May 27, 1994
TO: ICI EDUCATION FOUNDATION BOARD NO. 5-94
RE: National Institute of Consumer Education Request to Promote
ICIEF Video
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As you'll recall, one of the criteria we discussed for evaluating
the Foundation's pilot program was its potential to elicit interest
and support from other like-minded organizations. In that regard,
Rosella Bannister, Director of the National Institute of Consumer
Education (NICE), met with me last week. An arm of Eastern Michigan
University, NICE has been affiliated with the National Council on
Economic Education since 1976. Three years ago, NICE collaborated
with the National Futures Association in developing curriculum
materials for teaching "A Consumer Approach to Investing" in high
schools and in adult education. The teacher's manual for this
course references ICI materials and includes one page of text about
mutual funds.
NICE is piloting teacher workshops for this program in various
locations nationwide. Many of the workshops are funded by American
Express, who follows up the same day with workshops of their own.
NICE has also obtained significant support from state securities
agencies and from state attorneys general (through monies from
fines and settlements). Ms. Bannister attributes this source of
support to the program's emphasis on investment fraud; about one-
third of the material is focused on ethics and fraud.
NICE conducts the teacher training workshops the same way ICIEF
does, relying on local host organizations to recruit the teachers.
Unlike ICIEF, teachers can also order the course materials from
NICE for $15 without taking any training. Ms. Bannister plans to
market this program nationwide next year by offering free copies of
the teacher's manual to every high school across the country. (They
don't seem to be concerned about tracking usage.)
I had sent Ms. Bannister a set of ICIEF materials prior to our
meeting, and she and I pursued the possibility of conducting joint
teacher workshops. Unfortunately, none of NICE's pilot cities
coincides with ours, and they are not interested in adding other
locations. However, she wanted very much to be able to show ICIEF's
video at their workshops and refer teachers to us for orders. I
pointed out that the video was only the introduction to our
curriculum, and that teacher training is a prerequisite for
receiving the materials. She argued that teacher use of the video
was better than no mention of mutual funds at all and that our
training policy unduly limits its distribution. We agreed to
continue to consider other joint-venture possibilities.
Finally, Ms. Bannister urged us to support the passage of H.R. 6,
"Improving America's Schools Act of 1994," which authorizes, among
other things, funding "to promote consumer, economic and personal
finance education."
Please call me with any questions or comments.
cc: Ron Lynch
Daniel Carper