Course designed to improve personal financial knowledge for Maine youth 

Maine has received a “B” from the Nation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy, which suggests that at least some of our graduating students lack basic financial knowledge, such as the importance of saving for a rainy day, or even opening a bank account. Being unprepared poses a challenge for those students who take on student loan debt to achieve higher education. To help Maine educators better prepare students with financial knowledge, the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) announced today that the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, in partnership with the Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and its sponsors, FAME, the Office of the Maine State Treasurer, and Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), is offering free online and on-demand training for Maine teachers. 

The Financial Educator Virtual Academy will train Maine educators on how to successfully teach personal finance in their classrooms and communities. Educators will receive contact hours for each course module attended, and the first 100 Maine classroom teachers to complete all seven hours of training will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. The online course offering will be available starting October 12, 2022 and will close on December 16, 2022.

According to NGPF’s 2022 State of Financial Education Report, only 15.6% of Maine students have guaranteed access to a semester-long personal finance course. The goal of this training is to support educators as they work to ensure that all Maine students have access to high-quality personal financial education. Mary Dyer, President of the Maine Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and FAME’s Financial Education Programs Manager, said Maine and other states have embraced the online training since it provides educators with an opportunity to expand their knowledge and teaching strategies without losing time in the classroom. “Educators will be able to participate in the online training at any time, which provides much-needed flexibility. Teachers at any grade level will find appropriate and relevant content and resources that align with Maine’s Learning Results for personal finance and economics,” said Dyer.

Maine State Treasurer Henry E.M. Beck, whose office is a sponsor of the training, stated: “My office is glad to join FAME in this effort to share ways Maine people can better earn, spend and save money.”

John Pelletier, Director of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, says the virtual academy is primarily designed to improve the financial knowledge of K-12 students by giving Maine educators access to the tools, resources and training they need to successfully integrate Maine’s personal finance and economics standards into their classrooms. Pelletier says Maine educators can earn up to seven hours of professional development training and receive suggestions for grade-appropriate personal finance classroom resources over the duration of the virtual academy. 

“COVID-19 has changed our approach to teaching as educators” said Jacob Newcomb, a teacher at Bonny Eagle High School. “We need as many professional development and training opportunities as possible to make these changes, and I am so impressed with this online program offered by Maine Jumpstart that is now accessible to all K-12 educators in Maine. These seven short trainings will be integral to helping our students and their families make sound economic and personal finance decisions in this challenging world.”

During the virtual academy, which features nationally known experts, participants will learn how to implement theJumpStart National Standards in K-12 Financial Personal Finance Education. These standards allow for the teaching of personal finance in an interdisciplinary or stand-alone manner. 

Interested educators may register for the program with this link.

The Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is an independent affiliate of the National Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Maine Jump$tart understands that K-12 educators play a significant role in shaping the financial future of Maine youth and our focus is to support Maine teachers, administrators and counselors through statewide training, advocacy, and efforts to increase awareness of quality financial education resources and experts.

Established in 2010, The Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) at Champlain College was designed to promote and develop financial literacy skills among individuals, allowing them to make more sound decisions about spending, credit, debt, investments, and complex financial situations such as buying a home and saving for retirement. The CFL is nationally acclaimed for its efforts to increase the personal finance knowledge of our citizens and has become the credible, go-to source for national media coverage of financial literacy.

Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain. Since 1993, Champlain has also offered industry-focused undergraduate and graduate programs fully online to working adults, and, through its truED workforce development program, to leading organizations across the country. Champlain’s distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review’s The Best 386 Colleges: 2021 Edition and was named the best private online college by Intelligent.com in 2020. Champlain was ranked among the top 100 Regional Universities in the North and named a “Most Innovative School” for the sixth year in a row by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu

Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) has become the “one-stop shop” for about than 70,000 educators looking for high-quality, engaging personal finance curriculum to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in the future. More than 14,000 teachers have invested 350,000 hours in NGPF professional development, which includes live virtual sessions, certification courses and asynchronous On-Demand modules. The non-profit has been recognized by Common Sense Education as a “Top Website for Teachers to Find Lesson Plans” and “Best Business and Finance Games.”