News |
 Achieving economic and financial literacy for Ohioi |
Home |
|||||
|
The 2009 Ohio High School Economics Challenge |
|
|
The eighth annual Economics Challenge, a contest for students in grades 9-12 that offers teams of three to four students the opportunity to engage in a series of tests, challenging their economic knowledge and their economic understanding, was held March 2, 2009 at the Villa Milano Conference Center in Columbus, and boasted 19 teams from 9 schools. |
|
For the fourth year in a row, the winning team in the Adam Smith division was from Strongsville High School. In the David Ricard division, Lexington High School was the winning team. In April both teams will go on to represent Ohio at the Northeast Regional Economics Challenge in Baltimore, Maryland, where the teams will compete for an all expenses paid trip to New York City, and a chance to win the National Economics Challenge. We wish them every success as they face off against the peers from across the nation! |
We would like to express our thanks to The Chamber Foundation, Mansfied/Richland County representative Bill Sharp for serving as our Master of Ceremonies for the final rounds of the competition, and to all our volunteers. Many thanks as well to the FirstMerit Bank for sponsoring prizes for our first place team coaches, and especially to our fellow Board Members, Center Directors and staff, and friends, without whom this event would not be possible. |
|
The 2009 Ohio Economics Challenge was sponsored by the Ohio Council on Economic Education, and FirstMerit Bank; the Council for Economic Education, the Goldman Sachs Foundation; and the Ohio Council for the Social Studies. At Right: Some of the many volunteers who helped us grade tests and tally scores at the 2009 Economics challenge. Many, Many Thanks! |
 |
 Adam Smith First Place Team - Strongsville HS |
 David Ricardo First Place Team - Lexington HS (# 11) |
 Adam Smith Second Place Team - Indian Hill HS |
 David Ricardo Second Place Team - Lexington HS (#13) |
 Adam Smith Third Place Team - Cleveland Heights HS |
 David Ricardo Third Place Team - Gahanna-Lincoln HS |
|
 David Ricardo Highest Individually Scoring Student, Jacob Eckstein of Lexington HS |
 |
Abbejean Kehler, President of the Ohio Council on Economic Education and Executive Director of the Central Ohio Center for Economic Education of Ahsland University, passed away unexpectedly Friday, January 16, 2009. The loss to these two organizations, and to the numerous other organizations that partnered with OCEE/COCEE, such as the Ohio Department of Education, or with which Abbe was involved, such as the Ohio Council for the Social Studies, is staggering. |
Kehler earned her Masters of Economics degree from the University of North Dakota, and taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses at several universities including Wichita State University in Kansas, Ball State University in Indiana, Indiana University, and the University of South Florida. Most recently she provided courses through The Ohio State Unviersity and Ashland University, as well as teaching online courses through DeVry University. This does not count the hundreds of professional development workshops she provided to teachers in grades K-12. Kehler developed a national reputation in economic education and was a highly sought consultant on many educational endeavors. She worked closely with the Ohio Department of Education to develop state standards in economics and review questions for the economics portion of the Proficiency (and later Ohio Graduation) Tests. She worked with the State Treasurer's Office to implement the Personal Finance Teacher's Academys and spoke before the state legislature on behalf of economic education and financial literacy. Through the National Council on Economic Education, Kehler traveled to the Ukraine to work first-hand with educators in that country as they transitioned from a planned to a market economy. She worked to develop a resource-sharing website, the "Economic Education Toolbox" for the National Council on Economic Education's network of State Councils and Centers, and served on several committees for the National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE). Kehler served as economic education representative to the Ohio Social Studies Resource Center (OSSRC) and to the Ohio Council for the Social Studies (OCSS), and organization for which she was also Treasurer and Bookkeeper. She worked closely with Columbus Saves and the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. She created resources for students in grades K-12, such as the Economics Toolkit for the Classroom (stressing reading and economics skills for the elementary grades), lessons featuring detective Penny Pincher for the online resource Econ Ed Link, and she wrote articles for professional journals, such as the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Social Studies and the Young Learner. Former OCEE Administrative Assistant, Michel Grinch, a friend and employee of Kehler's for over a decade, had this to say at Kehler's memorial service: "Those of you who are familiar with Garrison Keillor will know that A Prairie Home Companion is brought to you by 'Powder Milk Biscuits, the biscuits that give shy people the strength to get up in the morning and do what needs to be done.' "It amazed me how much she did: President of the Ohio Council on Economic Education, Executive Director for the Central Ohio Center for Economic Education, Treasurer and Bookkeeper for the Ohio Council for the Social Studies, Treasurer for Columbus Saves, for her Condo Association… She taught at OSU, at Ashland, at K-12 schools across the state and online for DeVry. Driving here this morning I kept trying to think of all the things she did and even now I can’t recall them all. "Abbe didn’t just get up and do, she got up and did more. She was incredibly generous and gave of herself constantly, finding time for people who came to her with questions, and sharing her time and her talents and her experience and advice. She supported the Girls Scouts, and gave to the Battered Women’s Shelter, to the Kidney Fund… and then she’d turn around and start reading books on how to strengthen non-profit Boards, the better to encourage others to get up and do, and to do well. "I think all of us here know the toll this took on her, and remember moments when she was physically exhausted, stressed out and just completely frazzled… but at the same time all this giving, all this doing: it also brought her great happiness. "Abbe often listened to the radio or to CD’s as she worked, and working in the same office with her, it was not unusual for me to hear her singing… completely unselfconsciously, without any worries about the quality of her voice or who might hear… "This is one of the ways I’ll remember Abbe: working away at her desk, incredibly busy, and singing with a simple childlike joy." The Abbejean Kehler FundAt their February meeting, the Ohio Council on Economic Education Board of Trustees voted to create the “Abbejean Kehler Fund,” an endowment to honor Kehler's long-term advocacy for economic and financial literacy, her reputation as a respected economic educator, and her expertise in professional development and K-12 classroom strategies. Kehler had hoped for many years to create some sort of endowment for the Ohio Council, and the Board hopes that all those she touched during her life -friends, colleagues, teachers, and students - will help to make this dream of hers a reality, and consider a donation in her honor and memory. Checks payable to “OCEE-Abbejean Kehler Fund” may be sent to: Ohio Council on Economic Education The Abbejean Kehler Fund will be established through The Columbus Foundation, a philanthropic organization with over $1 billion in assets, and vast experience in assisting non-profits such as the Ohio Council advance their goals. More information about the Foundation can be found at their website. If you have any questions, or would like additional information about the Abbejean Kehler Fund, please feel free to contact us at 614-794-0803 extension 1138, or by e-mail at cocee1@juno.com. |
|
| Ohio Treasurer of State Richard Cordary to Participate in the Third National Summit on Economic and Financial Literacy |
September 25, 2007 - Ohio Treasurer of State Richard Cordray has accepted an invitation to participate in the Third Annual National Summit on Economic and Financial Literacy, to be held in Washington DC in February, 2008. Hosted by the National Council on Economic Education, the Summit is an important forum for discussing the advancement of economic and financial education efforts in our nation's schools. The 2008 Keynote Address will be provided by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve. Treasurer Cordray will join with other educational, financial, and government leaders from around the country in discussing ways to promote financial literacy, and to address the first-ever National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Economics - its results, the consequences, and a course of action for the future. For more information about the Summit or to register, please visit the NCEE website. |
| The National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) Responds To the Release of the First-Ever Economics Achievement Data from The Nation's Report Card |
August 9, 2007, NY - Yesterday the National Assessment Governing Board released the achievement results for U.S. 12th-grade students on the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Nation's Report Card: Economics 2006, the first-ever NAEP test in economics, was administered to 11,500 students in 590 public and nonpublic schools. The report includes data on economics course-taking and provides examples of what students do and do not know about national and international economic concepts and personal finance topics. The Assessment shows that 79% of students have an understanding of at least the basics of economics, but only 42% performed at a proficiency level, and only 3% had a grasp of advanced economics. The average score of male students was higher then the average score of females, and White and Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher, on average, than other racial groups. According to Robert Duvall, President and CEO of the NCEE, "The assessment provides good news and challenging news. It is encouraging that a large percentage of students have a basic understanding of economics, however, less than half of the students performed at the proficient level. There's more work to be done! The economic well-being of our nation and our capacity to be competitive in the global economy depend on effective economic and personal finance education. This report gives us a picture of where we are succeeding and where we need more attention." "Economics has become mainstream and the NCEE's issue is clearly a national issue. No longer is the question 'Should we take action on improving economic education?' but 'How shall we do it'," said Duvall. According to the NCEE, economic education must be taught state-by-state, because that is where curriculum decisions are made. The federal government must encourage states to place economic and personal finance education not only into state standards, but into the core curriculum. Once in the core curriculum, these subjects must be required, taught, taught well, taken and tested. The relationship between economic literacy and economic stability has reached the headlines. And according to a 2006 NCEE survey, states are not making sufficient progress in offering and requiring economic and finance education in the schools. Consequently, the majority of students are not receiving the essential real-life economic skills they need to become knowledgeable consumers, prudent savers and investors, and productive members of the workforce. "In this context, it is our responsibility to ensure that the solution begins in our schools, because economic and financial literacy is not intuitive. It is learned," said Duvall. "I am encouraged that the Assessment was done for economics. Now we have important data to measure our progress in the coming years. Our goal is that 100 percent of our students would have a basic understanding, and that at least half the students would be advanced," stated Duvall. The NCEE ( www.ncee.net ) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving economic, financial, and entrepreneurship literacy. Both directly and through its unique nationwide network of State Councils and more than 200 university-based Centers for Economic Education, NCEE's programs reach over 150,000 K-12 teachers and more than 15 million students each year. |
Ohio Council on Economic Education
1900 Polaris Parkway Suite 450 Columbus, OH 43229
Email: oceeinfo@ocee.org Phone: 614-410-3356 Fax: 877-656-0315
© 2009 Ohio Council on Economic Education