The Council for Economic Education offers free professional development webinars for teachers nationwide. The webinars cover multiple topics on how to integrate personal finance and economics in the classroom and create a fun learning experience for your students. Also, scan the "library" for past helpful webinars. Here is the link: https://www.econedlink.org/professional-development/
The National Association of Economic Educators offers professional development webinars as well. Once on the "Calendar" page, click on the "Agenda" tab for a description of the course. Here is the link to their website: https://www.naee.net/calendar
Personal Finance Challenge
The Personal Finance Challenge (PFC) is an Oregon competition and serves as the State qualifier for the nationwide competition, the National Personal Finance Challenge (NPFC).
The competition offers high school students the opportunity to build and demonstrate their knowledge in the concepts of good Personal Finance habits.
The first round is the local competition. Schools form student teams of 3 – 4 students to compete in a fun online 30-question challenge. There are two qualifying windows – teams may only compete in one of the qualifiers:
Fall Qualifier: January 2026
Spring Qualifier: March 2026
The four highest-scoring teams will be invited to the state finals in April. The state finals are in person and use a College Bowl format (oral contest). Teams should only attend the State Finals round if they are able to represent Oregon in the National Finals the last weekend of May.
OCEE will sponsor travel for the First Place team to and from the National competition. CEE sponsors all costs at the Finals competition.
The Oregon State Champions will proceed to the National competition (held in person), where teams use their knowledge to create a financial plan for a fictitious family scenario. The top 16 finishing teams in the National Finals will advance to compete for the national championship title in a Quiz Bowl.
Topics covered include;
Earning Income
How it’s generated and how factors such as taxes, interest rates, and inflation impact income.
Spending
Buying goods and services by examining personal budgets, expenses, and income.
Saving
Analyzing compound interest and financial institutions and services.
Managing Credit
Credit reports, credit scores, and decision-making through consumer credit.
Investing
Various investment instruments, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Students will also understand the concepts of risk and return and time horizon.
Managing Risk
Different types of insurance and vigilance against common scams and identity theft.
How to prepare for the PFC;
We strongly suggest going to this website; https://www.councilforeconed.org/programs/for-students/national-personal-finance-challenge/to prepare for the PFC.
Registering for the PFC:
If you are interested in participating, registration opens January 1, 2026. Go to; https://www.councilforeconed.org/programs/for-students/national-personal-finance-challenge/to register (and scroll down).
For more information about Personal Finance Challenge contact OCEE at; contact@econoregon.org.