Economics and Personal Finance Curriculum
Family-facing version of the Economics and Personal Finance curriculum
Quarterly Overview of Economics and Personal Finance
The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.
Honors
Economic and Personal Finance Honors provides students the opportunity to engage in more rigorous and complex content such as exposure to advanced readings, processes, products, and assessments that reflect their understanding of key concepts.
Units and Details
Students will examine how personal choices about education, training, skill development, and careers impact earnings.
Students will:
- Describe how consumers, businesses, and government decision makers face scarcity of resources and must make trade-offs and incur opportunity costs.
- Explain that choices often have long-term unintended consequences.
- Describe how effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs (marginal costs) and additional benefits (marginal benefits).
Students will:
- Examine how personal choices about education, training, skill development, and careers impact earnings.
- Evaluate the various methods of financing a purchase.
- Compare the costs and conditions of secured and unsecured loans.
Students will:
- Describe how effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs (marginal costs) and additional benefits (marginal benefits).
- Examine how investment in human capital, capital goods, and technology can improve productivity.
- Examine how personal choices about education, training, skill development, and careers impact earnings.
Students will:
- Describe how consumers, businesses, and government decision makers face scarcity of resources and must make trade-offs and incur opportunity costs.
- Describe how consumers, producers, workers, savers, investors, and citizens respond to incentives.
- Identify the role of entrepreneurs.
- Examine the laws of supply and demand and the determinants of each.
- Explain how the interaction of supply and demand determines equilibrium price.
- Describe the elasticity of supply and demand.
- Examine the purposes and implications of price ceilings and price floors.
- Examine the market value of a worker’s skills and knowledge.
- Identify the impact of human capital on production costs.
- Explain the relationship between a person’s own human capital and the resulting income potential.
- Describe how changes in supply and demand for goods and services affect income.
- Examine the effect of supply and demand on wages and prices.
- Calculate net pay.
- Investigate employee benefits and incentives.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Examine how personal choices about education, training, skill development, and careers impact earnings.
- differentiating among sources of income.
- Calculate net pay.
- Investigate employee benefits and incentives.
- Complete a standard W-4 form.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Define the role of money.
- Explain the role of financial markets and financial institutions.
- Describe the purpose, structure, and function of the Federal Reserve System.
- Describe the government's role in stabilizing the economy.
- Describe sources of government revenue.
- Explain balanced budget, deficit, and national debt.
- Compare the types of financial institutions.
- Examine how financial institutions affect personal financial planning.
- Evaluate services and related costs associated with personal banking.
- Differentiate among types of electronic monetary transactions.
- Prepare all forms necessary for opening and maintaining a checking and a savings account.
- Reconcile bank statements.
- Compare costs and benefits of online and traditional banking.
- Explain how certain historical events have influenced the banking system and other financial institutions.
- Compare the impact of simple interest vs. compound interest on savings.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Describe how consumers, businesses, and government decision makers face scarcity of resources and must make trade-offs and incur opportunity costs.
- Explain that choices often have long-term unintended consequences.
- Describe how effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs (marginal costs) and additional benefits (marginal benefits).
- Describing how consumers, producers, workers, savers, investors, and citizens respond to incentives.
- Describe how increased productivity affects costs of production and standard of living.
- Describe the effects of competition on producers, sellers, and consumers.
- Examine basic economic concepts and their relation to product prices and consumer spending.
- Examine the effect of supply and demand on wages and prices.
- Describe the steps in making a purchase decision, including the roles of marginal benefit and marginal cost.
- Determine the consequences of conspicuous consumption.
- Describe common types of contracts and the implications of each.
- Demonstrate comparison-shopping skills.
- Maintain a filing system for personal financial records.
- Examine the impact of advertising and marketing on consumer demand and decision making in the global marketplace.
- Explain consumer rights, responsibilities, remedies, and the importance of consumer vigilance.
- Examine precautions for protecting identity and other personal information.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Evaluate the various methods of financing a purchase,
- Analyze credit card features and their impact on personal financial planning.
- Identify qualifications needed to obtain credit.
- Identify basic provisions of credit and loan laws.
- Compare terms and conditions of various sources of consumer credit.
- Identify strategies for effective debt management, including sources of assistance.
- Explain the need for a good credit rating.
- Compare the costs and conditions of secured and unsecured loans.
- Compare the types of voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy and the implications of each.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Compare the costs and benefits of purchasing versus leasing a vehicle.
- Compare the advantages and disadvantages of renting vs. purchasing a home.
- Describe the process of renting housing.
- Describe the process of purchasing a home.
- Calculate the cost of utilities, services, maintenance, and other housing expenses.
- Evaluate discretionary spending decisions.
- Evaluate the various methods of financing a purchase.
- Identify qualifications needed to obtain credit.
- Identify basic provisions of credit and loan laws.
- Identify strategies for effective debt management, including sources of assistance.
- Explain the need for a good credit rating.
- Compare the costs and conditions of secured and unsecured loans.
- Compare the types of voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy and the implications of each.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Differentiate among sources of income.
- Calculate net pay.
- Investigate employee benefits and incentives.
- describe the types and purposes of local, state, and federal taxes and the way each is levied and used.
- Explore how tax structures affect consumers, producers, and business owners differently.
- Computing local taxes on products and services.
- Examine potential tax deductions and credits on a tax return.
- Explain the content and purpose of a standard W-2 form.
- Explain the similarities and differences between state and federal taxation of inheritance.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Evaluate insurance as a risk management strategy.
- Distinguish among the types, costs, and benefits of insurance coverage, including automobile, life, property, health, and professional liability.
- Explain the roles of insurance in financial planning.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Differentiate among sources of income.
- Calculate net pay.
- Investigate employee benefits and incentives.
- Identify short-term and long-term personal financial goals.
- Identify anticipated and unanticipated income and expenses.
- Examine components and purposes of a personal net worth statement.
- Investigate the effects of government actions and economic conditions on personal financial planning.
- Explain how economics influences a personal financial plan.
- Compare and contrast investment and savings options.
- Explain 10 and income sources for investments.
- Examine the fundamental workings of Social Security and the system's effects on retirement planning.
- Contrast alternative retirement plans.
- Describe how the stock market works.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Identify factors of production.
- Compare the characteristics of market, command, traditional, and mixed economies.
- Identify Adam Smith and describe the characteristics of a market economy.
- Compare the costs and benefits of different forms of business organization, including sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, franchise, and cooperative.
- Describe how costs and revenues affect profit and supply.
- Describe how increased productivity affects costs of production and standard of living.
- Describe the effects of competition on producers, sellers, and consumers.
- Explain why monopolies or collusion among sellers reduces competition and raises prices.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Describe how consumers, producers, workers, savers, investors, and citizens respond to incentives.
- Explain how businesses respond to consumer sovereignty.
- Identify the role of entrepreneurs.
- Describe how increased productivity affects costs of production and standard of living.
- Examine how investment in human capital, capital goods, and technology can improve productivity.
- Describe the effects of competition on producers, sellers, and consumers.
- Describe economic indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP), consumer price index (CPI), and unemployment rate.
- Describe the causes and effects of unemployment, inflation, and reduced economic growth.
- Describe the fluctuations of the business cycle.
- Describe strategies for achieving national economic goals.
- Describe the purpose, structure, and function of the Federal Reserve System.
- Describe the government's role in stabilizing the economy.
- Describe sources of government revenue.
- Explain balanced budget, deficit, and national debt.
- Identify goods and services provided by the government to benefit society.
- Identify the role the government plays in providing a legal structure to protect property rights and enforce contracts.
- Provide examples of government regulation of the market.
- Explain that governments redistribute wealth.
- Explain that taxes and fees fund all government-provided goods and services.
- Explain that when parties trade voluntarily, all benefit.
- Distinguish between absolute and comparative advantage.
- Distinguish between trade deficit and trade surplus.
- Explain exchange rates, and the impact of a strong dollar and weak dollar on economic decisions.
- Describe the costs and benefits of trade barriers.
- Describe the effects of international trade agreements and the World Trade Organization.
- Explain growing economic interdependence.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of:
- Identify short-term and long-term personal financial goals.
- Identify anticipated and unanticipated income and expenses.
- Explain how economics influences a personal financial plan.
Assessments
Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.
- Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
- Check for understanding.
- Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
- Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for the next steps in instruction.
For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.
In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), seventh grade tests focus on measuring content knowledge and skill development.
Other High School Information
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Economics and Personal Finance (EPF)
- EPF
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English
- English 9
- English 10
- English 11
- English 12
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Health
- Health 9
- Health 10