Teachers profiled recently in media stories: 

• NGPF Fellow Jill Wilson wins Financial Innovation Educator Honoree Award (Post Independent): "Students will often come back to visit Wilson a few years later and say hers was one of the most important classes they took in high school.“And, almost every adult I talk to, when I mention what I teach, will say they wish they would have had that,” Wilson said. “So, I think the message is sinking in.” A Next Gen Personal Finance training in California two years ago helped Wilson take the curriculum to another level, she said. That’s something she can now share with other teachers in the Roaring Fork School District and across Colorado.

• Dan LaSalle, NGPF Changemaker, featured in this article outlining his innovative finance program (Philadelphia Inquirer): "Dan LaSalle, 30, is teaching his Olney students to invest by paying them – yes, real money. They open bank and brokerage accounts and learn how to save and invest. It’s an idea that even state legislators have backed."

• Pennsylvania legislators propose bill to bring personal finance education to high schools (Philadelphia Inquirer): "Pennsylvania State Sen. Dan Laughlin wants high schools to teach students personal finance — and give them academic credits for the class. He’s the lead author of Senate Bill 723, which could introduce commonsense financial education to high schoolers, many of whom graduate without understanding what they’re getting into when they sign up for a student loan. Pennsylvania college grads, as we’ve written, rank No. 1 in the nation for student debt load, with an average $36,193 loan balance. Delaware and New Jersey rank third and 12th, respectively."

• Alex Todd, panelist at the NGPF Road to Financial Capability Summit, named to K-12 FinLit Working Group (News-Enterprise): "Alex Todd, a business teacher at Elizabethtown High School, and Kendrick Bryan, a social studies teacher at LaRue County High School, have been named to the K-12 Financial Literacy Working Group. The K-12 Financial Literacy Working Group was created by the Kentucky Financial Em­power­ment Commission, which was created earlier this year by law. The commission’s goal is to improve the financial literacy of Kentuckians and provides support to educators teaching financial literacy."

• Palm Springs Unified (CA) piloting personal finance curriculum (Desert Sun): Over the next six weeks, some middle and high school students in the Palm Springs Unified School District will work their way through two online courses aimed at giving them the skills they need to make good financial decisions and track their monthly expenses. The information garnered through the pilot program will help District officials design a new financial literacy program for secondary students.

• Teacher to be honored at National Conference (Indiana Gazette): "Greg Kaylor, who has taught in the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District for 23 years, will be recognized as an Innovative Educator during ceremonies Nov. 1 in Washington, D.C.His award will be presented during the Annual Jump$tart Coalition’s National Educator Conference. The overarching concept of the conference is to provide pre-K to 12th-grade personal finance teachers with new resources, professional development and networking opportunities. His trip is being completely underwritten through sponsorship from Visa’s “Practical Money Skills.”

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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