West Virginia’s premier personal financial education program for children, Net Worth, offered its first teacher training session Wednesday in Charleston.
With about 45 teachers expected to attend the first of two regional training workshops, the three‐day event will introduce participating educators to curriculum designed to integrate financial education into the core curriculum of grades K‐12. The training session is part of the larger NetWorth program, led by State Treasurer John Perdue in conjunction with the state Department of Education, and the state Auditor’s Office.
By introducing students to such concepts as savings accounts, financial planning, credit cards and investing in the context of social studies, mathematics, and English, instructional guides approved by the WVDOE will enable teachers to provide real‐world personal finance lessons through WV’s current educational requirements.
As NetWorth Program Director Lynn Bennett explains, “The program is the first of its kind in the country to seamlessly integrate personal financial education into existing content standards and objectives established by a state’s Department of Education.” In this manner, continues Bennett, teachers won’t be required to “teach one more thing.”
Teachers enrolled in the training sessions are nominated by their respective individual county’s Board of Education and will receive in‐depth preparation for implementing the program in the classroom. A list of additional teaching resources complimentary to each instructional guide will also be provided, and teachers will be awarded a stipend for their participation. Later in the summer, these same teachers will be asked to attend Finance University, a program sponsored by the state Auditor’s Office to provide additional training in a wide variety of finance‐related topics.
Following the completion of training, teachers will roll out the NetWorth program in classrooms this fall, with initial and post‐student testing to gauge the effectiveness of the curriculum. Teachers initially participating in the program will be asked to assist in training additional instructors as the NetWorth curriculum is introduced in schools statewide registration for both NetWorth training sessions is currently estimated at 85 teachers representing 35 counties. Educators interested in participating in the NetWorth program are encouraged to contact the WV State Treasurer’s office or visit his website for more information. While several s openings remain, program enrollment is nearing its maximum. The second teacher training session is scheduled for June 24‐June 26 in the Clarksburg‐Bridgeport area.
The NetWorth program was developed through the strong commitment of West Virginia State Treasurer John Perdue and the state Department of Education in providing every state child with the personal finance skills necessary to thrive in today’s complex world. The NetWorth curriculum is expected to be fully implemented in all state classrooms, at every grade level, by the year 2010.