EPCHS Lauded For Financial Literacy Education

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Evergreen Park Community High School was recognized as an NGPF Gold Standard School for implementing a personal finance graduation requirement.

Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit that has developed a free personal finance curriculum for grades 6-12, listed 1,591 high schools across the country, and 66 in Illinois, that require at least one semester of a personal finance course to graduate. According to an NGPF news release, less than 18.3 percent of all American high school students receive a financial literacy course in high school.

Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia are the only five states that require this of all their high school students. Outside that, this is a requirement at just a fraction of schools in any given state.

According to EPCHS’s Class of 2022 graduation requirements, students are required to take at least one semester of a course called “Financial Literacy in the 21st Century,” which can fulfill a consumer education requirement.

"Gold Standard Schools show remarkable leadership, surging ahead of state progress on financial education instead of waiting for a mandate. The teachers, parents, students, administrators, and community leaders in these schools show what can happen when a coalition commits to build the financial capability of the next generation," said Tim Ranzetta, NGPF Co-Founder.
Click here to see the full list of NGPF Gold Standard schools.