Economy and Kids!

Uses for the National Standards

Uses for the National Standards Uses for the National Standards The revised and updated National Standards in K–12 Personal Finance Education provide a program design and evaluation framework for school administrators, teachers, curriculum specialists, instructional materials developers, and educational policymakers. At each of the three benchmark grades—4th, 8th, and 12th—the expectations describe skills and knowledge each student should exhibit, not what should be taught in that grade. Individual students might have missed or not remember previous lessons. In those cases, teachers can refer to earlier expectations to identify areas of instruction on which to concentrate.

Among the practical uses for the personal finance standards and expectations are to:

• Suggest a range of content that students should know and be able to act on
• Provide guidelines for evaluating published educational materials
• Help to shape lesson plans, unit and course outlines, learning activities, textbooks, and other instructional materials
• Increase awareness of the need for personal finance in the nation’s schools

After reviewing the 29 personal finance standards, educators may select topics that are appropriate to the needs of diverse learners in specific settings. Educators can use the standards and expectations to design new personal finance units or courses, or to integrate concepts into existing courses. To help accomplish this, the Jump$tart Coalition provides the following additional resources:

• Personal Finance Clearinghouse
  The searchable, online Jump$tart Clearinghouse (http://www.jumpstartclearinghouse.org/) can help educators identify appropriate educational materials by several factors, including grade level, format, and content category.
  
  
• National Best Practices Guidelines
  The Jump$tart Best Practices Guidelines (www.jumpstart.org/bp.cfm) can help educators evaluate and select existing instructional materials, help organizations improve programs that they already provide, and assist designers in creating effective new personal finance curricula.
  The National Standards in K–12 Personal Finance Education complement state and local educational goals and standards. In states where personal finance is not yet part of the state’s K–12 educational objectives, the National Standards in K–12 Personal Finance Education can help convince policymakers to include personal finance in future state standards and student achievement tests and guide their creation.