As the Council entered into its second decade of service to Minnesota teachers, its programs expanded to include new locations, new content, and new participants: students.

After recognizing the lack of materials and curriculum geared towards directly serving students, the Council began developing programs and resources that could better serve students' needs. Supported by national foundations, the Council undertook research projects to better understand the economic knowledge of Minnesota's elementary students, create pathways for economic instruction in two-year colleges, and opened a new center for economic education in North Dakota. Additionally, the Council began specializing its affiliated centers at colleges around the state to emphasize different aspects of economic education, such as children's literature (St. Cloud), world economics (St. Thomas), consumer economics (Duluth), student assessments and evaluations (Minneapolis) and interdisciplinary studies in economics (Mankato). In this time, many of these affiliated centers published books and papers, establishing themselves as national experts and resources in economic education.

The Council also began its teaching awards program, recognizing outstanding educators for their work in the classroom to engage students through lessons and activities and their advocacy for integrating economic topics into other social studies courses.

"The Minnesota Council is one of the strongest in the nation. It has been recognized nationally for its outstanding work... Its program is complete and varied. Leadership in the Council is exemplary." - Joint Council on Economic Education, 1975