Hear from this passionate advocate for financial education about how he galvanized the local business community to ensure every student in his district is both college and CAREER-READY and financially capable. Lots of great advice for administrators looking for creative ways to increase access to financial education too. 

Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00~1:08 Introduction
• 1:08~5:19 Jeff's job and community
• 5:19~8:52 Early money lessons
• 8:52~12:10 Personal finance in the school district
• 12:10~15:01 Getting over the hurdles
• 15:01~15:26 A word from NGPF
• 15:26~18:11 The online course and traditional classes
• 18:11~20:10 Selling the vision
• 20:10~22:03 Benefits from the new requirements
• 22:03~23:43 Professional development for teachers
• 23:43~28:20 Advice to pitch personal finance as a requirement
• 28:20~30:11 Advice for administrators to find success
• 30:11~31:00 Conclusion

Quotes:

• “If I’m a student who wanted to do agricultural science or medicine and I have my course sequence lined up for high school and now you tell me that I have to give up something in order to do something new that is required, that becomes a hurdle for a lot of communities that they can’t get over. We chose to be really creative with how our students will make the requirement and thought that learning does not have to happen at a desk or in a traditional classroom.”

• “Instead of seeing it [making financial literacy a requirement] as a hurdle because it will take something away, we just acknowledged technology allows us to pretty much learn anywhere we want to now so let’s empower students by letting them do this financial literacy requirement over the summer or on their own time or anytime that doesn’t take away from their other opportunities.”

• “We would like to make sure our students have as much real-life useful information that empowers them to leave our high school with a clear plan for what they want in the future and the tools to achieve those plans and so financial literacy is one of those key ingredients in real-life information that we felt we weren’t providing to every student but now we are more confident that we will.”

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.