Andson Inc., a non-profit that developed the financial literacy curriculum volunteers who donated their time and the materials to build an on-campus bank at the school site. Sid Lott’s classes at Skyline High school in Salt Lake City have won many prizes in financial literacy. Lott attributes this success to his programs being adapted to meet the specific needs of his students. He has many former students studying finance or working on Wall Street. Speaking with him and a couple of his students it is obvious that his passion and depth of knowledge are key contributors to his students' success. Utah was the only state to get an A+ on a report released by Chaplain College, which examined each state's efforts to teach financial literacy in their schools. Utah earned the grade for implementing policy that goes well beyond what other states require their students and teachers to do when it comes to financial learning. Figure 3: Children completing Financial Literacy activities at the Utah Children’s Museum in Salt Lake City, April 2017 So what sets Utah apart? Financial literacy has been taught as a high school course in Utah for more than a decade. During that time, education leaders have developed standards for the course, with curriculum “specific that covers goal setting, income and careers, savings, investing, retirement planning and other subjects”. The Legislature passed a bill that called for updating the standards, requiring students to pass an online 72-question finance test to graduate, and requiring instructors to obtain up to 16 credit hours of training in order to teach the class. At Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington DC the focus is on learning social skills as well as cognitive skills. Two Rivers is dedicated to ensuring its students have rich and varied options for their future. A Two Rivers education goes beyond the basic subjects to ensure every student is well positioned to be successful members in our society. Students are taught Century’ skills ‘21st or Learning’ skills such as: ‘Deeper critical thinking and problem-solving skills character (responsibility, perseverance, growth mindset) Growth mindset is evident in everything that the school does. They began by recognising a culture of mathematics fear among the staff and worked hard to change teachers’ relationships to maths as part of their broader strategy to improve maths achievement. This professional development in turn helped teachers feel capable of teaching in problem-based ways that stretch student thinking. The Two Rivers Charter School example is a good reminder how so often the culture of particular schools and the attitudes of the adults affect efforts to improve academic outcomes.
Andson Inc., a non-profit that developed the financial literacy curriculum volunteers who donated their time and the materials to build an on-campus bank at the school site. Sid Lott’s classes at Skyline High school in Salt Lake City have won many prizes in financial literacy. Lott attributes this success to his programs being adapted to meet the specific needs of his students. He has many former students studying finance or working on Wall Street. Speaking with him and a couple of his students it is obvious that his passion and depth of knowledge are key contributors to his students' success. Utah was the only state to get an A+ on a report released by Chaplain College, which examined each state's efforts to teach financial literacy in their schools. Utah earned the grade for implementing policy that goes well beyond what other states require their students and teachers to do when it comes to financial learning. Figure 3: Children completing Financial Literacy activities at the Utah Children’s Museum in Salt Lake City, April 2017 So what sets Utah apart? Financial literacy has been taught as a high school course in Utah for more than a decade. During that time, education leaders have developed “specific standards for the course, with curriculum that covers goal setting, income and careers, savings, investing, retirement planning and other subjects”. The Legislature passed a bill that called for updating the standards, requiring students to pass an online 72-question finance test to graduate, and requiring instructors to obtain up to 16 credit hours of training in order to teach the class. At Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington DC the focus is on learning social skills as well as cognitive skills. Two Rivers is dedicated to ensuring its students have rich and varied options for their future. A Two Rivers education goes beyond the basic subjects to ensure every student is well positioned to be successful members in our society. Students are taught ‘21st Century’ skills or ‘Deeper Learning’ skills such as: critical thinking and problem-solving skills character (responsibility, perseverance, growth mindset) Growth mindset is evident in everything that the school does. They began by recognising a culture of mathematics fear among the staff and worked hard to change teachers’ relationships to maths as part of their broader strategy to improve maths achievement. This professional development in turn helped teachers feel capable of teaching in problem-based ways that stretch student thinking. The Two Rivers Charter School example is a good reminder how so often the culture of particular schools and the attitudes of the adults affect efforts to improve academic outcomes.
2017-PTS-CHAFFEY-Nicki-First-State-Super.docx