NEW  FINANCIAL LITERACY CURRICULUM

 INTRODUCED FOR OHIO'S HIGH SCHOOLS

Economic Education Coordinators Receive Training On New Teaching Guide

Many of Ohio’s high school students are one step closer today to learning the basics of saving and investing, announced Dr. Susan Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Gary C. Suhadolnik, Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce. 

The Ohio Council on Economic Education’s economic education coordinators were trained today in Columbus on the “Basics of Saving & Investing:  A Teaching Guide”.  The training session was led by Dr. Gwen Reichbach, Executive Director of the National Institute for Consumer Education at Eastern Michigan University.  The economic education coordinators will now present the curriculum to the state’s economics teachers for use in their classrooms.

The new teaching guide was developed by the Investor Protection Trust, the North American Securities Administrators Association (of which Commerce's Division of Securities is a member), and the National Association of Securities Dealers in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University.  The teaching guide is part of the Financial Literacy 2001 project. 

"We have a financial literacy crisis in this country and what today's young people don't know can hurt them," Director Suhadolnik said.  "Through this teaching guide, we are working to ensure that our young people are prepared for today's complex financial arena."

In Ohio, the teaching guides are being distributed by the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of Securities.  The department is working with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Council on Economic Education to ensure that the teaching guides are distributed to the educators who can best use them.

"The teaching guide can be used as the framework of a short course or a supplement to an existing course in mathematics, home economics, business education, economics, or personal finance," Superintendent Zelman said. 

New Financial Literacy Curriculum

Dr. Zelman also pointed out that the teaching guides provide information about:

• designing a personal financial plan

• how financial markets work

• selecting among various savings and investment options

• finding and using investment information

• recognizing and protecting against investment fraud

Director Suhadolnik noted that every time he shows the teaching guide to someone new, they immediately exclaim:  "I wish someone had taught this to me when I was in school!"

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