COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Department of Education

August 26, 2011

TO:  Division Superintendents

FROM:  Patricia I. Wright, Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT:  Economics and Personal Finance Course

The Virginia Department of Education in collaboration with Virginia 529 College Savings Plan and the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation is developing an Economics and Personal Finance course available to students this fall. The course will be initially offered via Virtual Virginia, the Department’s virtual school program, and packaged for delivery to school divisions in January for local use as fully online, blended learning, or supplemental face-to-face instruction.

The course contains 16 units that address the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) and may be used to meet the graduation requirement for Economics and Personal Finance beginning with the 2011-2012 ninth-grade class. In addition, the course contains an overarching game where students may apply the concepts learned in real-world simulations. The course is SCORM compliant to ensure maximum flexibility for local deployment.

If you have any questions, please contact Cheri Kelleher, virtual schools program coordinator, at cheri.kelleher@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at (804) 786-9281.

PIW/TM/ck