Financial literacy is likely to be a high school graduation requirement within the next few years. Is Massachusetts prepared?

As part of the process of developing a Statewide High School Graduation Framework, the Healey administration’s K-12 Statewide Graduation Council surveyed students, caregivers, school/district staff, employers, and others about what students should be expected to learn in high school. In response to the question, “What coursework and learning experiences should all students complete for college, career, and civic life?” one answer rose to the top, above even core academic content like English language arts, civics, and math: personal finance.

Remarkably, 93% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that this topic should be part of all students’ high school education. Among students, caregivers, and employers, personal finance was more likely than any other subject to be cited as an important learning experience for high school students, demonstrating its consistent appeal across a wide range of respondents.

Given the near-universal agreement that students should learn about personal finance, it is unsurprising that the draft graduation framework includes the recommendation, “Students will develop knowledge and skills in financial literacy” as part of their high school education. Though the framework is still a work in progress, it is likely that the final version will include some form of a requirement in this area.

Yet despite the widespread consensus about the importance of teaching financial literacy, there has been little public discussion about preparing schools and educators to deliver high-quality, relevant, and culturally competent curriculum on this topic. If a financial literacy mandate goes into effect, school and district leaders will bear the burden of identifying and implementing curriculum that meets the needs of their staff, students, and communities. Without clear guidance from the state, it will be difficult for time-strapped administrators to fully understand their options and make an informed investment in learning materials.

Carrying out an in-depth review of financial literacy curricula would help address this need by documenting the ways in which existing curricula incorporate rigorous, standards-aligned, and culturally competent material. In this process, it will be especially critical to: 1) clearly state the quality benchmarks being used to review materials; 2) incorporate educators’ perspectives on the application and use of the materials, including how adaptable they are for use with multilingual learners and students with disabilities; and 3) conduct an explicit review of whether the materials demonstrate cultural competence in their content and methods, supporting educators to deliver instruction that includes a diversity of perspectives, experiences, and values. 

Any detailed review of financial literacy curriculum would build on more than a decade of efforts by policymakers to expand access to financial education. Under State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, the Office of Economic Empowerment oversaw a Financial Literacy Task Force charged with examining the state of financial literacy across K-12 schools and offering recommendations to expand learning opportunities in this field. The task force released a comprehensive report in 2021 on Personal Financial Literacy Education in the Massachusetts Public School System that highlights some of the key barriers to expanding financial literacy within schools statewide. This topic continues to be a priority for the Treasurer—she recently shared that her “new year’s resolution” for 2026 is to “continue pushing to ensure that every Massachusetts student has access to financial education in every school throughout the state.”

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has also developed a resource to support financial education in classrooms across the Commonwealth. As required by “An Act Relative to Financial Literacy in Schools,” passed in 2019, DESE published an overview of curricular materials in K-12 personal financial literacy that lists 17 curriculum sources and shares brief background on their format and content. To create this document, DESE staff reviewed the curricula to ensure that they “meet baseline expectations for quality,” including by demonstrating grade-appropriate rigor, supporting effective implementation by educators, acknowledging a diversity of stories and experiences, and avoiding “factual inaccuracies or undue bias.” However, the document does not delineate the specific criteria that DESE used in their review, nor does it offer examples to help users understand what concepts like “undue bias” look like in practice.

While DESE’s list of curricular materials is a helpful starting point, the level of up-to-date information and guidance it offers to schools and districts pales in comparison to the wealth of resources available on curriculum in other subjects. For instance, over the past few years, the Rennie Center has worked with DESE to produce comprehensive guides to curricular materials in the fields of history and social studies, health and physical education, and the arts (where the final guide is forthcoming). In partnership with DESE, we have also released dozens of detailed reports on curriculum materials in ELA, math, science, and other core subjects through CURATE (CUrriculum RAtings by TEachers). These and other curriculum reviews led by DESE have benefited from a clear statement of the quality benchmarks, an external review by experts in the field, and reporting on whether the materials demonstrate culturally competent content and methods—all of which are lacking in the current overview of financial literacy curricula.

Examining whether materials present information in a culturally competent, bias-free way will be an especially important component of any future review process. In its report on financial literacy in Massachusetts schools, the Financial Literacy Task Force described how “[b]eing sensitive to racial diversity in the context of PFL [personal financial literacy] education is particularly challenging” because of the tendency for financial content to mirror “white middle-class values” and cast blame or shame on the experiences of low-income families and students of color. The report concludes that “the development of culturally sensitive PFL curricular material” is an area where the state could benefit from additional support.

These findings align with the on-the-ground experiences of educators and community partners. The Rennie Center conducted a focus group in 2021 to hear perspectives on financial literacy from individuals working with Boston’s opportunity youth population (that is, the population of young people aged 16-24 who are currently disconnected from education and career pathways). Participants were quick to point out the inequities inherent in discussing financial literacy, especially if the context is, “here’s how to build a budget.” For many young people, financial choices are constrained by access to wage-earning opportunities, so learning how to manage existing finances or build healthy spending habits is less relevant than learning about topics such as building credit and identifying and avoiding predatory lending practices.

Whether in conversations with young people or surveys of families, staff, and employers, one message comes through loud and clear: students would benefit from accessing more, and more effective, content on personal financial literacy in order to position themselves for success beyond high school. The state has built a strong foundation for this work, including by assembling a preliminary list of curricular materials for schools and districts to consider. By investing in a robust process of reviewing financial literacy curricula, the state will be better prepared to address the immediate need for information and guidance that will arise if—or, more likely, when—financial literacy becomes a graduation requirement for Massachusetts students.