The next post is one in a series of inspiring stories from NGPF’s Gold Standard Challenge Grant Program, which encourages high schools and districts to commit to taking ALL students in personal finance before graduation. Learn more here and apply for your $2,500 to $30,000 Gold Standard Challenge Grant before the August 31, 2022 deadline.
About today’s guest author
Sandra Roberson is a teacher at Gateway Christian School in Roswell, New Mexico. Their school is the 143rd recipient of the Gold Standard Challenge scholarship. Here is Sandra describing Gateway Christian’s journey to the gold standard.
Describe a rough timeline for how you and/or your colleagues have been able to advocate for personal finance to become a graduating requirement in your school/district. How long did it take? What were the key progress milestones?
One year: We wanted to add a semester course for our 11th grade students. This year I taught our 12th graders using the NGPF curriculum as an alternative math lesson. After experiencing the rich content, I went to the inspector with the proposal. (I’m a class teacher and academic counselor. I also work with the curriculum a lot.)
What challenges have you encountered in your pursuit of making personal finance a graduate requirement, and what solutions have you found to these challenges?
No significant challenges. I met the inspector with the proposal and he took it to the board.
What/who were the “catalysts for change” that made your efforts successful?
Between the class I taught this year and the enriched curriculum that economics brought, we realized the importance of teaching money and resource management. We had tried consumer math and business math, but it didn’t have the personal application the students needed to situations they face now and in the near future.
This post Mission 2030 Guest Post: Sandra Roberson Realized the Importance of Education Money and Resource Management
was original published at “https://www.ngpf.org/blog/advocacy/mission-2030-guest-post-sandra-roberson-realized-the-importance-of-teaching-money-and-resource-management/”