This commentary is by John Pelletier, director of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College in Burlington.
High schools are beginning to recognize and require the absolutely critical subject of personal finance. Many educators and students consider it the most important subject you can take.
In just the last year, the number of states guaranteeing a full-semester personal finance course in high school increased from 11 to 18, and there are 91 bills in 31 states being advanced.
We also see that curriculum is not an issue. Schools in Vermont and across the nation can take full advantage of free, high-quality online personal finance curriculum provided by nonprofit organizations.
State guarantees and free curricula are what I’ve always referred to as two of the legs in the three-legged stool that comprise personal finance education in America. The last leg is having highly trained educators. And that third leg is wobbly in many states.
There is a critical shortage of highly trained personal finance teachers, and the shortage promises to become more acute, given the successful movement to include the subject in more high schools.
Historically, financial literacy has been an orphan subject, as today’s teachers were never exposed to it in high school, college or in graduate school. The 2021 FINRA Financial Capability Study indicates that only one out of five adults were offered the subject in school, college or the workplace. So it isn’t surprising that educator training is not keeping up with these new educational standards and graduation requirements in personal finance.
Our center estimates that the 15 states that now or will soon require personal finance will need more than 10,000 highly trained personal finance educators.
Research has shown conclusively that personal finance education in high school is effective in developing financially capable citizens. And Americans overwhelmingly support personal finance in high school. A recent national survey shows that nearly nine out of 10 adults believe the subject should be required.
This national movement goes beyond even high school. In 2022, 37 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have addressed financial literacy legislation at some level.
Personal finance education should begin early and continue throughout one’s lifetime, but high school is the ideal time to teach sophisticated financial lessons, since graduates will immediately face real-world financial decisions whether they go on to college or enter the workforce.
And 2021 research shows that teacher training improves students’ learning. In the past 11 years, our center at Champlain College has provided a free three-credit graduate course to more than 300 New England and New York State educators. Before taking the course, fewer than four in 10 feel confident teaching personal finance. But our study shows that more than nine in 10 educators have the confidence to teach the subject after taking the course.
Sadly, we are the only college I know of that is offering this needed graduate training. There are, however, many great professional development opportunities, such as the Next Gen Personal Finance Academy, and they usually are free. In the last few years, we provided a free online, on-demand professional development program of seven hours of content to about 800 educators just in Vermont and in Maine.
Many teachers are justifiably focused on getting a master’s degree, since half of teachers in America don’t have one, and the master’s typically is the path to maximizing income under union contracts. So financial literacy training must be offered not only as continuing education credit but also as part of graduate degree programs.
To build master’s degree programs in personal finance would require that state regulators accept them, which is not yet the case. This should be done while providing more continuing education certificates. In other words, to strengthen this wobbly leg of the personal finance stool, we need all the help we can get.
So let’s celebrate our progress this month, but plow ahead with the work of providing our nation’s educators with the professional development they need to be confident personal finance teachers.
Vermont educators can enroll in the center’s free online graduate course this summer here.
