News Release
For Immmediate Release — June 7, 2010
UT Extension Trains Tennessee Teachers in Financial Curriculum
Family and Consumer Sciences experts conduct free, statewide workshops
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Teachers train us to read, write and count! One thing we all need to count correctly is our money.
But first, someone has to teach the teachers about handling cash and credit.
Family and consumer experts with University of Tennessee Extension will spend part of their summer offering Tennessee teachers information and training regarding money management. The teachers will then pass this information on to Tennessee high school students when the school bell rings in the fall.
This will be the fourth year UT Extension has offered free, statewide seminars to teachers who are instructors in the Personal Finance Course that is now a graduation requirement for the class of 2013 and beyond. The workshops will be offered in seven different cities through the month of June, with two additional sessions coming in fall. Workshops are two day sessions, beginning at 9 am and ending by 4 pm, in order to provide the 14 hours mandated by the Tennessee Department of Education.
“Since 2007, we have provided personal finance training for 621 teachers who anticipated reaching more than 50,000 students,” says Dr. Ann Berry of UT Extension. Dr. Berry is the chief coordinator of the training, which also includes more than a dozen UT Extension agents statewide.
Dr. Berry cites a survey done recently by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Charles Schwab Foundation that shows teenagers who learn financial management in school show a greater tendency to save money, track their spending and create a household budget.
Tennessee is one of only a handful of states now requiring this financial training for young adults, and the curriculum became law in 2006. In the workshops, UT Extension instructors will use the National Endowment for Financial Education’s High School Financial Planning Program. The non-commercial, research-based plan is available at no cost to teachers and students. Each workshop participant will receive a 400-page instructor’s manual and a 115-page student workbook. Teachers have the opportunity to order additional materials such as extra lesson plans, games and activities.
Dr. Berry says training will focus on four key areas - income, saving and investing, spending, and credit and debt management.
The upcoming training sessions are:
June 16, 17 - Cookeville (Putnam County Extension Office - 900 Walnut Ave.)
June 17, 18 - Johnson City (State Farm Insurance Office - 1207 North Roan Street)
June 22, 23 - Jackson (Madison County Agriculture Complex - 309 North Parkway)
June 22, 23 - Knoxville (UT Federal Credit Union - 2100 White Ave.)
June 23, 24 - Ashland City (Cheatham County Board of Education - 104 Elizabeth St.)
June 24, 25 - Alcoa (Knoxville TVA Employee Credit Union - 1113 Hunters Crossing)
June 29, 30 - Memphis (Agricenter International - 7777 Walnut Grove Road)
September 29, 30 - Jackson (Madison County Agriculture Complex - 309 N. Parkway)
October 7, 8 - Knoxville (UT Federal Credit Union - 2100 White Ave.)
Many teachers have already registered for the free workshops, but spaces are still available in most sessions. For more information and to register, the website is http://fcs.tennessee/hsfpp.
You can also call Kimberly Lindsay in UT Extension’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at 865-974-8198.
UT Extension operates in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties as the off-campus division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. An educational and outreach organization funded by federal, state and local governments, UT Extension, in cooperation with Tennessee State University, brings research-based information about agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and resource development to the people of Tennessee where they live and work.
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Contact:
Dr. Ann Berry, UT Extension Family and Consumer Sciences, 865-974-8198, aaberry@utk.edu