and use the crop tool. Then hit enter and see what happens.