Survey of the States:
Economic and Personal Finance Education in Our Nation

A Report Card

April 2003

Dear Friends of Economic and Financial Education,

Educating young people in economics and personal finance is vital to our nation’s future. Indeed, it is an essential key to building a nation of knowledgeable investors and savers, informed consumers, productive members of the workforce, responsible citizens and effective participants in the global economy.

With passage of the No Child Left Behind Act last year and its increased emphasis on teaching and testing of mathematics and reading, it is important for schools and states to acknowledge that a spectrum of key subjects is important to the development of the well-rounded student.

Economics and personal finance lead the list. They can be incorporated readily into math and the language arts as well as every other subject they intersect, especially in the social studies. One cannot, for example, adequately study history without examining the role of commerce. It would be impossible to discuss the Boston Tea Party without discussing taxation.

As the leader in fostering and promoting economic and financial literacy, NCEE constantly monitors the extent to which economics and personal finance are taught on a state-by-state basis in our nation’s schools. To this end, NCEE conducted a survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the fall of 2002. The questions on this survey in large measure mirror those of NCEE’s two previous biennial surveys. The survey was designed this way to provide appropriate benchmarks for measuring progress.

As we move toward 2006 and the first-ever NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Economics assessment, many believe that a growing number of states will require or at least offer courses in economics and personal finance.

Given an already crowded curriculum, and with the emphasis in No Child Left Behind on reading and mathematics, others suggest that fewer states will be addressing economic and financial competency.

In either case, a clear evaluation of where we are, as provided by our 2002 survey on the status of economic and personal finance education in the United States, should provide the information base necessary for formulating action plans at both the state and national levels.

The National Council on Economic Education wishes to express its gratitude to State Farm® for its generosity in funding this important survey.

Robert F. Duvall
President & Chief Executive Officer
The National Council
on Economic Education

View the Survey of States
(PDF 1.2 MB)