It’s back to school for Monica Malanoski, a high-school teacher, and that means loading up her students with facts about marginal costs, market moves and equilibrium prices to prepare them for the next Maryland Economics Challenge.
It’s back to school for Monica Malanoski, a high-school teacher, and that means loading up her students with facts about marginal costs, market moves and equilibrium prices to prepare them for the next Maryland Economics Challenge.
Her team of four 15- and 16-year-olds won the academic quiz competition last year, beating out teams from around the state.
The annual contest and other programs, such as a $100,000 stock market simulation, help Ms. Malanoski keep teens motivated to learn about economics.
“Anytime you mention money and their finances, the kids’ ears perk up,’’ said Ms. Malanoski, who teaches advanced-placement economics at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Md. She also runs the business club for students.
Encouraging America’s youth to understand economics and personal-finance issues is seen as an effective way to create an adult population with responsible financial behavior. Studies of student knowledge about economics, however, suggest that the nation has a long way to go.
An assessment sponsored by the Department of Education reported last month that although 79% of 12th grade students have an understanding of basic economics, only about 43% performed at a proficient level. Just 3% understood advanced economics, according to the National Assessment Government Board.
The national sample of 11,500 seniors from 590 public and non-public high schools showed that most could recognize the inverse relationship between the market price of a product and the amount buyers are willing and able to purchase.
The smaller number of students who performed at the proficient level could use economic data and information to describe events and trends, according to the results of “The Nation’s Report Card: U.S. Economics 2006.”
Financial skill sets
It is essential for America’s economic health and future competitiveness that the nation bring its students up to the proficient level, said Robert Duvall, chief executive of the National Council on Economic Education.
“We’re trying to get practical economics into core curriculum in schools so these kids have a financial skill set before they get into the work world,’’ he said.
The New York-based group tries to boost economic and financial literacy through about 200 university-based centers that educate kindergarten through 12th grade teachers on how to integrate economics into their classrooms.
The government report — the first time the Education Department has made such an assessment on economics — suggests that economics and finance increasingly are part of state teaching standards.
“We’re not starting from the basement,’’ said Mr. Duvall, whose group has prepared economics teaching materials that incorporate finance concepts into other studies.
One such program analyzes energy and environmental issues from an economics perspective. Another uses modeling clay to help kids understand economic concepts.
State councils have the job of bringing finance into the classroom. That effort has sent financial adviser Corey LaPrade into schools to explain investing, saving and other topics.
As part of the Maryland Coalition for Financial Literacy, he also offers guidance on what information should be included in the curriculum.
“We’re looking to have at least one class for every grade where students have some sort of personal-finance education,” Mr. LaPrade said.
Kids who have an understanding of economics and financial concepts can make decisions down the road that will help them succeed financially and improve their quality of life, he said.
“Most people don’t have enough savings for retirement, and there are tons of people who are debt-ridden,” said Mr. LaPrade, who is an adviser in Columbia, Md., with New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. “That’s mainly because of a lack of knowledge.”
Creativity is key when trying to bring economics to the nation’s youngest schoolchildren. One program of the Maryland Council on Economic Education, which oversees Mr. LaPrade’s group, is a poster contest for students in the first through eighth grades.
Last year, more than 1,800 Maryland children creatively demonstrated their understanding of one of the following terms: scarcity; natural, human and capital resources; opportunity cost; specialization and interdependence; producers and consumers; or goods and services.
Sixteen winners were given $50 savings bonds, and their entries were featured in a calendar.
Mr. Duvall said he hopes the government’s assessment on economics will help elevate the subject to the point where it is recognized as worthy of a place in the core curriculum. He also would like to see 50% of students showing an advanced understanding of economics when the government completes the next assessment in 2012.
“I’m hoping parents will go in to PTA meetings demanding that their kids get economics education,” Mr. Duvall said.
