Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit with a mission to ensure every HS student in America takes a personal finance course by the year 2030, has awarded Oskaloosa Jr./Sr. High School its Gold Standard School award.
Montana State University researchers teamed up with NGPF to evaluate thousands of high school course catalogs and graduation requirements on the following scale:
- Bronze Standard Schools offer some personal finance instruction in less than one continuous semester, often by embedding it into other courses (e.g. Economics).
- Silver Standard Schools offer at least one semester of personal finance as a standalone elective OR offer a standalone personal finance course as one option among multiple that can fulfill a one semester graduation requirement.
- Gold Standard Schools ensure all students take at least one standalone semester course in personal finance before graduation.
Outside the six states (AL, MO, UT, MS, TN and VA) that currently guarantee every high school student will take a personal finance course, researchers identified 1,591 Gold Standard Schools, Oskaloosa Jr./Sr. High School among them. You can see the entire state’s data on NGPF’s Got Finance? Map.
K-12 financial education has recently found the spotlight with 26 state legislatures introducing bills to expand access to financial education in public schools in 2021.
NGPF co-Founder Tim Ranzetta said, “Gold Standard Schools show remarkable leadership, surging ahead of state progress on financial education instead of waiting for a mandate. The teachers, parents, students, administrators, and community leaders in these schools show what can happen when a coalition commits to build the financial capability of the next generation.”
About NGPF
Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is on a mission to ensure all high school students get guaranteed access to a full semester class in personal finance. NGPF.org has become the "one-stop shop" for more than 53,000 financial educators looking for high-quality, engaging curriculum to build the financial capability of their students. NGPF's curriculum, teacher professional development, and advocacy tools are provided at no cost to schools.