Program that ‘teaches the teachers’ marking 50th year

The Minnesota Council on Economic Education commemorates its 50th anniversary with EconFest 2011, set for the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank on Oct. 20. Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kocherlakota is the scheduled keynote speaker.. The mission of MCEE is to provide Minnesotans with the economic and personal financial understanding they need to function effectively in a complex, global environment. MCEE, founded in 1961 as a nonprofit organization at the University of Minnesota, set out to give educators the tools they need to communicate and teach economic concepts to students.. Over the years, MCEE has developed a network of centers for economic education at institutions of higher learning across the state. The centers, along with MCEE, provide professional development opportunities for teachers, in addition to disseminating economic and personal finance curriculum and promoting a variety of academic contests for high school economics students. The following colleges and universities host centers: University of Minnesota – Duluth, Minnesota State University – Mankato, Minnesota State University – Moorhead, St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and University of St. Thomas.. MCEE develops and conducts teacher and community education programs, using existing organizations and networks. The goals of MCEE are to provide comprehensive economic education to educators; develop and disseminate high quality economic curriculum materials; provide curricula, teaching exercises and student competitions that augment existing curricula and instructional objectives; encourage and reinforce the efforts of education professionals to bring economic understanding to the youth of Minnesota; develop and support economic educational programs aimed at the general public, educators, communities, and other targeted groups; and develop and advocate the use of measurable outcomes to indicate program effectiveness.. Writing in the September edition of The Region, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis' magazine, Kocherlakota said: "Speaking with teachers and the MCEE will be especially rewarding to me because they are the unsung but vital allies in the Federal Reserve System's efforts to communicate about policy…. "Everyone benefits from a better public understanding of basic economic concepts…I want to express my sincere appreciation not only to the instructors who teach these concepts, but especially, in the context of the MCEE's 50th anniversary, to those who support and prepare them to teach," Kocherlakota wrote.. "Our senior officers and economists have worked with the MCEE and others since at least the 1960s," he continued. "We value the opportunities the MCEE provides for talking with K-12 educators about macroeconomics, monetary policy, financial supervision and the role of the Federal Reserve System, as well as its help in publicizing and building participation for our annual economic essay contest. And each April, we are honored – and honestly, get a huge kick out of—hosting teams from across Minnesota in the final rounds of the MCEE's two state high school quiz-bowl-like championships, the Economics Challenge and the Personal Finance decathlon.". MCEE is run by a board of directors consisting of professionals from the education, financial and business arenas. Michael Mulder, executive vice president and CEO of the Farmers State Bank of Trimont, Minn., serves on the board as the MCEE Treasurer.. "MCEE has a long history with many Minnesota bankers. Over the years, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, Wells Fargo, TCF, U.S. Bank, and others have been sponsors of many of the organization's programs. In his tenure with the Minnesota Bankers Association, Truman Jeffers was a key member of the MCEE board.. "Since joining the board, I have seen the important work that MCEE does in teacher training and curriculum development for Minnesota's public and private schools. MCEE was a key player in bringing the Economic & Personal Financial Education Standards requirement to grades K-12. Just this summer, MCEE programs reached nearly 500 teachers. The exciting part of this curriculum requirement is that in many cases, teachers don't have to teach a new class; many of the economic standards can be incorporated into existing subjects, such as reading, social studies, history, geography and math.". Major donors to MCEE include 3M, Ameriprise Financial, Cargill, Inc., Dorsey & Whitney, the McKnight Foundation, Piper Jaffray and many others. The organization's web site is: www.mcee.umn.edu.