Is a high school course with personal finance concepts required to be taken as a graduation requirement? Yes, New Jersey requires students to complete a half-year course in financial, economic and entrepreneurial literacy, or to complete one or more electives that integrate the required content and skills. See: New Jersey High School Graduation Requirements (pages 29-30) and New Jersey Financial Literacy FAQs.
There is one standard for each discipline area (financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial). Based on this information, we estimate that students receive approximately 15 hours of personal finance instruction. See: New Jersey Personal Finance Standards. Hours of instruction cannot be estimated for all students since each local school district determines how it will deliver the required personal finance education, and implementation methods vary by local school districts.
New Jersey's Department of Education makes financial literacy resources available online. See: New Jersey Financial Literacy Resources. The New Jersey Department of Education provides online model curriculum for teachers to use in the classroom. See: New Jersey Online Curriculum.
It is not clear how New Jersey measures student achievement in financial literacy or how the state monitors local school district implementation of the financial literacy education requirement.