Others have realized their desire to teach teens about money by using these resources. Here’s an excellent example:

Michael Woods was Student Body President at Parkview High School, a senior interested in a career in the financial industry. Since early childhood he had been fascinated by finances, and now he wanted to know how to teach teens about money. Many of his classmates were preparing for university. Michael wanted to help them gain key financial skills so they could pursue their education without constantly worrying about their financial situations. Through informal information-gathering, he knew the challenges they faced – applying for financial aid, locating living quarters, deciding whether to work part-time or not, living within their means. He just lacked a few pieces of information about the financial education process.

Michael set a short-term goal of holding a weekend workshop to teach teens about money in a way that prepared them to attend university. His long-term idea was to get into financial education himself, and to develop a series of workshops to be delivered in other communities, but that was down the road. For his initial objective, Michael settled on a three-hour training. He thought the seniors could reach Level 3 – Strategic Thinking – on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Frame, where they could apply high cognitive rigor to creating a financial plan for attending university.

Michael’s goals were in place, both now and for the future. Next, he was charged with choosing from among several delivery options. Michael thought some blend of delivery modes might work to teach teens about money effectively. He opted for a hybrid of achievement-based and self-paced components, with the delivery to occur both in-person and over the Internet, to fit the teens’ busy schedules and preferred learning methods.

Now Michael needed to focus the training around specific topics of interest. Since his audience was facing the challenges of making ends meet while attending university, he realized the primary thrust should be toward those subjects they had identified: the financial aid application process, paying for tuition and housing, deciding on part-time work, and sticking to a budget. During the three-hour time frame, he would help them create budgets based on their individual situations and make plans to adhere to them.

Since Michael was still in high school, he was not yet qualified to teach teens about money. Therefore, he needed to find an educator who did have those credentials – both pedagogical and content skills. He found his answer through the NFEC, who provide online coursework for educators to gain certification as Financial Education Instructors. The NFEC aided Michael in his search for a qualified educator in his region.

Choosing the best financial literacy curriculum for the high school students was the next item on Michael’s checklist. He was looking for materials with just-in-time components and practical lessons to teach teens about money. Michael reached his goal easily by selecting a package designed to guide young people to take practical action toward improving their finances. This curriculum covered the relevant topics using interactive, engaging activities that were well-suited for online delivery.

The day of the workshop finally arrived, and Michael was ready. He attended along with 41 other college-bound seniors from Parkview. According to the pre- and post-assessments, the average improvement among the group was 25%. Michael believed he had taken important strides toward learning how to teach teens about money. They had received valuable lessons about preparing financially for pursuing a university education. Michael made a PowerPoint presentation showing the results and showed it at the next Student Body meeting, to encourage other students to participate in future financial education.