OGDEN -- Since 2008, Utah high school students have been required to take a financial literacy class to graduate. Now the state wants to see how much the students are learning and has selected 14 districts in the state to do the testing at the end of each semester.
Ogden and Weber are two of the districts, and tests will be distributed before the end of the week.
Scores on the tests will not be factored into graduation credit; it will be purely a gauge to see if the students are understanding the core of the financial literacy required by the state, said Greg Lewis, Ogden School District testing specialist.
Lewis said demographics figure into the state's choice of Ogden district for the testing, but he is confident the students have been learning well.
"Our demographics are to our advantage. We want our kids counted," Lewis said.
Ben Lomond High School financial literacy teacher Cathy Hayes agrees and said she believes the information the students gain from the class in invaluable.
She taught business and finance classes long before there was a requirement and was thrilled when it started to be required in 2005.
Hayes said although the seniors of 2008 were the first class in which all have taken the required class, it started being required to get all students through the course in 2005.
The state started requiring the literacy course for graduation after Utah placed second in the nation in highest bankruptcy filings, Hayes said.
Now the state is seeing a difference in teens' habits but wants more documentation of the effect of the courses.
The 2008 requirement requires finance and economic education to be worked into the core curriculum in kindergarten through 12th grade, in addition to the semester literacy class that juniors and/or seniors must take.
"Students love this class because it applies to real life," Hayes said.
She doesn't have any problem keeping kids engaged in most topics because they know a lot of the information is vital for their future.
The schools also have been lucky to have many community partners in bankers and business owners, who educate and offer suggestions and tips to students as well, Hayes said.
Hayes was informed of the required testing by the state last week. She was given a teacher's guide, and she is confident the kids will do well, but she's glad to be able to use the guide with her curriculum for next semester.
"There are some things, like stocks, that we really haven't touched on," Hayes said.
The finance class is taught for only one semester, but there is definitely enough information for it to be taught for a full year, she said.
Some of the topics aren't necessarily tangible to students right now, Hayes said.
"They get that glazed-over look when we start talking about life insurance and health insurance. They understand car insurance because they need that now, but the other stuff is foreign to them," she said.
Hayes knows it is also important, but has to keep the class moving to not lose the students.
One of the most important skills is to teach the students about establishing and maintaining good credit.
"They need to know that you don't spend money that is not yours," she said.
Just more than 5,000 students will be tested on financial literacy material that has been put together by the nonprofit organization Working in Support of Education, known as W!SE.
Davis and Nebo school districts have participated in a pilot program with W!SE for the past two years. The state Office of Education received a grant to conduct the testing, which will be done online.
For more information on the course and the testing, visit www.financeintheclassroom.org.
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