Oklahoma - 2023

Final Grade

B

Projected Grade

B

Graduation Requirements

Is a high school course with personal finance concepts required to be taken as a graduation requirement? No, a specifically identified course with personal finance concepts is not a graduation requirement. In 2007, the Passport to Financial Literacy Act of 2007 became law. Under this law, Oklahoma requires students to demonstrate competency in 14 areas of personal finance in order to graduate from high school. The requirement first applied to the Class of 2014. The law allows students to meet this graduation requirement anytime between grades 7 to 12, depending on the local district's scope and sequence for personal financial literacy. In addition, students may test out of personal financial literacy through a district-created assessment or the State Department of Education's (DOE) online assessment.

Projected Grade Narrative

No policy change is pending that would change Oklahoma's grade.

High School Education Standards

The passport method allows school districts to determine in which grades and courses they will embed the personal finance standards. They could be embedded in a variety of courses from grades 7 to 12, or this requirement could be met by taking a stand-alone personal finance course in high school. The personal finance instruction must be consistent with the state's personal finance education standards. Although there are mandated academic standards for personal financial literacy, there is no mandated curriculum for this instruction. An optional online curriculum is available on the DOE's website. A student cannot take the personal financial literacy instruction on a pass/fail basis. The student's competency on this instruction must be recorded as a letter grade or percent.

Extra Credit

Beginning with the 2020–2021 academic year, all teachers who are assigned the responsibility for teaching personal financial literacy are required to complete ongoing professional development training in the areas of personal financial literacy instruction in accordance with guidelines established by the DOE. It is not clear what the DOE personal finance training guidelines for educators are. The DOE's website provides professional development and other education resources online for districts and teachers to refer to. The Passport Financial Literacy Act also included the creation of a Personal Financial Literacy Education Revolving Fund. Any such funds may be used for developing and providing guidelines, materials, and resources for personal financial literacy for students and teachers, including online curricula, training, and professional development for teachers.

Caveat

Since the passport requirements apply to grades 7 to 12, local districts could include personal finance concepts in middle school and/or the early years of high school. Personal finance concepts are most relevant near graduation from high school when students are thrust into situations in which they must manage their daily living expenses and are considering student debt. It would not be optimal for students to receive all of this training in grades 7 to 9 since knowledge obtained will fade over time. Additionally, it is not clear how the state monitors local school district compliance with the financial literacy education requirement. A district could offer personal financial literacy during alternative instructional times (i.e., before/after school, night classes, and/or summer classes). Since there is no specified seat time for instruction in personal financial literacy, it is likely that the quality and quantity of instructions varies greatly from school district to school district.

Year Of Projected Grade

2028