The federal consumer financial protection bureau has updated some of its financial education content to provide K-12 educators new, free resources to help students develop financial knowledge, skills and habits, according to a blog post Monday.
Resources, available via the Youth Financial Education section of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) website, are listed as follows:
- The journey to adult financial well-being: Describes four steps to achieve adult financial well-being, while highlighting the role financial education plays in helping young people successfully navigate their way.
- Activity search feature: Provides access to free high school classroom activities to teach the building blocks of financial capability across the curriculum, designed for use in a single class period. Teachers can search by grade level, activity duration, and other key filters. The bureau recommends checking back for more activities through the end of 2018.
- Assessments: Tools to help teachers gauge their students’ mastery of the building blocks and to help students assess their knowledge, skills, and habits related to financial capability.
- Curriculum review tool: Helps educators review and compare financial education curricula across four key dimensions – content, utility, quality, and efficacy – to determine which ones best meet their students’ needs.
In the blog post, author Lyn Haralson discusses the three interconnected building blocks that form the foundation of youth financial capability. Bureau research shows that these building blocks – executive function, financial habits and norms, and financial knowledge and decision-making skills – are “critical to developing financial well-being as adults,” she writes.
“These building blocks include fundamental attributes and abilities that begin to develop in early childhood and continue into young adulthood,” Haralson says. “Adding them to K–12 education lets you reach young people at pivotal points in their development and in their financial lives.”