An Assessment of the Competency of Secondary School Teachers in in Consumer Education,Economics, and Personal Finance

This study investigated the competency of persons teaching consumer education in Oregon's public schools. A 50-item instrument, based on concepts outlined in The Oregon Personal Finance Education Guide, was developed and used for the assessment. A comparison of competency according to teachers' subject-matter backgrounds (business, home economics, mathematics and social studies) was made. Item difficulty indices calculated on 185 completed instruments revealed a need for teacher upgrading in each of the four subject-matter background groups studied. No significant differences were found in the total mean scores of teachers in the four groups. However, a significant difference between groups was discovered in the concept area dealing with money management.