April 12, 2022

Comments to the Virginia Board of Education Re: Economics and Personal Finance Add-on Endorsement

As a member of the Boards of the Virginia Council on Economic Education and Your Economic Success (YES) at JMU’s Center for Economic Education, I appreciate the Virginia Department of Education for seeking an add-on endorsement for teaching economics and personal finance in high school.

The proposed requirements to obtain an Economics and Personal Finance Add-on Endorsement are reasonable and add flexibility for teachers, as they allow a teacher to substitute a non-credit course of 45 hours, as described in the proposal endorsed by ABTEL, in place of the college credit hour requirements.

A goal of adopting an add-on endorsement for EPF is to allow greater flexibility so that more teachers are credentialed to teach this course.  Currently, teachers who teach EPF are required to have a license in one of six subjects.  The add-on endorsement would allow a teacher who is licensed in any subject to teach EPF, as long as they satisfy the add-on endorsement requirements.

The add-on endorsement is a positive step toward empowering teachers to better understand and articulate economics and personal finance concepts.  Virginia’s Economics and Personal Finance (EPF) class will provide students with essential life skills that will benefit them, regardless of their future vocation.  The required EPF class is especially valuable for disadvantaged students who wouldn’t otherwise learn these important economic concepts or gain these useful financial skills.

Virginia has strong Standards of Learning (SOLs) for Economics and Personal Finance, and with the required high school Economics and Personal Finance class, Virginia is a national leader in its efforts to have our students graduate economically and financially literate.  Please improve teacher credentials by supporting the proposed requirements to obtain an Economics and Personal Finance Add-on Endorsement.

Thank you for your consideration.