Arkansas State Council On Economic Education

Programs: Teacher training: k-12 educators in arkansas are required to have 36 hours per year of professional development training, and we are certified by the arkansas department of education to provide these hours through our workshops and in-service training to schools. We host multi-day workshops in the summer, plus training throughout the school year. We are affiliated with six university centers of economic education, who we partner with to host some of these workshops. The centers are listed on our website - www. Economicsarkansas. Org.

the stock market game(tm): each school year, we host 2, 10 week sessions - one in the fall and one in the spring. Student teams are registered by their teachers to participate and are given a $100,000 hypothetical portfolio to invest over a ten-week time frame. Students trade "live" in the stock market during each session, and the goal is to grow their portfolio as much as possible. This standards-based game integrates technology, math, social studies, higher level thinking, team building and economics into one engaging learning tool for teachers. It is our largest student based program with over 13,700 participating last year.

teacher grants and awards program: each year teachers are invited to apply for grant funding so they can integrate economics and personal finance projects in the classroom. Teachers who receive grant funding may submit their projects for judging in the summer, and we select up to 12 winners statewide to be honored during our annual bessie b. Moore awards program and luncheon. These educators are going "above and beyond" to integrate economics into the classroom, and we believe it is important the teachers are recognized for their outstanding work to increase the economic literacy of their students.

other ea program initiatives offered by economics arkansas include cee/naee dues, the economics calendar program, choices program, new program initiatives and public relations. The cee/naee dues allow discounts on economic education materials, information on national awards for exemplary economic education programs, priority access to regional and national economic education conferences and opportunities to participate in national program initiatives. The economics calendar program encourages students in kindergarten through 8th grade to submit drawings of economic concepts they've learned in the classroom. The choices program is a drop-out prevention initiative targeting eighth grade students and involves staff and volunteers presenting/teaching decision-making opportunities and their consequences as well as the importance of investing in one's own human capital to students in a classroom setting. New program initiatives included three items: itty bitty economics, arkansas reads one book and economic concept connector cards. Itty bitty economics targets teachers in the prek setting and provides them with resources and training to teach economic and personal finance concepts to the youngest students. Arkansas reads one book targets grades k-5 and incorporates a reading initiative with economic concept learning. Moreover, school districts adopt a book like the lemonade war, and teachers, students and parents read the book together, discussing and learning economic and personal finance concepts contained within the pages. Economics arkansas developed activities and resources for both school and home situations and made them available free for download via its website. Twelve economic concept connector card resources are being created to make incorporating the state-mandated learning standards for economics easier for teachers of grades k-5. Economics arkansas utilizes part of its public relations budget to support teacher and student presentations as well as thanksgiving cards sent to educators and donors. Memberships to professional organizations such as arkansas association of educational administrators, arkansas non-profit alliance and chambers of commerce serve as resources for us to promote the materials and services we make available to arkansas educational institutions.