Happy New Year!  With many setting resolutions to increase their saving or get control of their spending, now is a great time to consider how you are teaching personal finance and economics.  In this email you'll find resources you can put to use in your classroom and links to other useful tools. 

All new Making Cents: Financial Literacy and Economic Education Webinars will be February 21st.  These free online professional development programs are offered at two times to accommodate various schedules: 3:00pm - 4:30pm and 6:30pm - 8:00pm.

The February 21st sessions will feature the following speakers and topics: 

• Family Economics and Financial Education Program by Kim Knoche, FEFE Master Teacher
• How Money Values Impact Teaching Personal Finance by Susan Sharkey, National Endowment for Financial Education
• Status of Personal Finance and Economic Education in Pennsylvania by Hilary Hunt, Financial Education Consultant

Registration is limited, so please reserve your spot now via the corresponding registration link:

• To register for the afternoon webinar (3:00pm - 4:30pm) - click here or use the following link: http://www.instantpresenter.com/PIID=EB56D980894F
• To register for the evening webinar (6:30pm - 8:00pm) - click here or use the following link: http://www.instantpresenter.com/PIID=EB56D980894A 

The content of the webinar is appropriate for K-12 teachers (at the high school level, the content is most suitable for those teaching personal finance, economics or math), curriculum directors, and administrators.

The training will be conducted completely online. All you need to attend is a computer with Internet access and speakers or headphones to hear the presenters. Participants will be granted Act 48 credit for their participation. The webinars are presented through a partnership of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Penn State University.

EconEdLink Provides Lesson Plans, Interactive Tools and More

Are you looking for new resources to teach economics or personal finance beginning as early as Kindergarten? The Council on Economic Education's EconEdLink is a wealth of information.  The site has sections for educators, students, and afterschool programs.  

In the educator area, teachers will find downloadable lesson plans (many of which have corresponding student versions), interactive tools such as online calculators and videos, economic data, and resources for teaching current events.  Pennsylvania teachers can also find lessons which correlate to the academic standards in economics.  In addition, users can create a profile to save their favorite lessons, join a virtual community, or track student viewing of videos. 

Interested in seeing a sample lesson with Pennsylvania roots? EconEdLink added a lesson last summer on the success of Milton Hershey for grades 3-5.  

Dishonest people are always looking for the next opportunity to make money with minimal effort and child identity theft appears to be their next target. Child identity theft occurs when someone uses personal information (i. e., Social Security, name, birth date) to commit fraud or for financial gain. Identity thieves may use a child's information to get a mortgage, car loan, utilities, or medical care. According to reports presented at a 2011 Federal Trade Commission Stolen Futures Forum on identity theft, children are victimized 51 times more than adults are. Why? If a child's identity is stolen at age one or two, the thief has about 16 years to use the identity undetected. In 16 years, the trail of destruction may be so cold that it is nearly impossible to find the perpetrator. If you are an influential adult (parent, teacher, guardian, neighbor, etc.) in the lives of children or teens, you are in a position to curtail the damage of an identity thief. So read on.

In some cases, the person committing the crime is a family member who lacks money. However, most reported cases involving child identity theft are associated with organized crime to collect government benefits or for immigration related crimes. A child's Social Security number may be the equivalent of a blank check to an identity thief. This number is the key to credit including school loans, it is needed to get employment, property owners check it before renting apartments and if arrested, a criminal record is tied to a social security number. Considering the aforementioned areas, it is easy to see why havoc is created for older teens or young adults whose identity has been stolen. Before they can start to face the routine challenges of transitioning into adulthood, they have a mountain of fraud to deal with. It can take more than two years and countless hours to clean up the mess created by an identity thief.

So what can be done to minimize the threat of child identity theft? What are the signs of a child being victimized? What steps should you take if a child in your life has been victimized?

Unfortunately, there is no foolproof formula to PREVENT identity theft. However, the cliché "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" should be the motto of everyone when it comes to identity theft. First, keep personal documents in a safe place (file cabinet or other safe storage). Parents and guardians should be careful in providing the child's Social Security number to caregivers, schools, medical facilities, sports teams and anyone else that requests it. Make certain the social is really needed and ask how the number is protected by the organization. Carry the Social Security card only when needed for a specific purpose. Be extremely careful about sharing personal information on the internet and avoid using public computers to send any personal data. Shred sensitive documents before putting them in the trash. Warn children about the dangers of providing personal data to others via the internet and on social media. For older teens who may be in communal living quarters for camps or school, advise them to put away personal information away from roommates and visitors. In addition to talking to children about the dangers, use real life examples of child or teen identity theft victims to reinforce the message.

Thieves are successful as long as they are not detected. Below are red flags that could indicate your child may be an identity theft victim.

• The Internal Revenue Service, IRS, indicates that the child's Social Security number has already been used on another tax return.
• An IRS notice indicates that your child, even though unemployed and has no income, has failed to pay taxes on income.
• Collection agencies call.
• Bills from credit card companies or medical facilities arrive in the mail.
• You are asked to confirm that your minor child is employed.

If you suspect your child is a victim of identity theft, act immediately to resolve the situation. First, contact the three national credit bureaus (a.k. a. credit reporting agencies) to let them know the child is a minor. Call Experian 1-888-397-3742 or Equifax 1-800-535-6285 or email TransUnion.   You will need to complete a Uniform Minor's Status Declaration and follow additional steps as outlined by the agency. While the steps for handling a child identity theft victim case differ from the steps suggested for adult victims, some of the step are similar and a complete list can be found in Safeguarding Your Child's Future. 

• Identity Theft Center: general site, teen materials, or teacher materials
• Federal Trade Commission: What to Do if Your Identity is Stolen publication or identity theft website
• OnGuard.gov: identity theft website

The team from Finance in the Classroom in Utah has compiled a listing of nearly 100 online videos for use in helping to introduce or teach personal finance concepts. The listing includes such videos as the catchy jingles of the Annual Credit Report commercials, an interview with a 14-year old investor, and plain english explanations of complex financial topics. Students will enjoy clips from television shows for all ages--everything from Sesame Street to Saturday Night Live to Judge Judy.  The listing has something for everyone.

Making Cents is a cooperative effort by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania State University. If you find the content useful, please consider forwarding it to your colleagues. 

Team Members:

Sally Flaherty, PDE

Cathy F. Bowen, PSU

Hilary Hunt, Consultant

Winter 2012

Spring/Summer 2012

Fall 2012

Dec 2012/Jan 2013