Utah Financial Literacy Standards
Utah is the only state to which Champlain College awarded an A+ grade for its financial education standards in 2015, says the Center for Financial Literacy’s National Report Card. The keys to Utah’s success in this arena include its criterion that high school students must take a half-year financial literacy course as a graduation requirement. The report card reads, “Utah has very robust and specific competency-based standards that are applicable to the mandated course.” Further, Utah has developed a standardized exam to measure these competencies.
The A+ designation is also merited because the Utah Legislature passed a law in 2014 that added even more benchmarks to its financial instruction mandate, clearly making Utah “the leader in high school personal finance education in the nation.” The Utah State Office of Education also has created an educator website exclusively dedicated to financial literacy education, and has a stringent framework defining the qualifications of financial education teachers.
The Economic Education Council (CEE) denotes “Yes” to all the defining criteria for financial education in Utah: Utah includes personal finance in its K-12 standards, required to be implemented by every district; a personal finance high school class must be offered and taken; standardized testing is in place.
National Standards for Financial Education
Financial Literacy Standards for Older Youth & Adults (High School through Adults)
Although there is no direct mandate by the California State Board of Education, it is recommended that national standards be implemented. Financial education is a unique subject; all participants have developed financial habits and relationships with money before instruction begins.
National standards are those that have been proven in empirical and theoretical research to produce the highest improvements in participant test scores.
Financial Literacy Standards for Kids (Kids PK through 8th Grade)
In collaboration with education leader Heidi Jacobs, the NFEC created these financial literacy standards to define learning goals and educational targets for optimal child financial education. Guided by strong pedagogical theory, the standards ensure that instructional targets are age- and developmentally-appropriate and that lessons can be effectively scaffolded. Standards represent five sections based on topic areas in the NFEC curriculum.
Standards for Financial Education Instructors
The NFEC teamed with the well-known Danielson Group to develop the first and only national standards for financial educators – The Framework for Teaching Personal Finance – to define optimal educator skill sets and performance levels. The framework also identifies the financial educator responsibilities empirically proven to produce highest gains in participant test scores. This framework is used in all 50 states, including California.
