Vol. 40, No. 43
CONTACT: JIM MORRIS |
October 18, 2006
Boosting Financial Savvy of Missouri’s Young Adults:
Schools Are Developing Required Classes in Personal Finance
Missouri public high schools are gearing up to teach all students an essential life skill: how to manage their money.
A half-unit course in personal finance is one of the new requirements approved last year by the State Board of Education when it raised the minimum number of credits needed to graduate from a public high school from 22 to 24 units. The new policy applies to this year’s freshman class – students who will graduate in 2010.
Courses in finance, consumer resource management or investments are not new to Missouri high schools. They have long been offered as electives in most school districts. The new requirement, however, applies to all students and should boost the financial savvy of future graduates.
“Many high school students are opening checking accounts, getting jobs, buying cars, filing tax returns and getting offers for credit cards,” said Nancy Headrick, assistant commissioner for career education in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
"In order for individuals to prepare for work and family life in today’s society, they need a variety of skills for making informed decisions, managing resources and solving practical problems," she said.
One of many high school educators who encouraged the adoption of personal finance as a graduation requirement is Joy Behrens, family and consumer sciences department chair at North Kansas City High School, in the North Kansas City School District. She is confident the course will help students gain the knowledge they need to manage their finances when they get out on their own.
"A lot of kids are not prepared to manage their income," Behrens said, noting many of today’s children grow up naively thinking cash comes from an ATM and that goods and services can be purchased with plastic cards. With better knowledge of how to manage their personal finances, the next generation of students will be able to contribute more to a strong economy, she believes.
To help meet the state’s new course requirement, a recommended set of knowledge and skills statements has been developed by an advisory group of educators, business leaders and DESE staff.
The Missouri Center for Career Education, located at the University of Central Missouri, also led the development of a model, problem-based curriculum for high schools to use in teaching personal finance. "The curriculum can provide students with relevant and realistic types of problem-based learning that will help them apply personal finance to their everyday lives," Dr. Headrick said.
The course has been organized into four content areas: income and taxes, money management, spending and credit, and saving and investing.
Personal finance is already being offered in a number of public high schools across Missouri. Nearly 80 teachers of business, social studies, and family and consumer sciences attended a week-long workshop, sponsored by DESE this summer, to review the competencies and model curriculum. More workshops for teachers will be offered in coming months.
In the past, the North Kansas City School District has offered two courses dealing with personal finance in the business education and the family and consumer sciences departments. The district is now planning to offer a single course that will be required for all high school students.
Ben Loeb, a business education instructor at Rock Bridge High School, in the Columbia School District, attended the summer teachers’ workshop and has already adapted his financial management course to satisfy the personal finance requirement.
"I think the State Board made a very wise decision to include this course as a graduation requirement," Loeb said.
He and an instructor at Columbia’s Hickman High School spent time over the summer reviewing the recommended competencies and developing lesson plans. He applauded the curriculum development committee but believes the range of topics may be too broad to cover adequately in one semester. "Given time, I am convinced more teachers will develop and share instructional resources in support of this course," Loeb said.
Loeb reports enrollment in personal finance is up slightly this year, because more Rock Bridge juniors and seniors are taking the class as an elective. While not required for graduation, many upperclassmen already have jobs and checking accounts and find the course highly relevant and practical. He also attributed the growing interest to student opinion that a course soon to be required must be worth taking now.
Dr. Headrick notes that opportunities for an online course in personal finance, competency testing, and dual credit at the high school and college levels may be available in the future. An online competency test for use in conjunction with personal finance courses will be piloted by some schools in December and May.
For more information:
Personal finance competencies (.pdf file)