Economy and Kids!

How the National Standards Evolved

In 1998, the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy issued its fi rst Personal Finance Guidelines and Benchmarks. A group of 20 professionals representing a broad range of education, government, and financial service or-ganizations developed these original guidelines.

In 2001, and again in 2006, the Jump$tart Coalition board authorized the formation of a task force to revise and update the National Standards in K–12 Personal Finance Education. Members of the 2006 standards revision task force included:

• Rosella Bannister, Jump$tart Personal Finance Clearinghouse, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Les Dlabay, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois
• Vickie Hampton, Texas Tech University, Lub-bock, Texas
• Philip Heckman, Credit Union National As-sociation, Madison, Wisconsin (Committee Chair)
• Claudia Kerbel, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island
• Nancy Lang, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky
• Jacqueline Ward, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Before and after the 2006 task force completed major revisions, a select group (identifi ed on page 44) of business and finance industry pro- fessionals and educators—which included class- room teachers representing business education, family and consumer science, and economics in the social studies—reviewed the standards for academic integrity, as well as practical applica- tions. Reviewers’ suggestions led to substantial improvements.

Identifying standards and expectations is not an easy task, nor is it ever completely fi nished. The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy considers this to be a living document, one that it will continue to modify and expand to meet the changing needs of personal finance teachers and students.