EconomicsInternational®

Through its EconomicsInternational® Program, the Council for Economic Education is fulfilling the dual aims of helping to support the transition to market economies abroad and building understanding of the global economy in the United States. With major grants from the U.S. Department of Education as well as support from international partners, the Council for Economic Education is at work in 38 nations overseas where the EconomicsInternational® Program has served more than 19 million students since 1995.

With funding for the Cooperative Education Exchange Program (CEEP), the U.S.Congress recognizes that economic and civic education are critically important to the economic health and political stability of the world's emerging democratic market economies. The CEEP is authorized through the Education for Democracy Act, funded through the U.S. Department of Education, and carried out in coordination with the U.S. Department of State.

As countries undergo the transition to democratic market economies, the Council for Economic Education plays a vital role in helping teachers prepare the next generation for the challenges they will face. Through teacher professional development, instructional materials, exchanges, and organizational development, the Council for Economic Education EconomicsInternational® Program partners with educational reformers worldwide. The benefits are enormous. While assisting educators in developing and transition economies in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the post-Soviet region - the Council for Economic Education helps U.S. students understand and participate in the changing global economy.

EconomicsInternational® Program in the Field

The Council for Economic Education EconomicsInternational® Program uses a variety of closely linked, intensive programs to promote educational reform. Together these programs help partners build their own economic education infrastructures. At the same time, the programs promote international links among teachers and strengthen U.S. educators' understanding of economic transition and educational reform abroad.

EconomicsInternational Program activities include:

  • A Continuum of Professional Development. To develop a strong core of teacher trainers in each partner country, Council for Economic Education (Council) faculty conduct Training of Trainers programs that strengthen trainers' economic knowledge and instructional skills over four weeks of training. Active graduates further develop their professional skills by networking with other alumni and by conducting workshops for local teachers who then reach large numbers of students. The "multiplier effect" is profound, and new economic education infrastructures emerge, reaching millions of students.
  • Instructional Tools for Teachers. Sixteen publications for U.S. teachers have been produced, and Council for Economic Education instructional materials have been translated into 18 languages. Educators in emerging market economies also need new instructional materials that can meet specific needs of their countries. To address this need, the Council conducts Training of Writers workshops for U.S. and international teachers. Through intensive writing exercises, expert guidance, field testing of lessons, and follow-up work by e-mail, lessons have been developed for use in 30 countries.
  • Exchanges for Professional Development. Since 1995, the Council for Economic Education has conducted 127 study tours for economic educators from the United States and partner countries. Study tours to the United States bring graduates of the Council's Training of Trainers program to schools and universities where they learn firsthand about U.S. economic education. Visitors meet with local educators and community leaders, participate in teacher workshops, and take part in cultural activities. The Council for Economic Education also sends U.S. educators overseas to observe economic education activities in schools and to interact with leaders from universities, business, and schools.
  • Capacity Building Activities. To further support economic educators in the United States and abroad, the Council for Economic Education EconomicsInternational® Program conducts a wide range of special activities including Alumni Projects (support for projects conducted by international program graduates), International Education Showcase projects (support for U.S. workshops and briefings), and evaluation and research in economic education.

"Much has changed in our small town, since we had our first contact with the economics lessons… Suddenly, so many bright ideas came to our minds and we shared them with other teachers…. Through your teachings you awakened a dramatic change in every one of us."
— economic educator from Paraguay

"We're burning with one idea…to help open our teachers' eyes to how economics can help students live their lives."
—economic educator from Ukraine

"Everything revived me. It was a wake up for me! The way supply, price, demand were presented and examples of activity would help me to change my presentation back home."
—economic educator from South Africa

"I can teach economics now with an international focus. I've seen the challenges of economic transition in Siberia and now I'm hearing about it from two Russian teachers I didn't know before."
—economic educator from Michigan, U.S.

"[Without the Council for Economic Education] I would be a usual teacher, trying to search for material, trying to invent the bicycle. The productivity of my teaching is greater and my qualifications are higher."
—economic educator from Russia

EconomicsInternational® Program Impact

Demonstrated Effectiveness

With CEEP funding, the Council for Economic Education has demonstrated significant positive gains in teacher and student knowledge of economics (annual external evaluations since program first funded in 1995) and in student knowledge of economics (five research studies since 1997).

  • Testing of more than 3,000 students in a five-country research study demonstrated that students whose teachers participated in CEEP-funded workshops and used the Council's materials scored 61 percent higher on the Test of Economic Literacy than a control group (1997);
  • Two years after teacher training, the Council-trained teachers' students in Kyrgyzstan scored 32 percent higher than their counterparts on the Test of Economic Literacy (1998);
  • In a three-country research study (Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine), 97 percent of teachers continued to use the Council materials in classrooms four years after training (2000);
  • Testing of students in Kazakhstan demonstrated that students whose teachers participated in three Council for Economic Education training seminars and used the Council materials in their classrooms scored significantly higher on the Test of Economic Literacy than a control group (2001);
  • A randomized research study involving 2,200 Russian students documented that students taught by teachers who were trained by Russian Council-trained trainers showed significantly greater gains in economic content knowledge than did their peers whose teachers did not receive training from the Council-trained trainers (2005).

The Council's Training of Trainers model yields numbers that are equally impressive. In the Training of Trainers program alone, nearly 1244 trainers have taught over 262,000 teachers, who in turn have reached 19 million students since 1995. In addition, through materials, study tours, and other activities, the EconomicsInternational® Program has reached almost 25,000 teachers and nine million students in the United States.