1. Find controlling sources
Start with statutes, rules, board actions, adopted standards, and official agency guidance.
Research protocol
Evidence before labels
How we separate policy concepts, verify claims, document provenance, and decide when a state profile is ready to publish.
2. Separate policy concepts
Track standards, course delivery, diploma credits, and implementation dates as distinct fields.
3. Verify every key claim
Publish only when citations resolve and the record passes data, source, and eligibility checks.
Scope
We track K–12 personal finance standards, required instruction, approved courses, diploma requirements, implementation timelines, and controlling legislation or administrative action for the 50 states and Washington, D.C. We do not rate curriculum quality or treat local practice as statewide policy.
Definitions
- Standards: state-adopted learning expectations. Standards may exist without a required course.
- Graduation requirement: a course, credit, or other condition students must satisfy for the relevant state diploma.
- Stand-alone course: personal finance must be delivered as a distinct course, not wholly combined with another subject.
- Integrated requirement: required content or credit may be taught within another approved course.
- Pending or phased: enactment, offering, implementation, or covered-cohort dates differ.
Source hierarchy
Controlling statutes, session laws, administrative code, state-board actions, adopted standards, and official education-agency guidance are the sources of record. Secondary trackers may help discover an issue but do not establish a published key claim.
Verification rule
A record is marked verified only when its key claims have direct primary-source support, every claim citation resolves to a documented source ID, and the source links resolve during review.
Updates, limitations, and corrections
Records are reviewed quarterly and after known legislative or state-board action. State policy changes quickly and local districts may add requirements. Report a correction with the jurisdiction, disputed claim, and a supporting source.