North Dakota Financial Literacy Standards
A grade of “B” in the area of financial education standards has been awarded to North Dakota by the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy. Champlain’s research indicates that the Peace Garden State requires students to pass a course in personal finance in order to receive a high school diploma. Students may fulfill these criteria either by taking a full-year course in problems of democracy, or a half-year course in government plus a half-year course in economics.
Champlain could not estimate how many hours of personal finance instruction to which students were exposed, however, because curriculum standards for these courses did not appear on the Academic Content Standards list maintained by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.
The Council for Economic Education (CEE) states that North Dakota contains financial instruction in its K-12 standards mandated to be implemented by districts. A high school course is required to be offered and taken, but no testing standards exist.
National Standards for Financial Education
Financial Literacy Standards for Older Youth & Adults (High School through Adults)
Although there is no direct mandate by the California State Board of Education, it is recommended that national standards be implemented. Financial education is a unique subject; all participants have developed financial habits and relationships with money before instruction begins.
National standards are those that have been proven in empirical and theoretical research to produce the highest improvements in participant test scores.
Financial Literacy Standards for Kids (Kids PK through 8th Grade)
In collaboration with education leader Heidi Jacobs, the NFEC created these financial literacy standards to define learning goals and educational targets for optimal child financial education. Guided by strong pedagogical theory, the standards ensure that instructional targets are age- and developmentally-appropriate and that lessons can be effectively scaffolded. Standards represent five sections based on topic areas in the NFEC curriculum.
Standards for Financial Education Instructors
The NFEC teamed with the well-known Danielson Group to develop the first and only national standards for financial educators – The Framework for Teaching Personal Finance – to define optimal educator skill sets and performance levels. The framework also identifies the financial educator responsibilities empirically proven to produce highest gains in participant test scores. This framework is used in all 50 states, including California.
