The Gold Standard for Financial Literacy helps teachers connect money, mathematics, and real-world decision-making.
As young people face increasingly complex decisions involving college costs, credit, budgeting, saving, and investing, University of Dayton professor and local educator Lindsay A. Gold, Ph.D., is working to help schools begin financial education long before students reach adulthood.
Gold, an Associate Professor of STEM Mathematics in the University of Dayton's Department of Teacher Education, is the author of the newly published The Gold Standard for Financial Literacy: A Teacher's Classroom Tool Kit (Grades K–8), published by Corwin.
The book gives K–8 educators practical ways to integrate financial literacy into mathematics, literacy, social studies, and other areas of the curriculum - without treating it as one more stand-alone subject competing for limited instructional time.
"Financial literacy shouldn't begin when a young person receives a first credit card or takes out a student loan," Gold said. "We have opportunities throughout the elementary and middle school years to help children build the mathematical reasoning, habits, and confidence that support good financial decision-making."
Designed for educators in kindergarten through eighth grade, The Gold Standard for Financial Literacy includes age-appropriate lessons and hands-on activities related to earning, spending, budgeting, saving, credit, and investing. It also includes cross-curricular connections, technology-supported and low-tech options, and differentiated supports for diverse learners.
The book extends Gold's work at the intersection of mathematics education, teacher preparation, and financial literacy. At the University of Dayton, she prepares future educators to teach mathematics in meaningful, developmentally appropriate ways and has incorporated financial literacy into her work with preservice and practicing teachers. Her research has also examined preservice teachers' confidence with financial concepts and their ability to recognize the mathematics embedded in financial decision-making.
Gold is also the lead author of On the Money: Math Activities to Build Financial Literacy, K–Grade 5, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and regularly provides professional development and presentations related to mathematics, financial literacy, educational technology, and teacher preparation.