Laura EwingPresident/CEO

1801 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX 77019

P: 713.655.1650 F: 713.655.1655

Laura@economicstexas.orgwww.economicstexas.orgWWW.smartertexas.org

Helping young people learn to think, choose, and make better economic and financial choices in a global economy

The Texas Council on Economic Education (TCEE)Teaches Teachers

Who Teach StudentsWho Are the Future of Texas

--John Anderson, TCEE Board Member

Staff Development

• Economics

• Entrepreneurship

• Career/Business

• Financial Literacy

Playful Economics

Three Student ProgramsDirectly Reach 27,000 students annually

Stock Market Game™Economics Challenge

Personal Financial Literacy (PFL) Challenge

Why care about economic and financial literacy education?

Why educate students how to budget? (The following statistics published May 21, 2011 by www.economywatch.com)

• Total U.S. consumer debt in 2010: – nearly $2.4 trillion – $7,800 debt per person

• 2 – 2.5 million Americans seek the help of a credit counselor each year to avoid bankruptcy.

On average, clients seeking financial counseling were • $43,000 in debt of which $20,000 was consumer debt • $8,500 was revolving debt (such as credit card debt).

Why is there a need to teach personal financial literacy?

• “Student Loan Debt Exceeds Credit Card Debt in U.S.” —September 10, 2010 USA Today article

– “The total student loan debt is approximately $850 billion.”

– Consumers owed $828 billion in revolving credit, including credit card debt, according to July 2010 seasonally adjusted numbers given in Federal Reserve Bank report

Why encourage young people to save?Elliott and Beverly in the paper The Role of Savings and Wealth in Reducing Wilt Between Expectations And College Attendance (2010) state that -

•when a savings account is set up for students, they are 4 times more likely to go to college.

•if students have a savings account in their name, they are 7 times more likely to go to college.

• “I do know that kids have even fewer experiences with money than ever before. The days of sending lunch money and ice cream money are gone. Everything is put into an account for the kids at school. Then all they see is their parents using plastic even to pay for a drink at Sonic! Children truly don’t have a sense of money and using it wisely for their needs.” —Valerie Johse, Retired Elementary Math Specialist in Pearland ISD

$51 billion worth of fast food was charged to credit cards in 2006, compared to $33.2 billion the previous year.

•What if…• Texas had had Personal Financial Literacy education for the last 30

years? • Could a Smarter Texas have reduced the impact of the recession?

Helping young people learn to think, choose, and make better

economic and financial choices in a global economy

How Do We Build A Smarter Texas?One TeacherOne Student

One ClassroomOne School…At A Time

A FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM SPONSORED BY

Helping young people learn to think, choose, and make better

economic and financial choices in a global economy

www.economicstexas.orgwww.smartertexas.org

The Smarter Texas Program is made possible in part by the Council for Economic Education through funding from the United States Department Education Office

of Innovation and Improvement.

?

So, what does Smarter Texas offer? • PFL Staff Development for senior Economics & Career/Technical Teachers

Concern: too little/too late

• Introduction of PFL at the elementary level• greater depth and breadth at middle school • and then refinement at the high school level

• Support for the new requirements that:– K to 8 mathematics educators incorporate PFL in their instruction– Senior economics educators teach students about alternative methods of saving for

college or trade school

• Resources for lessons?– Financial Fitness For Life– Spiraled Curriculum– As funding available, each teacher receives $83.50 bundle

• Kindergarten – Grade 2• Grades 3 – 5 • Grades 6 – 8 • Grades 9 – 12

Additional Resources for lessons

• Hands On Banking

• Financing Your Future

FLIGHT • More Intensive PFL Content Training

• Speakers on:– Investments– Money and Banking– Investment in College– Federal Reserve Bank– Rent vs. Own Home– Credit Rating and Building– Insurance

FinancialLiteracyIgnitesGreaterHorizons forTomorrow

TCEE and Opportunity Texas Next Goal:

Smarter Texans Save

Long Term Goal for students: • Encourage students to save money for college, trade school, emergencies

• Work with Opportunity Texas to choose one area of Texas to provide matching funding for student savings accounts.

• Change student behavior from just receiving financial literacy to developing financial capability and asset building

What Other Programs Does the

Texas Council on Economic Education

Offer the Students and Teachers of Texas?

Staff Development Annually Reaches1500 teachers and 250,000 new students who learn about:

• Economics

• Entrepreneurship

• Career/Business

• Financial Literacy

Playful Economics

Virtual Economics Training•VE 4.0 CD/Pin Drive with 1400 + lessons•Training in 106 Texas districts with at least one of lowest performing schools in nation (others invited)•Training extended to other interested districts•Funded by State Farm and Council for Economic Education

Economics Challenge• Fall and Spring Online

Testing In Micro, Macro and International Economics

• Adam Smith Division 2nd place national champs

Bellaire HS 2010

• David Ricardo Division 3rd place national champs Plano HS 2010

• State competition all online this year

Personal Financial Literacy Challenge

• Premier Challenge: spring 2011 with campus online testing

• “State Play-Offs” with 20 teams and 10 teachers invited April 2011

• 2011-2012 fall and spring online challenge will determine state finalist

• State Competition all online this year

Texas Regional Competitions• 10 week simulation• Grades 4 through 12• Teams of 2 to 5• Virtual $100,000 to invest• 25,000 Texas students

participate annually• Legislative Challenge• Research indicates

improved math scores on standardized tests

• $10 per team

El Paso Sponsored by FirstLight

• State and national writing competition• Must be a SMG participant• Writing prompts require planning, critical

thinking skills and analysis of lessons learned from the simulation

• 2009 Texas had the national winner

www.economicstexas.org

• Lesson Plans

• Books written by Texas educators integrating economics and financial literacy with math and language arts at theelementary, middle and high school levels

Texas History Through Economics

Economics For Educators, Rev. Ed.Robert Hodgin, Ph.D.,

Economics Professor at UHCL

Laura EwingPresident/CEO

1801 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX 77019

P: 713.655.1650 F: 713.655.1655

Laura@economicstexas.orgwww.economicstexas.orgWWW.smartertexas.org

Helping young people learn to think, choose, and make better economic and financial choices in a global economy