KU Center for Economic Education to be host of international study tour

LAWRENCE -- The Center for Economic Education at the University of Kansas will be host of an international study tour Feb. 23 through March 3 as part of the International Educational Exchange Program of the National Council on Economic Education.

Two educators from Kazakhstan will visit various sites in Kansas as part of the study tour on economic education, which also involves a trip to Washington, D.C., for meetings with representatives of educational organizations, Department of Education officials and members of Congress.

The goals of the study tour are to:

 • develop relationships with U.S. colleagues involved in economic education;
 • gain background on economic education activities, teacher training, curriculum models, content standards and assessment;
 • become familiar with educational reforms under way in the United States;
 • gain exposure to private sector participation in economic education activity;
 • gain an understanding of economic, political and social conditions in the contemporary United States to educate teachers and students in their home countries; and
 • share with U.S. hosts, classroom teachers, K-12 students and local community leaders background on economics in their home countries and their experiences in building economic education delivery systems at home.

During their stay in Lawrence and the Kansas City area, the Kazakhstan visitors, Zoya Seitbekova, director of the Center of Economic and Civil Education in Shimkent, and Sholpan Mahmudova, director of the Center for Small Business in Uralsk, will visit business and industry sites, as well as schools, colleges and universities. Field trips to Wichita and Topeka are also planned for the two women.

The KU CEE is part of the School of Education and is affiliated with the Kansas Council on Economic Education and the National Council on Economic Education. The center's mission is to increase the level of economic literacy among students in grades K-12, through teacher education, graduate degree programs, consulting, distribution of teaching materials and publication of research.