Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State-based program devoted to improving the teaching of economics and financial education in the state's elementary and high schools is receiving a national honor.
The university's Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy recently was certified for a five-year affiliation with the National Council on Economic Education. During recent ceremonies in New York City, NCEE president Robert Duvall formally presented the document to Paul Grimes, head of the finance and economics department in MSU's College of Business and Industry.
A public outreach effort by the department, the financial literacy center provides professional development and specialized training activities for teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade. It is part of a national network involving more than 200 university-based programs.
"Receiving a full, five-year affiliation with the NCEE is similar to an academic program passing an accreditation review," Grimes explained. "Given that we started just three years ago with nothing but a plan, it's a very special honor indeed."
Grimes said "more than 1,200 teachers have attended our programs since the center's inception. We also have distributed tens of thousands of dollars worth of curriculum materials to public schools across our state."
In Mississippi, economics is a part of each school's social studies curriculum. Beginning in 2008, all high school students will be required to complete a semester-long course in the subject prior to graduation.
Grimes said the MSU center has worked closely with the Mississippi Council on Economic Education and also produced programs in cooperation with the state Department of Education and Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Ga., and St. Louis, Mo.
"We are deeply grateful to MCEE's leadership and board of directors for providing the support necessary to carry out the mission of educating the next generation of Mississippians to be successful in the global economy," Grimes said.
Projects completed by the MSU center that, among others, helped it achieve the national ranking include:
--A series of teacher workshops led by Rebecca J. Campbell on how the popular Stock Market Game can be most effectively applied in classroom settings; and
--A yearlong "Master Teacher of Economics" program currently taught by Kathleen Thomas that enables high school teachers to expand individual academic qualifications for the federal No Child Left Behind initiative.
In addition, Grimes and Megan Millea are completing an evaluation of a major NCEE project taking place in Russia. "The transition from communism to a market-based economic system has been very hard on the average Russian family," Grimes observed. "We are examining how effective Russian teachers are at imparting knowledge about how market economies operate."
In addition to being faculty colleagues with Grimes in the finance and economics department, Campbell, Millea and Thomas are associate center directors.
The Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy also has been recognized as an emerging center of excellence in the land-grant institution's strategic plan for community engagement and economic development.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information on the MSU center's ongoing work and its recent honor, contact Dr. Grimes at 662-325-1987 or pgrimes@cobilan.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.