Kids and Money: Bringing financial literacy to US high schools
It’s one of the biggest challenges facing young people today: becoming money‑smart.
Parents aren’t always thelater schemes, and other personal‑finance topics. Peers aren’t much better either
Consequently, schools often bear the responsibility for teaching financial basics. But are educators equipped to deliver the material? Is the class optional or required?
There is encouraging news. An increasing number of states are adding personal‑finance courses to high‑school curricula, and some now mandate that students complete such a course to graduate. This information comes from a recent report released by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).
The study is the sixth “report card” since 2013—and the first overseen by NEFE—designed to assess how effectively public high schools teach personal finance. NEFE examined graduation requirements, state academic standards for financial‑education, and related statutes and guidelines governing how each state provides this instruction.
The findings show that ten states earned an A, among them Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. Twenty‑one states received a B, including Texas, Illinois and New York—grades you might expect on a student’s report card. Meanwhile, 24 states earned a C, four got a D, and four received an F.
When the inaugural report was published in 2013, only four states achieved an A and 13 earned a B.
How does your state compare?
— Virginia, an A‑grade state, has required a personal‑finance class—or its equivalent—as a graduation prerequisite for consumer‑education for all high‑school graduates. Instructors must hold a valid teaching license for the relevant grades and have completed at least three semester hours of consumer‑education coursework.
— Although California earned a failing grade, the state aims to reach an A by 2031. Beginning with the class of 2031, every public high‑school and charter student must take a “substantive half‑year personal finance class” as a graduation requirement, according to the NEFE report. The curriculum cannot be folded into another subject.
