R.I. Council for Elementary and Secondary Education adopts national financial literacy standards

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Council for Elementary and Secondary Education last week unanimously endorsed the Council for Economic Education’s National Standards for Financial Literacy.

Rhode Island now joins Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma in recommending the Council for Economic Education’s standards as the basis for financial literacy education in the state.

The New York-based Council for Economic Education’s standards cover six college and career-readiness skills: earning income, buying goods and services, using credit, saving, financial investing, and protecting and insuring.

Designed to help students learn to make thoughtful, deliberate choices as consumers, savers, investors and informed citizens, the national standards teach students how their personal situations and preferences affect their financial decision making.

- Advertisement -

Rhode Island’s adoption of the national standards is the result of an eight-month, collaborative effort between 2014 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year Patricia Page, the realEdRI student group led by Charlotte Palmer, and state and nonprofit educational leaders including Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and Margaret Brooks, president of the R.I. Council for Economic Education and president of the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition.
Throughout the process, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed was instrumental in creating awareness and support for financial education at the state and national levels. “Improving financial literacy is a positive first step when it comes to putting students on the path to a financially secure future. I applaud the Rhode Island Council for Elementary and Secondary Education, the Council for Economic Education and state education officials for working together to boost financial literacy education in our schools,” Reed said in a statement.
The standards, which are written in easy to understand terminology, are not attached to any specific curriculum, do not assume prior financial knowledge and are designed to be applicable to all socio-economic groups.
Funding for the standards was made possible by First Financial Bank USA.
“Rhode Island students will learn critical decision-making skills, helping them make sound financial decisions and smart choices in all aspects of their lives,” Nan J. Morrison, CEO and president, Council for Economic Education, said in a statement.
Rhode Island teachers and librarians will have the opportunity to learn more about financial education resources, and to network with other professionals, at the upcoming 2014 Financial Capability Conference to be held at Rhode Island College on Dec. 6, which will be open to the public.

No posts to display