Gutman and McLoyd’s research found something specific: children whose adults actively organized their engagement with school, institutions, and community resources developed measurably stronger academic self-efficacy than children whose adults were […]
Learning in Circles, Not Lines
Standard curriculum design assumes learning moves in a straight line. Module one, then module two, then module three, each building cleanly on the last. That is not what I’ve watched […]
Support, Challenge, Vision
I didn’t design our fifteen-month curriculum around a theory. I designed it around what I watched work, and only later found the theoretical language for it. Daloz (1999) describes effective […]
Redundant, and Ignored Anyway
Tout (1997) made an argument I think about often: the phrase “critical numeracy” shouldn’t need to exist. Real numeracy, properly defined, already includes critical thinking. Adding the word “critical” in […]
Numeracy vs. genuine financial literacy
Foundations: Two Kinds of NumeracyThere are two very different things people mean when they say “numeracy,” and financial literacy programs almost never distinguish between them. Merriam-Webster (2023) defines numeracy as […]
An Unexamined Assumption
Most financial literacy programs are built on an assumption nobody bothers to state out loud: that financial literacy is primarily a technical competency, numerical reasoning, budgeting calculations, understanding financial products […]
Useless at Zero Income
“The budgeting worksheet is useless when you have zero income. I need information about applying for benefits and emergency assistance.” That’s a direct quote from a resident evaluation. Read it […]
Three People, Three Definitions, Same Word
Picture three case managers in three different offices, each trying to do right by their clients. One works from the OECD’s definition of financial literacy: knowledge and understanding of financial […]