US Schools Get Failing Grade for Financial Literacy Education

The number of states that require high school students to complete a course in economics has dropped over the last two years, and mandates for personal finance education in the upper grades remain stagnant, a new survey shows.

The biennial Survey of the States by the Council for Economic Education, released exclusively to CNBC.com, found 20 states currently mandate that high school students take economics — two fewer than in 2014.

There has been no change since then in the number of states that require standardized testing of economic concepts. Currently, 16 states require testing, which is down significantly from 25 in 1998.

At the same time, the Council for Economic Education survey found the number of states that require high school students to take a course in personal finance has remained unchanged at 17 since 2014 . . .

Yet from a historical perspective, some progress has been made. Forty-five states now include personal finance in their K–12 standards, up from 21 in 1998. (Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming and the District of Columbia still do not.) (Read more from “US Schools Get Failing Grade for Financial Literacy Education” HERE)

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