Kentucky Financial Literacy Standards
Would you like to know where Kentucky stands in terms of setting criteria for personal finance instruction in its schools? According to Champlain College, which compiles a biannual National Report Card presenting this information for each state, Kentucky deserved a “C” grade in 2015. That’s because the Bluegrass State standards don’t require school districts to offer a stand-alone personal finance course in high schools, nor is financial education embedded in another class.
Kentucky’s academic guidelines do set forth the minimum required standards that all students should have the opportunity to learn by graduation, including vocational studies instruction that includes personal finance topics. Although these standards address what is to be learned, how learning experiences are designed and what resources are used is left up to the school districts to decide. Kentucky gets extra credit for having a web page providing resources to teachers who are presenting financial literacy topics, as mandated by the vocational studies criterion.
The Economic Education Council (CEE) relates that Kentucky educational standards include personal finance instruction, and districts must implement those standards. There is no Kentucky requirement that schools offer or that students take a high school-level personal finance course, nor are there testing standards for such.
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.
