It is often said that today's education curriculum is rooted in yesterday's economy, and that a changing, entrepreneurial and technologically driven economy requires different educational approaches. The skill set needed to succeed in the 21st century workforce—one that values opportunity, creativity and agility—is quite different from the skill set needed during the last century. The key to success is an economic way of thinking, which should be a cornerstone of the nation's efforts to reform the educational system.

The nation's economy will increasingly rely on entrepreneurs to stimulate economic growth—and yet even though a growing majority of the nation's students would like to start and own a business, most are ill-prepared to do so. As educators, we can and should provide students with this critical knowledge. And even though not all students who receive entrepreneurship education intend to pursue a career path as an entrepreneur, everyone can benefit from the learning associated with understanding the concepts and processes of economics and entrepreneurship.

Effective entrepreneurship education assists students in achieving economic autonomy and empowerment. With this publication, Entrepreneurship Economics, CEE aims to provide high school educators with lessons that place entrepreneurship within this broader economic context.

Entrepreneurship Economics contains 11 lessons featuring student-centered instructional methods and providing teachers with the conceptual frameworks they need to cover entrepreneurship and economics topics in an engaging way. Each of these lessons is designed to stand alone, although they are, of course, closely related to each other.

Lesson 1 introduces students to entrepreneurship through a resource market simulation, which demonstrates how entrepreneurship promotes economic activity and benefits society. Lesson 2 explores economic systems and asks students to analyze the entrepreneur's role in the economy. Lesson 3 personalizes the supply chain by asking students to explore the role regional resources and assets play in local business development and to identify entrepreneurial opportunities within their community. Lesson 4 reviews forms of business ownership and asks students to use this knowledge to make decisions for several entrepreneurial scenarios. Lesson 5 outlines the explicit and implicit costs of entrepreneurship and encourages students to assess the value of their labor in an entrepreneurial venture. Lesson 6 introduces the concepts of risk and insurance and looks at how entrepreneurs can manage risk. Lesson 7 uses a family lending case study and several start-up scenarios to familiarize students with the financing options available to entrepreneurs throughout the various stages of their businesses. Lesson 8 emphasizes the importance of personal financial management to the entrepreneur and explores how the entrepreneur's credit rating affects his or her ability to secure start-up financing. Lesson 9 reviews the concept of human capital within the context of entrepreneurship and encourages students to reflect on their own human capital and entrepreneurial qualities. Lesson 10 illustrates the importance of marketing to entrepreneurship and engages students in the development of a marketing strategy for a given product. Lesson 11 serves as the publication's culminating activity; by conducting a gap analysis, creating a business plan, and delivering an elevator pitch, students synthesize and apply the concepts covered in this book.

Many people are responsible for bringing this publication to completion, starting with Richard MacDonald, who identified the need for this project, and Christopher Caltabiano, who recruited the team of entrepreneurship and economics experts needed to develop this project successfully. Lesson authors Barbara Flowers, Brent Hales, and Greg Valentine worked hard to deliver quality classroom lessons, ever willing to review and revise their work to make this publication as engaging and teacher-friendly as possible. Content advisor John Clow gave invaluable feedback on lesson drafts, and his many years ofexperience in entrepreneurship education greatly benefited this publication. Project coordinator Nichola Tucker provided the direction needed to get this project to the finish line, and her significant contributions to lesson content ensured the quality of this publication. Finally, CEE gratefully acknowledges The UPS Foundation, whose generous support made this publication possible.