Pennsylvania Financial Literacy Mandates

Pennsylvania has mandated financial literacy to meet graduation requirements. Although the current mandate represents progress toward ensuring students pick up financial knowledge, it fails to meet the minimum education standards for other core subjects taught in high school; and students who complete the coursework proposed will not be prepared for near-term financial challenges.

While our review is critical, we want to express our gratitude to everyone dedicated to advancing legislation aimed at teaching financial literacy. Thank you for your time and effort in developing this bill to its current stage. Our critique stems from a place of constructive feedback to improve existing mandates and enhance bills to ensure they make a significant and lasting impact on our youth. We are committed to fostering a future where financial literacy is not just taught but is impactful and meaningful for the generations to come.

Pennsylvania Financial Education Mandates Ranking

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s financial literacy mandate failed on 10 out of 12 measures. Although well-intentioned, this financial literacy mandate raises concerns, as it lacks many vital elements required to produce positive student outcomes.

Pennsylvania Financial Literacy Mandates

Recommended Policy for PA Financial Literacy Programs

To address the gap in standards for personal finance education, the National Financial Educators Council has developed a set of benchmarks for all grade levels, K-12. This policy guide offers legislatures a framework that standardizes educational quality and learner outcomes to provide the best possible financial education for American youth.

The Standards Guide is based on the notion that financial education should be treated the same as any other topic taught in schools and that all students should at minimum be capable of making near-term financial decisions.

National Standards for Financial Education

Financial Literacy Standards for Older Youth & Adults (High School through Adults)

Although there is no direct mandate by the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, it is recommended that national standards be implemented. Financial education is a unique subject; all participants have developed financial habits and relationships with money before instruction begins.

National standards are those that have been proven in empirical and theoretical research to produce the highest improvements in participant test scores.

Download Learner Standards

Financial Literacy Standards for Kids (Kids PK through 8th Grade)

In collaboration with education leader Heidi Jacobs, the NFEC created these financial literacy standards to define learning goals and educational targets for optimal child financial education. Guided by strong pedagogical theory, the standards ensure that instructional targets are age- and developmentally-appropriate and that lessons can be effectively scaffolded. Standards represent five sections based on topic areas in the NFEC curriculum.

Download Learner Standards

Standards for Financial Education Instructors

The NFEC teamed with the well-known Danielson Group to develop the first and only national standards for financial educators – The Framework for Teaching Personal Finance – to define optimal educator skill sets and performance levels. The framework also identifies the financial educator responsibilities empirically proven to produce highest gains in participant test scores. This framework is used in all 50 states, including Pennsylvania.

Download Educator Standards Synopsys

American Public Education Foundation (2023). The Nation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy, https://www.thenationsreportcard.org/pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Financial Literacy Standards

The American Public Education Foundation (APEF) has made financial literacy one of its core focuses over the next decade. Toward that end, the agency publishes The Nation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy every two years, grading each U.S. state for its K-12 financial literacy standards. In the most recent report (2023), Pennsylvania earned a “B” grade. The Keystone State merits that grade because, although the K-12 guidelines include financial literacy requirements in most standards, no standalone financial education course is required for high school graduation. As of 2016 only 15% of Pennsylvania school districts mandated such a course.

In 2021 Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor launched the Be Money Smart initiative, a campaign to raise awareness about financial literacy across the state and give residents tools for reaching financial independence. Subsequently PA Senator Chris Gebhard championed passage of Act 35 of 2023, which now requires all state public schools to teach a half-credit personal finance course for high school students starting with the 2026-27 academic year. The Pennsylvania Department of Education is charged to develop curriculum for the course, and teachers will be given paid professional development to deliver the education.

PA Financial Education Standards by Grade Level

In the Pennsylvania State Academic Standards, personal finance concepts are incorporated into the benchmarks for Economics, Family and Computer Sciences, Business, Computer and Information Technology, and Career Education and Work curricula. These standards apply to students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 12. Some personal finance standards also appear in the Social Studies Early Learning standards for grades K-2.