Photo credit: Samantha Isom, courtesy of Teachers College
To improve instruction on economic policy issues, the Foundation provided a three-year grant to Columbia University’s Teachers College to develop a comprehensive curriculum for courses in economics, civics, U.S. history, world history, and mathematics, highlighting the nation’s fiscal challenges. When completed, the curriculum will be made available free of charge to every high school in the country.
Titled “Understanding Fiscal Responsibility: A Curriculum for Teaching About the Federal Budget, National Debt, and Budget Deficit,” the nonpartisan, inquiry-based curriculum will teach students the facts about public policies that have led to persistent budget deficits, and identify the significant consequences our growing national debt has on the future of the United States and its citizens. An advisory board of experts in economics, fiscal policy, and education has reviewed the lessons. The curriculum incorporates books, primary sources, simulations, and other visual and digital media.
After field-testing the curriculum in 56 classrooms in Texas, Ohio, and New York, the final version will be distributed nationwide in 2012. Columbia Teachers College has commissioned the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST) to conduct an evaluation of the results of the curriculum.
Teachers College is ideally suited for this project. Since its founding in 1887, the College has taken the lead in advancing educational reforms and issues. With its tradition of innovation and insights, Teachers College is one of the premiere schools of education in the country.
To request a free copy of the curriculum, register at UnderstandingFiscalResponsibility.org
Watch a demonstration of the Understanding Fiscal Responsibility curriculum being taught in a New York City classroom
Video credit: courtesy of Teachers College
Read about the curriculum on EdWeek.org