Resources in Financial Education
Rhode Island recently passed a financial literacy mandate. The legislation ensures all RI high school students receive personal finance education and directs the state Department of Education to provide resources to teachers to facilitate personal finance instruction. It is great to see financial education included in more states. If you’d like to learn more about financial education mandates, check out the Council for Economic Education’s Survey of the States.
Something often discussed in education is access to teaching resources. That is a key component of education mandates. It is difficult to follow through on education requirements when resources cost money. However, a great part about the world of financial education is there are many free resources out there to support the teaching process.
I have heard from many teachers that financial education has some of the highest quality resources, as well as the most free resources as well. One of the best resources for financial education is the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Econ LowDown. So, if you’re looking to cover the fundamentals for a younger audience, St. Louis has lesson plans built out, as well as Google Classroom resources. They make your life easy.
The St. Louis Federal Reserve has several resources that cover all ages, ranging from elementary to college. I can personally attest to the value of their college resources, such as the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). Data sources like these helped me through undergraduate and graduate school. Here is a graph on inflation in 2021 that you can easily download here.
With that said, many more organizations have resources built out that are great as well. You can find many Kentucky-related financial education resources on the KFEC’s Financial Empowerment Database. The Rhode Island legislation is indicative of growing support and value recognized in personal finance education. The stakeholders involved should be excited by the number of resources freely available to them online.
