By April Somboun

As you may already know, today is the first day of Financial Literacy Month and we have kicked off our #MySavingsStory video series with mom and entrepreneur, Rosie Pope.

Check her video on our Facebook page and find out how what her father taught her about savings and her one money advice to everyone.

Learn more about the #MySavingsStory campaign and who we’ve enlisted throughout the entire month of April.

The post Rosie Pope’s #MySavingsStory appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: April 1, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

Happy Financial Literacy Month!

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) is thrilled to announce the launch of the #MySavingsStory Video Campaign to inform and inspire kids to understand and take control of their financial lives. We’ve enlisted fashion designer Elie Tahari, best-selling author of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, entrepreneur Rosie Pope, and others to share, via videos, what they’ve learned about the importance of financial literacy and saving.

Below you will find the names of those involved and dates when their videos will be released throughout Financial Literacy Month. Make sure to check our Facebook page to watch their #MySavingsStory videos and hear their personal finance stories and savings advice firsthand!

We are so grateful to all who have joined the cause:

• April 1: Rosie Pope, Entrepreneur
• April 3: Brian Kelly, The Points Guy, Entrepreneur and Blogger
• April 6: Melissa Giannini, Editor-in-Chief, Nylon Magazine
• April 8: Noelle Scaggs, Fitz and The Tantrums Vocalist
• April 9: Jeff Lacker, American Economist and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
• April 10: Natalie Zfat, Social Media Entrepreneur
• April 13: Nan J. Morrison, President & CEO, Council for Economic Education
• April 16: John Dioso, Managing Editor, Glamour Magazine
• April 18: Jeff Kinney, Author, Diary of A Wimpy Kid
• April 20: Elie Tahari, Fashion Designer
• April 22: Mona Patel, CEO & Founder, Motivate Design
• April 23: Annamaria Lusardi, Denit Trust Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Economics and Accountancy, George Washington School of Business
• April 24: Dan Kadlec, Journalist, Time Magazine
• April 26: Veeral Rathod, CEO & Founder, J. Hilburn
• April 28: Kelli Grant, Consumer Reporter, CNBC.com

Through these personal stories, we hope to demonstrate how critically important financial literacy is for our nation’s students.

Also, we encourage you to share your own #MySavingsStory with us! You can do so by creating your own video (60 seconds or less) or by posting a personal finance story/lesson to your Facebook page and/or blog. Make sure to use the #MySavingsStory hashtag when sharing and tweet us at @council4econed so, we can further spread your story.

View Press Release.

The post CEE Launches #MySavingsStory Campaign to Celebrate Financial Literacy Month appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: April 1, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

On March 8th, people all over the world will be celebrating International Women’s Day and its theme of gender equality. While women have made progressive strides economically, there is still a long way to go.

According to the World Economic Forum the United States ranks 20^th when it comes to the economic gap between men and women. Even Iceland, ranked number one, does not have complete gender parity.

Here are some lessons for middle school and high school students that highlight women in the economy.

The Gender Gap

• Making Sense with Paul Solman: Women’s Fund Seeks Share of Prosperity for Female-Focused Firm: In this video (8:49), Solman puts the spotlight on the lack of women in high positions in business today despite the fact that nearly half of advanced business degrees are earned by women. Solman interviews Sallie Krawcheck, Chair of Ellevate, about her new direction—investing in businesses that have a large proportion of women in high positions.

Women Workers

• Lowell Workers and Producers Respond to Incentives: At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Francis Lowell built textile factories that only employed women. Documents attached to this lesson describe how the women evolved from being complacent to protesting the unfairness of their working conditions. The lesson highlights how economic incentives for factory owners and workers affect their behavior.
• Worker Safety: The Triangle Fire Legacy: The employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were predominantly young women. When the factory caught fire in 1911, about 150 workers died because most exits were blocked. This tragedy led to new government policy supporting the safety of workers in all industries. In this lesson, students assess the potential costs, benefits, and effectiveness of government and labor actions that can be used to improve worker safety.

We hope you’ll celebrate International Women’s Day with us and use these lesson plans as a teachable moment in your classroom.

The post Celebrating #IWD2016 | Lesson Plans Highlighting Women in the Economy appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: March 2, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

“There are so many resources out there on how to teach and what materials to use. How do I narrow it down to get the best of what I need?”

If these thoughts resonate with you, then you definitely have to bookmark BloomBoard. The educators at BloomBoard know that curation of relevant content is one of the most valuable services one can offer on the Internet.

Starting this month, BloomBoard has invited the Council for Economic Education (CEE) along with other experienced educators to create Collections of resources targeted to specific teaching objectives. As the leader of a national movement to bring economics education and financial literacy to every child, we know how to tackle the challenges involved in teaching these subjects to children in grades K-12.

For our debut Collection on BloomBoard, we decided to focus on teaching financial literacy to young learners in kindergarten through fifth grade. There’s good reason to start teaching finance early. Researchers have found that when elementary students study financial literacy, they develop more positive financial attitudes and behaviors such as saving that will continue throughout their lives.

Our Collection recommends teaching financial literacy with a wide range of resources including lesson plans, activities, songs, videos, professional development, and research.

Here are some of the resources that we recommend in this Collection:

Getting Started: EconEdLink: Join thousands of K-5 teachers successfully using these lessons to teach concepts such as the cost of choosing between “this and that” and how scarcity influences their world to young learners.

Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for Young Learners Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis: Kiddynomics introduces young children to economic thinking with five lessons based on popular storybooks.

Playful Economics: Scarcity, EconEdLink: Award-winning 5^th-grade teacher, Shanan Reigle, shows how she teaches scarcity in this instructional video. Students move from creating products with play dough to tweeting about their new understanding.

Creating a Classroom Economy Unit Plan by Beth Newingham, Scholastic: Students build a class economy replete with specific jobs, salaries, and currency. As class citizens, they must manage their money, using credits, debits, and checks.

Visitors to Bloomboard can save, share, and follow Collections. They will also be able to earn micro-credentials for their skills.

We would also like to introduce Buck Institute for Education (BIE) who posted the Collection, Gold Standard Project Based Learning: An Overview, on BloomBoard following ours. BIE creates, gathers, and shares high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL) instructional practices and products and provides highly effective services to teachers, schools, and districts.showing teachers how to use Project Based Learning in all grade levels and subject areas. Their comprehensive overview will help teachers get started with PBL.

We hope you will take a look at BIE’s Collection as well as others on BloomBoard. And, join us on BloomBoard in using and providing content that is relevant for our teachers today.

The post CEE Teams Up with BloomBoard appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 17, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

By: Marc A. Johnson, Education Program Director, Colorado Council for Economic Education

Professional development (PD) for teachers has sometimes been characterized as unappreciated and ineffective. Those of us who have taught long enough can certainly recall mandated PD experiences that were less than engaging, uninspiring and downright tedious.

But it’s unfair to apply that broad brush to all PD. In our experience, both as recipients and deliverers of workshops and seminars from our respective state councils for economic education, PD can be stimulating and rewarding for teachers and have a strong chance of leading to greater student achievement.

Among the deliverers of PD in economics and/or personal finance, state councils and centers seem to be best suited to provide the best opportunities for teachers. The model varies from state to state, but there are commonalities. Most can boast a stable of credible academics whose guidance can be relied on by teachers – they can take this stuff back into their classrooms with great confidence in the integrity of the message. Second, most workshops help teachers with the pedagogy. Classes/workshops are generally infused with exemplary demonstrations of methods – often by mentor teachers who show us the best ways to teach this stuff to kids. Finally, most PD from state councils and centers includes excellent resources, often provided from the vast library of carefully developed and well-vetted lessons from the national Council for Economic Education.

It’s this three-tiered construction of PD – expertise, pedagogy and resources – that make targeted, customized PD by centers and councils for economic education well worth their while. Individual teachers, departments, schools and school districts would be well-advised to seek out their state councils/centers and explore the possibilities of participating in high quality, efficacious PD in economics and/or personal finance.

To learn more about your local state councils/centers visit: http://councilforeconed.org/resources/local-affiliates.

The post Effective Professional Development via CEE’s State Council and Centers appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 10, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

By: Derek D’Angelo, President, Michigan Council on Economic Education

Why do you wear your seat belt while in a motor vehicle? I don’t wear my seat belt because of a government requirement, I wear it because my mother was in a horrible accident. It was a cold February morning in 1993 and my mother was on the way to work when her mini-van caught a patch of ice. The vehicle began to slide uncontrollably and she was t-boned on the passenger side by a truck. She was wearing her seat belt, spent a week in the hospital, and eventually made a full recovery.

Michigan was the first state to enact a seat belt law in July of 1985. Initially the legislation was met with much resistance from legislators and a populace whose seat belt usage was less than 20%. In the year of my mother’s accident the seat belt usage rate in Michigan had climbed to 64.4%. Merely establishing a requirement was only a first step toward moving the seat belt usage rate to the 93.3% it sits at today. Just as important was the research that showed people how many lives were saved, the graphic pictures of those who were not, enforcement efforts, and technological improvements to vehicles that followed enactment of the legislation.

Now that 20 state legislatures have jumped the hurdle to require high school students take a course in economics and lawmakers in 17 states require high school students take a course in personal finance, the work has just begun. Seldom do we put enough focus on the importance of the steps following legislative action. Establishing a state requirement is only the first step in the process of building a citizenry equipped to make financially sound decisions. Teachers must be supported through an investment in high-quality professional development. The delivery of this professional development must be strategically designed to target the needs of the teacher within the subject they teach. The model of large auditorium sit-and-get district required professional development should be abandoned for a more differentiated approach that encourages a growth mindset in teachers.

It’s time for a new conversation about teacher improvement. Teachers should receive ongoing professional development, tailored to their unique needs as lead learners in their classrooms. State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are uniquely positioned to provide high-quality, low cost professional development to those teaching economics and financial literacy. Across the nation, State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are equipped to provide the curriculum tools, the pedagogical support, and the community of peers needed for teachers to successfully implement and create the change sought by establishing state standards in economics and financial literacy.

We know that states with economic and financial literacy requirements are more likely to save, more likely to pay off credit cards in full each month, and less likely to be compulsive buyers. In 1985, the establishment of a state requirement in Michigan jumped seat belt usage to 60%, before falling back to 45% shortly thereafter. It is not enough to merely establish a state standard and believe all the problems will go away. The establishment of state standards in economics and financial literacy must be followed by a proper investment in the educators who will be delivering the messages to our children. It seems a much better and more cost-effective option than just hoping children learn from the accidents they witness.

The post State Leaders Should Provide Professional Development for Our Teachers appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 8, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

By: Derek D’Angelo, President, Michigan Council on Economic Education

Why do you wear your seat belt while in a motor vehicle? I don’t wear my seat belt because of a government requirement, I wear it because my mother was in a horrible accident. It was a cold February morning in 1993 and my mother was on the way to work when her mini-van caught a patch of ice. The vehicle began to slide uncontrollably and she was t-boned on the passenger side by a truck. She was wearing her seat belt, spent a week in the hospital, and eventually made a full recovery.

Michigan was the first state to enact a seat belt law in July of 1985. Initially the legislation was met with much resistance from legislators and a populace whose seat belt usage was less than 20%. In the year of my mother’s accident the seat belt usage rate in Michigan had climbed to 64.4%. Merely establishing a requirement was only a first step toward moving the seat belt usage rate to the 93.3% it sits at today. Just as important was the research that showed people how many lives were saved, the graphic pictures of those who were not, enforcement efforts, and technological improvements to vehicles that followed enactment of the legislation.

Now that 20 state legislatures have jumped the hurdle to require high school students take a course in economics and lawmakers in 17 states require high school students take a course in personal finance, the work has just begun. Seldom do we put enough focus on the importance of the steps following legislative action. Establishing a state requirement is only the first step in the process of building a citizenry equipped to make financially sound decisions. Teachers must be supported through an investment in high-quality professional development. The delivery of this professional development must be strategically designed to target the needs of the teacher within the subject they teach. The model of large auditorium sit-and-get district required professional development should be abandoned for a more differentiated approach that encourages a growth mindset in teachers.

It’s time for a new conversation about teacher improvement. Teachers should receive ongoing professional development, tailored to their unique needs as lead learners in their classrooms. State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are uniquely positioned to provide high-quality, low cost professional development to those teaching economics and financial literacy. Across the nation, State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are equipped to provide the curriculum tools, the pedagogical support, and the community of peers needed for teachers to successfully implement and create the change sought by establishing state standards in economics and financial literacy.

We know that states with economic and financial literacy requirements are more likely to save, more likely to pay off credit cards in full each month, and less likely to be compulsive buyers. In 1985, the establishment of a state requirement in Michigan jumped seat belt usage to 60%, before falling back to 45% shortly thereafter. It is not enough to merely establish a state standard and believe all the problems will go away. The establishment of state standards in economics and financial literacy must be followed by a proper investment in the educators who will be delivering the messages to our children. It seems a much better and more cost-effective option than just hoping children learn from the accidents they witness.

The post State Leaders Should Provide Professional Development for Our Teachers appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 8, 2016 | BY: brendan

By April Somboun

By: Derek D’Angelo, President, Michigan Council on Economic Education

Why do you wear your seat belt while in a motor vehicle? I don’t wear my seat belt because of a government requirement, I wear it because my mother was in a horrible accident. It was a cold February morning in 1993 and my mother was on the way to work when her mini-van caught a patch of ice. The vehicle began to slide uncontrollably and she was t-boned on the passenger side by a truck. She was wearing her seat belt, spent a week in the hospital, and eventually made a full recovery.

Michigan was the first state to enact a seat belt law in July of 1985. Initially the legislation was met with much resistance from legislators and a populace whose seat belt usage was less than 20%. In the year of my mother’s accident the seat belt usage rate in Michigan had climbed to 64.4%. Merely establishing a requirement was only a first step toward moving the seat belt usage rate to the 93.3% it sits at today. Just as important was the research that showed people how many lives were saved, the graphic pictures of those who were not, enforcement efforts, and technological improvements to vehicles that followed enactment of the legislation.

Now that 20 state legislatures have jumped the hurdle to require high school students take a course in economics and lawmakers in 17 states require high school students take a course in personal finance, the work has just begun. Seldom do we put enough focus on the importance of the steps following legislative action. Establishing a state requirement is only the first step in the process of building a citizenry equipped to make financially sound decisions. Teachers must be supported through an investment in high-quality professional development. The delivery of this professional development must be strategically designed to target the needs of the teacher within the subject they teach. The model of large auditorium sit-and-get district required professional development should be abandoned for a more differentiated approach that encourages a growth mindset in teachers.

It’s time for a new conversation about teacher improvement. Teachers should receive ongoing professional development, tailored to their unique needs as lead learners in their classrooms. State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are uniquely positioned to provide high-quality, low cost professional development to those teaching economics and financial literacy. Across the nation, State Councils and Centers for Economic Education are equipped to provide the curriculum tools, the pedagogical support, and the community of peers needed for teachers to successfully implement and create the change sought by establishing state standards in economics and financial literacy.

We know that states with economic and financial literacy requirements are more likely to save, more likely to pay off credit cards in full each month, and less likely to be compulsive buyers. In 1985, the establishment of a state requirement in Michigan jumped seat belt usage to 60%, before falling back to 45% shortly thereafter. It is not enough to merely establish a state standard and believe all the problems will go away. The establishment of state standards in economics and financial literacy must be followed by a proper investment in the educators who will be delivering the messages to our children. It seems a much better and more cost-effective option than just hoping children learn from the accidents they witness.

The post State Leaders Should Provide Professional Development for Our Teachers appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 8, 2016 | BY: brendan

By Daniel Thompson

Schools play a significant role in the lives of young people as they develop into independ­ent, capable members of communities. Starting at young ages, schools teach kids to be safe, to be healthy, to be civic-minded, and, at least in some states, to be responsible for their personal financ­es. But there is wide variation across states in terms of what sorts of eco­nomic and personal finance education is offered to students. Some states offer little guidance to school districts relat­ed to what personal finance content to offer in schools at each grade level; others have pushed ahead, requiring courses from elementary to high school-aged students, supporting and training teachers, and in some cases even testing students on learning outcomes.

The variation in approaches allows us to study how different strategies work. In states where personal finance is part of a formal course, teachers are trained on the content, and students are tested, students develop better credit behaviors early in adulthood. Students who gradu­ate after more rigorous standards are put into place are more likely to make on-time payments and keep up with their bills—they still use debt and credit, but seem to understand how to manage those obligations better than students who did not graduate under higher standards for personal finance and eco­nomics. The figure below shows the difference in credit scores for students who graduated before financial educa­tion mandates were imposed, relative to comparable states and controlling for local trends. Student credit scores are 8 to 17 points higher by age 22 in three key states that made a change in financial education policies in 2007.

States that combine personal finance and economics, support teach­ers, and hold students accountable for learning objectives have the best chance of promoting the develop­ment of young people who are bet­ter financial managers and stewards of their credit—behaviors with which many, if not most, young people tend to struggle. Rigorous state standards can facilitate local schools to implement well-designed programs, which in turn expose students to con­cepts they otherwise would not learn. Communities may also benefit from having more financially competent households; perhaps stronger econom­ics and personal finance standards could even be viewed ultimately as an eco­nomic development strategy, developing young people with an increased ability to manage credit and invest in their future.

Policymakers seem to understand, at least in some areas, that state support for economics and personal finance mat­ter. There is still much to learn about the optimal blend of topics, testing and grade levels, but support for economics and financial education, from grade school to high school, is valuable for students and communities.

Visit our website, http://SurveyoftheStates.com for an interactive experience and download the study. And, find out where you state stands in economics and personal finance education and how you can take action today.

The post State Requirements Matter – J. Michael Collins, Ph.D., Center for Financial Security, University of Wisconsin-Madison appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 5, 2016 | BY: brendan

By Daniel Thompson

– J. Michael Collins, Ph.D., Center for Financial Security, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Schools play a significant role in the lives of young people as they develop into independ­ent, capable members of communities. Starting at young ages, schools teach kids to be safe, to be healthy, to be civic-minded, and, at least in some states, to be responsible for their personal financ­es. But there is wide variation across states in terms of what sorts of eco­nomic and personal finance education is offered to students. Some states offer little guidance to school districts relat­ed to what personal finance content to offer in schools at each grade level; others have pushed ahead, requiring courses from elementary to high school-aged students, supporting and training teachers, and in some cases even testing students on learning outcomes.

The variation in approaches allows us to study how different strategies work. In states where personal finance is part of a formal course, teachers are trained on the content, and students are tested, students develop better credit behaviors early in adulthood. Students who gradu­ate after more rigorous standards are put into place are more likely to make on-time payments and keep up with their bills—they still use debt and credit, but seem to understand how to manage those obligations better than students who did not graduate under higher standards for personal finance and eco­nomics. The figure below shows the difference in credit scores for students who graduated before financial educa­tion mandates were imposed, relative to comparable states and controlling for local trends. Student credit scores are 8 to 17 points higher by age 22 in three key states that made a change in financial education policies in 2007.

States that combine personal finance and economics, support teach­ers, and hold students accountable for learning objectives have the best chance of promoting the develop­ment of young people who are bet­ter financial managers and stewards of their credit—behaviors with which many, if not most, young people tend to struggle. Rigorous state standards can facilitate local schools to implement well-designed programs, which in turn expose students to con­cepts they otherwise would not learn. Communities may also benefit from having more financially competent households; perhaps stronger econom­ics and personal finance standards could even be viewed ultimately as an eco­nomic development strategy, developing young people with an increased ability to manage credit and invest in their future.

Policymakers seem to understand, at least in some areas, that state support for economics and personal finance mat­ter. There is still much to learn about the optimal blend of topics, testing and grade levels, but support for economics and financial education, from grade school to high school, is valuable for students and communities.

Visit our website, http://SurveyoftheStates.com for an interactive experience and download the study. And, find out where you state stands in economics and personal finance education and how you can take action today.

The post State Requirements Matter appeared first on Council for Economic Education.

POSTED: February 5, 2016 | BY: brendan