For immediate release - June 22, 2009
	For more information contact: Jo Ann Murray Project Director Invest Ed® STARS (405) 325-6882 Amy Sanders Events Coordinator Invest Ed® STARS (405) 325-7452 www.investedok.org

NORMAN, OK – The Invest Ed^® STARS, “Students Tracking and Researching the Stock Market,” hosted the first of its summer Teacher Institutes for selected high school teachers on June 15-18 at Sooner Legends Inn & Suites in Norman. Each of the two Institutes has a limited enrollment of twenty participants who undergo a rigorous and concentrated study.

The Institute, which introduces teachers to the STARS online portfolio program and teaches them how to implement the project into their existing curriculum, was instructed by Matt Ingram. Ingram is a finance professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a former stock broker. He will receive his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Oklahoma this August. Sessions were also taught by Irving Faught, Administrator of the Oklahoma Securities Commission.

Topics presented by Ingram included Investing in the Safe Stuff, Bonds, Intro to Equities, Investing in Stocks, Options and Futures, Mutual Funds and ETFs, Building a Portfolio, the Financial Meltdown, Investing for Life, and Stock Selection. Faught discussed the role of the Oklahoma Securities Commission, the different fraud types relevant to Oklahomans, and investor fraud protection.

100% of the teachers signed up to implement the program with their students in the 2009-2010 school year. This project challenges high school students to learn the importance of investing as a long-range tool, securities fraud awareness, and time value of money. Students research, select stocks to buy, complete a risk assessment, set investment goals, create an online portfolio, and track results. At the end of the tracking period, students write a report about this process. Project winners are selected based on their reports rather than the ending values of their portfolios. This required report component distinguishes STARS from other online portfolio programs.

The State Department of Education recognizes Invest Ed^® STARS as a resource for HB 1476, and Invest Ed^® STARS aligns with Oklahoma’s PASS Standards.

The Invest Ed^® investor education programs are managed by the Center for Independent and Distance Learning within University of Oklahoma Outreach, College of Continuing Education and the Oklahoma Securities Commission. Since its inception in July 2005, 722 Oklahoma teachers have been trained through the STARS program and 9,100 students have participated. Saturday workshops will be conducted in six regions of the state this fall to train teachers to facilitate the Invest Ed^® STARS program. A new semester begins September 2009.

Visit www.investedok.org for more information.

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Invest Ed^® is an unbiased, non-profit investment education program with the sole objective of increasing Oklahoman's investment knowledge and fraud protection. This multi-faceted investment literacy education program is made possible by the Oklahoma Securities Commission and produced by the University of Oklahoma OUTREACH ~ College of Continuing Education.