Annual Report
FY 2007

President’s Report on FY 2007 - Abbejean Kehler

When you approach your work with an entrepreneurial spirit and a clear mission as your goal, you’ll find that like-minded people and organizations begin to seek you out as a leader. That is exactly what happened this past year. There are several projects featured below that demonstrate the wonderful opportunities we initiated or joined to pursue the mission of a better informed Ohio citizenry, both as voters and workers. We will be continuing to work towards bringing the "right stuff" to our classrooms and students.

OCEE – The “Go-To” Team

Immediately after newly elected state leaders took office, we were “discovered” as people-who-could-make-things-happen in the quest to provide Ohio schools with a Personal Finance curriculum, and teacher preparation and professional development. Upon request we gathered together the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), staff from the Ohio Treasurer of State’s office, including Treasurer Richard Cordray, and our network of nine, university-based Centers for Economic Education to immediately begin to address the needs of Ohio schools as a result of the unfunded passage of Senate Bill 311, which mandates instruction in personal finance for every high school student by 2011. The full text of S.B. 311 as it applies to economics and personal finance education can be found here on our website.

Treasurer Cordray, who was deeply concerned that we not let several years of students slip through the cracks, began pushing for a two-day “ Personal FinanceTeachersAcademy,” modeled on a West Virginia program. It felt like we were on the most urgent of missions – our Centers met three times to develop the curriculum framework, determine what materials would be ordered and purchased for the teachers, and to begin scheduling the dates for the June programs. Funding was provided by the Centers, ODE, and assorted regional sponsors.

Working together, we created an effective approach to the core topics that we believe cover critical information as well as meet Ohio Standards. We fully recognize that there are many important subjects that can or perhaps should be addressed, but our challenge was and is to carve out a core that each teacher attending any Academy in Ohio will receive information and teaching materials on, thereby providing a reasonably consistent experience. A sample of the topics is displayed below:

In all, over 300 teachers attended the Academies, and more workshops will be presented this fall. This will impact over 150,000 Ohio students, as informed teachers and engaging, high quality teaching materials make their way into the schools. It’s also expected that many of the lessons learned by students will reach home to their families and begin to raise both the awareness of and the quality of financial decisions being made across the state. The best is yet to come as we broaden this effort to reach all Ohio children.

Ohio Social Studies Resource Center (OSSRC)

What about teachers we may not be able to work with face-to-face? Or who have a very specific instructional need? www.ossrc.org is the place where a teacher can get help at any time, from any location. OCEE is one of the founding partners of this very unique collaboration, a list that includes: The Ohio Historical Society, Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching, Ohio Association of Community Colleges, Ohio Board of Regents, Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, Ohio Council for the Social Studies, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Education Association, Ohio Geographic Alliance, and State University Deans. OCEE President Abbejean Kehler is currently OSSRC Board Chair. The OSSRC works to provide links to peer-reviewed instructional resources that have been identified by a board of Ohio educators as exemplifying best or promising practices. All resources are correlated with the Ohio Social Studies Academic Content Standards.

Economics Online

We are also working with a new partner – Instructional Technology Services of Central Ohio (WOSU’s educational television department) – to improve and expand opportunities for teachers to take online tutorials based on state standards in economics and personal finance.

“There is a compelling reason for learning about economics that I tell my students: economics is a large part of life in this country. If you read the daily newspaper, a large proportion of the stories are about economics. They are about economic policy, and they are about the behavior of the economy. To live in this country and not understand all this is just to miss a good deal of the excitement of being here.”

Herbert Stein, Former Chair,
President’s Council of Economic Advisors

This competition for high school students remains one of our most popular and successful programs, and the sixth annual Ohio Economics Challenge was no exception – 25 teams from ten schools joined the event this year: that’s 100 students and 10 teacher-advisors. That doesn’t count the numerous students who competed with their classmates prior to the Challenge for the honor of making the school team(s)!

There were two notable additions to the event in 2007: first, the inclusion of the EconChallenge ONLINE, which was developed by the Nebraska Council on Economic Education as a way to allow schools with limited travel budgets to participate in the competition. In Ohio , we used the EconChallenge ONLINE merely for fun and practice prior to the usual face-to-face event, in order to solicit feedback about the program and see if we could interest any new schools in the competition. Second, we invited representatives of the Economics Departments of ten Ohio universities to attend the Challenge and share information about their respective programs with the participating students. This was well received by all involved; many presenters asked to be invited back next year!

For additional photos of this event, please visit our News page.

2007 Contributors

Citigroup

Huntington National Bank

Martha Holden Jennings Foundation

National Council on Economic Education

National Federation of Independent Business - Ohio

Nationwide Foundation

Ohio Business Week

Ohio Department of Education

Ohio Farm Bureau

Ohio Insurance Institute

Ohio State University – College of Education and Human Ecology

State Farm Insurance

Whirlpool Corporation

Barker Center for Economic Education

Berry Center for Economic Education

Central Ohio Center for Economic Education

EconomicsAmerica Cleveland Center

Economics Center for Education and Research

Gill Center for Business and Economic Education

Northwest Center for Economic Education

Wright State University Center for Economic Education

Paula Aveni

Kelly Banks

James Cummins

Carlton Dargusch

Lynn Elliott

Kelley Finan

Gregg Gascon

Robert Harless

Karen Heath

Rob Hovis

Constance Jackson

Abbejean Kehler

D.J. Kern-Blystone

Rick Limber

Dennis Lupher

Virginia Moore

William Muthig

Ellen Ramlet

Judy Roobian-Mohr

William Sharp

Jim Sheehan

Michelle Voorhis

Elizabeth Watters

Nothing we do would be possible without partners and sponsors.
Their investment in Ohio’s Children and communities truly matter.

Just a Snapshot… Our 2008 Program of Work

In order to better serve Ohio children, teachers, and citizens, The Ohio Council on Economic Education will –

Foster Partnerships:

State of Ohio Treasurer’s Office, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Social Studies Resource Center, Our network of nine, university-based Centers for Economic Education, Ohio Council for the Social Studies, National Council on Economic Education, Citigroup and the Indiana & Kentucky Councils for Economic Education, The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio Insurance Institute, and State Farm Insurance.

Engage in New Program Initiatives:

• Strive to Drive (S2D) – Pilot the classroom launch of the this program
• Stock Market Game (SMG) – Organize the statewide transition of our network from the Stock Market Simulation to the Stock Market Game
• Online Practica – Inaugurate two online economics courses for grades K-2 and 3-5
• Personal Finance Teachers Academies – offer additional sessions of this in-demand program
• Membership Drive – Roll out and advertise our Membership Initiative
• Public Service Announcements – Air a series of short radio spots to increase public awareness and support for the organization.
• Classroom Resources – Develop two products for school purchase

Continue Successful Initiatives:

• Economics Challenge – Host the seventh annual session of this popular competition for high school students.
• Golf Scramble – Host the fourth annual session of this networking and Board Development activity.
• Program Audit of Centers – Review performance to continue to improve the outreach and development of our network.
• Ohio Department of Education – Partner on economics, personal finance and entrepreneurship projects.

Above: Teachers at the 2007 Personal Finance Teachers Academy

Economic and financial literacy provides a foundation for children to develop vital financial decision-making skills. Your membership will help today’s students become successful consumers, savers, and investors, productive employees, responsible citizens, and successful participants in the global economy.

Join OCEE Today & Enjoy These Member Benefits:

• Satisfaction of being an Advocate for personal finance and economic education for ALL Ohio children K-12
• Certificate of Membership and Window Decal expressing your support for an informed Ohio
• Opportunities to Share Ideas with educators and business and government leaders on how to encourage widespread economic and financial literacy for a better Ohio
• Discount Registration for annual events such as our Signature Event and Golf Scramble

Please call 614-292-1178 to request a membership form.

Why Teach Children Economics?

Do you recall that phrase from the movie Jerry Maguire: “Show me the money?” In our office we might say, “show me the resources!” That’s what money really is: a resource with which we purchase goods and services. There are also in-kind resources, such as donated office supplies; and human resources, the people who share their time, talent, and treasure.

We know that learning economics helps students understand our history, government, and culture - but it teaches them valuable skills as well. In Ohio , economic education helps young people learn to make decisions about resources, to understand work and careers, and to develop the habit of innovative thinking. These principles don’t just deal with money and jobs, they are at the core of decisions we make every day – decisions that will shape our lives far beyond graduation. Decisions young people will some day use to shape our state and our nation.

We rely on schools to equip our children with an understanding of important free market principles and how they play out in our everyday lives. In Ohio , schools are able to provide these lessons in critical thinking across the curriculum because of the work and leadership of the Ohio Council on Economic Education.

For over fifty years, the Council has worked with teachers, state officials, various education organizations, and Ohio businesses to ensure that our state curriculum includes meaningful standards for economic understanding. Our efforts provide teachers with access to resources, so they can discover and implement innovative classroom practices and activities. We provide communities with the expertise and support to make system-wide, sustainable changes in their schools.

Our Newest Program Resource!

Strive to Drive

One of more exciting initiatives embarked upon this year was the Strive to Drive program, a 90 minute classroom activity bringing together the desire of young people to own their own car and all the elements that go into achieving that goal. We have created a pilot project with the Ohio Insurance Institute and State Farm Insurance to launch this program in 75 classrooms – and the excitement is just beginning to build!

Strive to Drive combines personal finance skills such as goal setting, research, decision-making, working and earning, financing a major purchase, and understanding insurance and its importance. These materials are being widely used in both Pennsylvania and Florida with great success, and have thus far been very well received by teachers in Ohio , as well. In addition to the activity, a customized Teacher’s Guide will be provided to each teacher along with six sets of the activity for classroom implementation.

We will be seeking sponsors as well as teachers who wish to use this program in their classrooms. Sponsors will be recognized for their investment in Ohio’s children, and we hope that many will also visit the classrooms they are supporting to catch the magic of learning about the process of reaching the goals students choose for themselves! If this program is of interest to you, please drop by our Events/Programs page or call us at 614-292-1178.