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 ALL students taking 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
Rachel Litzinger is a teacher at Tyrone Area High School in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Their school is the 137th recipient of the Gold Standard Challenge scholarship. Here is Rachel describing Tyrone Area’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?
It took us about a year to get it approved from idea inception to approval. The graduation requirement will be introduced from the class of 2022. We discussed the idea within our department and then submitted it to our administration along with another graduation requirement of apprenticeship workplace. The board has submitted it to the board for approval.
What challenges have you encountered in your pursuit of making personal finance a graduate requirement, and what solutions have you found to these challenges?
The main challenge was the timeline to get it approved to meet the graduation requirement as quickly as possible. We made sure to schedule meetings with the administration before the course description book and student handbook updates, which contain the details of the graduation requirements, were presented to the board so we could get things moving.
What/who were the “catalysts for change” that made your efforts successful?
NGPF gave me the idea that this should be a requirement and the teaching tools to deliver engaging lessons.
Which stakeholders (students, parents, admin, business leaders, school board, etc.) were helpful partners in your quest to fulfill the graduation requirement?
Our students and the board were very helpful in making this possible. Our student newspaper wrote a story about the importance of personal finances and our administration argued for compulsory graduation at the board.
This post Mission 2030 Guest Post: Rachel Litzinger urged prompt approval of personal financial demand
was original published at “https://www.ngpf.org/blog/advocacy/mission-2030-rachel-litzinger-pushed-for-rapid-approval-of-personal-finance-requirement/”
