Students at KIPP DC College Preparatory Continue to Embrace Financial Literacy Coursework

By Sam P.K. Collins
Elizabeth Ross, OSSE’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, with KIPP DC College Preparatory students Keith Harris, Donyae’ Vaughn and Casidee Tomlinson, as well as Monet Davis, NAF director at KIPP DC College Preparatory.

Earlier this year, the D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) and Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) developed and adopted District high school financial literacy standards, thanks in part to the public testimony of KIPP DC College Preparatory students who’ve taken financial literacy courses since the pre-pandemic inception of the District’s first finance academy.

Months later, as District public and public charter schools implement the new financial literacy standards, more than 160 enrollees of what’s currently known as KIPP DC College Preparatory’s NAF Academy of Business continue to learn personal finance while working toward NAFTrack certification in either accounting, business management and entrepreneurship, or digital media and marketing.

KIPP DC College Preparatory student Keith Harris said his experiences early on in the NAF Academy of Business reinforced the importance of budgeting and saving money.

“I’m thinking about how to pay attention to money and grow my money in the long term,” said Keith, a senior at KIPP DC College Preparatory who’s been in the academy since 10th grade. “I am able to depend on myself financially and support my family.”

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