Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Department of Social Sciences

Financial Literacy Education Rationale

Financial Literacy Education RationaleMiami-Dade County Public Schools Miami, Florida

The Need for Financial Literacy Education in the District’s Curriculum:

Students must be prepared to enter the increasingly complex economic world we live in as knowledgeable, responsible, and financially literate members of society. Budgeting and managing money, working with credit and debt, and learning to make wise consumer decisions are important life lessons all students must learn.

Increasingly, students begin part-time work when they turn 16 years of age, with many entering the full-time workforce immediately after leaving high school. Students are often supplementing the home income or even serving as the primary “bread winner” for their family. Despite the growing number of working students, only a handful of states teach financial literacy skills as part of the curriculum or require financial literacy courses for high school graduation.

Lacking financial literacy skills, young adults frequently fail to make wise decisions and often fall quickly into debt. Ultimately, these young adults are forced to spend their 20's and 30's trying to dig themselves out of unnecessary debt, eliminating any chance to use these critical years for saving and investing.

Clearly, financial literacy skills are basic, life-long skills that must be addressed in the curriculum. Instruction must address:

Personal financial management skills, including an understanding of income, money and budget management, savings and investing, banking, and credit; and

Wise consumer and financial decision-making.

Status of Financial Literacy Instruction in Florida: The State of Florida and M-DCPS require all senior high school students to take a one-semester course in Economics to graduate. The course is offered on multiple levels including regular, honors and Advanced Placement. The course content for the regular and honors level courses includes currency, banking, and monetary policy, the fundamental concepts relevant to the major economic systems, the global market and economy, major economic theories and economists, the role and influence of the government and fiscal policies, economic measurements, tools, and methodology, financial and investment markets, and the business cycle. A comprehensive Pacing Guide for Economics has been developed by District staff to serve as the primary instructional planning tool for teachers. It can be accessed at: http://socialsciences.dadeschools.net .

Comprehensive Financial Literacy Instructional Resources for K-12: Recognizing that a ½ of a semester of Economics education at the end of a students’ public school experience is not enough to prepare America’s youth to make responsible decisions regarding finances, M-DCPS’ Department of Social Sciences, beginning in the Spring of

2016, developed a 3 week (15 days) instructional unit per grade level emphasizing important financial literacy information all aligned to financial literacy instructional standards.

Details of the Department of Social Sciences’ Financial Literacy instructional resources for K-12 teachers/students are as follows:

Each grade level (K-12) instructional resources consist of:o 15 stand-along and comprehensive lesson plans with all necessary

materials to deliver the lessons (e.g., handouts, graphic organizers, Power Point presentations, web-based and video links, etc.);

o A curriculum guide/framework for each grade level is available and provides an overview of the 15 lessons and a guide to the 15 days of instruction. The framework provides an overview of the Financial Literacy content benchmarks and correlated literacy standards per day, lesson number, title, and description of each lesson, and a list of instructional tools necessary to deliver the lesson.

To access the lessons, go to the Department of Social Sciences’ website: http://socialsciences.dadeschools.net, and click on the Financial Literacy icon and then click on the appropriate grade level file of your interest.

See image of Financial Literacy icon below: