D.C. has unveiled several financial literacy standards that could be taught to high school students as soon as next year.
Last week, the city’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education said the draft standards will help students with scholarship and grant opportunities and learn how to save, invest and plan for big purchases.
Elizabeth Ross, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for OSSE, said the proposed financial literacy standards fall into several categories, such as saving, spending, investing, credit and managing risk.
“We’re very excited to be delivering, almost in real time, content that we know that our students are hungry for, and look forward to finalizing the standards and then supporting our educators and our schools in implementing them,” Ross told WTOP.
Currently, financial literacy isn’t a high school graduation requirement, Ross said, but under OSSE’s strategic plan, “we are in the process of reimagining our high school graduation requirements,” she said.
Once the standards are finalized and approved by the school board, DC Public Schools and individual public charter schools will determine what curricular materials they’ll use to implement them. The concepts could be taught in a separate course or introduced in current classes, Ross said.
Some of the proposed standards revolve around financial planning that’s needed to make big purchases, such as buying a house or a car. Additional standards consider how students can pay for access to higher education, Ross said.
Other topics include things such as what steps someone has to take in order to open a business, and other “theoretical and conceptual skills that students will master, things like how do monopolies impact the price of a good or service. Under what circumstances might government regulation of a monopoly help or hinder the economy?” Ross said.
Additional draft standards consider things such as how generational wealth could impact savings; how tax policies impact motivation and ability to save; why some people may find it difficult to save for retirement; how historical access to credit has shaped modern financial disparities; and how different factors impact insurance premiums, among others.
The public comment period is open until Jan. 10, according to a news release, and then a final draft will be presented to the school board. The standards, if approved, could go into effect for the 2024-25 school year, Ross said.
“We were really pleased to hear so clearly from students that financial literacy content and concepts is information that they need to feel equipped when making big financial decisions about where to go to school, (and) in large purchases that they may be contemplating making now or in the future,” Ross said.
Read the draft standards online.
