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“A Tremendous Resource for Teachers”Coordinating a variety of publications and conferences throughout the year can be a tall order, particularly as the St. Louis Fed continues to add more economic education programs each year. Fortunately, Griffitts and her fellow economic education coordinators at the District branches have help. For starters, they rely heavily on the advice, assistance and materials contributed by experts from state councils and centers on economic education, such as Suiter and Pettit. They also take advantage of the expertise of the Fed’s own Research economists. In addition, they get a big boost from the District’s teacher advisory boards—groups of teachers throughout the District’s seven-state territory who meet with Fed staff regularly to share input on economic education programs. “In all of our offices, we have contacts who can deliver hands-on activities that complement the raw knowledge we have available at the Fed from our economists,” Griffitts says. “And our teacher advisory board members are wonderful in helping us to get ideas and to stay current with what’s going on in the economic education field.” The Fed’s courses, programs and materials are “a godsend” for teachers such as Peggy Pride of St. Louis University High School. She teaches advanced placement economics and relies heavily on the Fed’s publications, data, web sites and other materials. “The Fed is a tremendous resource for teachers,” she says. “If you are teaching any type or amount of economics in the classroom, there is just no way you won’t benefit by relying on their materials.” Teachers like Pride are most grateful for not only the information that the Fed presents at its events and conferences, but also for the materials that help transform the subject matter into a classroom lesson for kids. “We give them lessons that they can literally take right back to school and plug into their teaching, usually with few changes,” says Griffitts. These events and resources educate teachers about not only the Fed and its mission, but also economics in general—a subject that, like the Fed itself, is often plagued by misunderstanding and misconceptions. With that bond in common, the Fed has joined forces with educators in a continuing campaign to persuade the public—and politicians—of the critical role of economics in school curriculums, even at the elementary level. |
Billy Britt (top right), economic education coordinator at the St. Louis Fed’s Little Rock Branch, poses with students from Little Rock Catholic High School for Boys, which won the Branch’s Fed Challenge area competition.
Mary Anne Pettit |
