Fairfax high schools debut financial literacy course

Oakton High School freshman Madelynne Norton, 14, took a test Oct. 3 to determine which careers might suit her.

Sitting at a computer lab in their economics and personal finance class, Madelynne and 27 other students clicked through the questionnaire, which included 35 questions on skills and 72 on interests. Students also were asked to rank a list of 25 “value” subjects, ranging from job security to being treated fairly by their employer.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

“This shows us what we might be interested in career-wise,” Madelynne said, adding that being a nurse was among her top picks.

The test marked the beginning of a unit on finding jobs that is part of the course’s goal of preparing students for life after high school. The unit will end with students having searched for jobs within their chosen field, researched the company from which they are seeking employment, prepared résumés and sat for a mock job interview conducted by a teacher.

Learning about buying a car, renting an apartment, handling student loans, understanding the stock market and more are part of the curriculum for the course, which is a requirement the Virginia General Assembly mandated in 2009.

In the wake of financial problems within the banking and housing industries, some state legislators called financial literacy a basic life skill that should be taught before students leave secondary school. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) recommended to the General Assembly that financial literacy be added to the high school curriculum.

The legislature waived implementation of the requirement for a school year because school systems were facing budget shortfalls.

Virginia students who entered high school as freshmen this fall must complete the required course before graduating. However, the state did not stipulate a start date for the course to be implemented in individual schools.

Thus far, 24 of the 27 regular and alternative public high schools in Fairfax County have implemented the economics and personal finance course.

“Some principals — because we recommended that it be taken junior or senior year — decided to hold off on offering it,” said Beth Downey, the school system’s manager of Business and Information Technology. Schools that chose to delay offering the course this year are Falls Church, Lee and Madison high schools and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

The Fairfax school system has offered a similar financial literacy course, as an elective, for years, Downey said.

Many school systems took their finance course, which offered similar competencies and frameworks, and tweaked it for the new economics and personal finance class, according to the Department of Education. The course is 36 weeks, with 18 weeks devoted to finance and 18 focused on economics, with units on history and social sciences, such as the stock market crash of 1929.

The guidelines for the curriculum were drafted by the Virginia Department of Education.

“I think it’s kind of cool because it simulates real life,” Madelynne said of the class. “It teaches you how to buy a car and rent an apartment . . . things we’ll be doing after high school.”