Florida to Implement New Framework for Teaching Personal Finance in Schools
NEW YORK, June 30th, 2014 – This week, the Florida State Board of Education announced the adoption of the Council for Economic Education’s (CEE) K-12 National Standards for Financial Literacy, leading the nationand raising the bar for financial literacy education in the state. Designed to help students learn to make thoughtful, deliberate choices as consumers, savers, investors and informed citizens, the National Standards teach more than just the facts; students understand how their personal situations and preferences affect their financial decision making, while beginning to understand the trade-offs inherent in every choice they make. Florida is the first state in the nation to adopt CEE’s National Standards.
Upon careful review, the Florida Board of Education determined that these Standards were appropriate to be adopted as part of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Social Studies. From the Florida State Board of Education’s official agenda notes:
The [National Standards] are specific and measurable. They are organized in the same format as the existing strands of the NGSSS for Social Studies. In addition to the appropriate concepts specific to the content, the standards also address literacy, mathematics, problem solving, creativity, cross-cultural understanding and 21st century skills. We acknowledge the work of the Council for Economic Education that allows for Florida to adopt existing standards that require students to reach for excellence.
The National Standards were developed by a team of experienced and talented economists, education specialists at Federal Reserve banks, and financial education researchers, to create a framework for the body of knowledge and skills that should be contained in a K-12 personal finance curriculum. The standards contain the six areas of knowledge and understanding that are fundamental to personal finance: Earning Income; Buying Goods and Services; Using Credit; Saving; Financial Investing; and Protecting and Insuring. Each standard emphasizes decision-making skills by explicitly relating planning and goal setting, financial decision-making, and assessing outcomes to each standard. In the end, more informed choices lead to better choices as well as greater satisfaction with the choices that are made.
Written in accessible, easily understandable terminology, the standards are not tethered to any specific curriculum, do not assume any prior financial knowledge, and are designed to be applicable to all socio-economic groups. These standards provide the basis of student assessment, for curriculum development, and for the development and correlation of personal finance to existing and new lessons and other teaching materials. Funding for the standards was made possible by First Financial Bank USA.
Adoption of these standards further lays the groundwork for a standalone high school course in financial literacy in Florida. For the past three years the Florida Council for Economic Education has been working with state legislators and other government, business, and education leaders to “Require the Money Course.”
“If all Florida students leave school equipped with a solid standards-based personal finance course, supported by teacher training and course assessment, the next generation of Floridians will have the tools they need to manage their money, the knowledge necessary to achieve their financial goals from college to retirement, and the ability to be productive employees and contributors to the state’s economy,” said Michael L. Bell, Executive Director, Florida Council on Economic Education.
“We are thrilled that Florida has adopted our National Standards for Financial Literacy, leading the nation in their commitment to K-12 personal finance education,” said Nan J. Morrison, CEO and President, Council for Economic Education. “By implementing these Standards, Florida schools ensure that their students learn the critical skills they need, not only to make sound financial decisions but to make smart choices in all aspects of their lives.”
About the Council for Economic Education
The Council for Economic Education is the leading organization in the United States that focuses on the economic and financial education of students from kindergarten through high school – and we have been doing so for 65 years. We carry out our mission by educating the educators: providing the curriculum tools, the pedagogical support, and the community of peers that instruct, inspire, and guide. All resources and programs are developed by educators, and delivered by our national network of affiliates. Our goal is to reach and teach every child. Each year CEE’s programs reach more than 55,000 K-12 teachers and over 5 million students across the United States. For further information about the Council for Economic Education go to: http://councilforeconed.org.
About the Florida Council on Economic Education
The mission of the Florida Council on Economic Education is to prepare Florida’s young people for personal and financial success through educational programs in economics, the free enterprise system and personal financial literacy so that they become productive members of the workforce, responsible consumers and wise investors. An affiliate of the Council for Economic Education, The FCEE supports five Centers for Economic Education that train k-12 teachers in economics, entrepreneurship, personal finance and the free enterprise system. For further information about the FCEE go to: http://www.fcee.org.
POSTED: July 1, 2014 | BY: admin | TAGS: CEE, Council For Economic Education, Economics, FCEE, Federal Reserve, First Financial Bank USA, Florida, Florida Council on Economic Education, Florida State Board of Education, k-12, National Standards for Financial Literacy, Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Social Studies, Personal Finance
W. Fisher (invited), President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Energy and Personal Finance Correspondent and frequent contributor to Today and NBC Nightly News; and Professor Alan B. Krueger, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Professor Krueger served as Chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and a Member of his Cabinet from November 2011 to August 2013.
