As we head back to school, it’s a popular time to tinker with the scope and sequence for your class. If you’re teaching Financial Algebra, you might be wondering: can I adjust the order of the units? 

The Financial Algebra course is built around core high school skills for both math and personal finance. As students progress through the course, they build on their skills from previous units. This allows for a more cohesive and in-depth learning experience than practicing isolated math skills; however, it means the course can be tricky to rearrange. Keep reading for our suggestions on how to sequence your Financial Algebra course.

First: The Sequence

The NGPF Financial Algebra Course organizes the many financial applications of traditional Algebra skills into a cohesive narrative: one semester in 10 units.

1. Taxes & Fundamentals of Algebra
2. Checking & Linear Equations
3. Saving & Systems of Equations
4. Budgeting & Systems of Inequalities
5. Intro to Investing & Exponential Functions
6. Investing Strategies & Exponential Functions
7. Types of Credit & Modeling Functions
8. Managing Credit & Fundamentals of Statistics
9. Paying for College & Statistical Analysis
10. Insurance & Probability

Broadly, the math topics fall into three categories: linear functions, exponential functions, and statistics & probability.

Can I Rearrange the Units?

We generally recommend following the standard course progression because of the way the course content builds. But of course, NGPF is designed to be customizable for your classroom. 

If you want to cover a particular personal finance topic earlier, look at the unit plan to see what math skills will be covered. Depending on your students, you may want to add practice for any prerequisite skills. For example, if you move the Intro to Investing & Exponential Functions unit earlier, you might need to review linear functions first. You could also decrease the math rigor for that unit by using the Level 1 Application Problems for each math lesson. 

You might also want to consider keeping units together that pair well, like the two units about Investing or the two units about Credit.

As always, you can make a copy of any resource to customize it to fit your class. 

What About Paying for College?

If you teach seniors, you might be looking to cover Paying for College earlier in the school year, so students are prepared to navigate the financial aid process. 

Here’s what you need to know in order to teach Paying for College earlier in the course sequence:

• There are no algebra skills required for this unit
• Students should know how to create and analyze a box plot
• Students should be able to explain what simple interest is and use the simple interest formula
• Some prior knowledge of regression modeling and correlation is assumed. Links to prior Financial Algebra lessons that teach these skills are included in the Interpreting Regressions lesson. You can also choose to skip this lesson since it will not scaffold to later lessons in the unit.

How Can I Add Extra Math Practice?

As you plan your course sequence, here are some suggestions if you’re anticipating that your students will need extra math practice:

• Use more levels of the Application Problems: Instead of having students choose one level of the Application Problems, build in class time to complete multiple levels.
• Add in MATH activities: These self-contained activities are about 30 minutes and include a worked example with an Edpuzzle, practice problems, and reflection questions. 

Check out our suggestions for 3 ways you can use Financial Algebra in your classroom!

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and has a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn is looking forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice into curriculum design at NGPF. During her free time, Kathryn loves embarking on cooking projects, walking around her Seattle neighborhood with her dog, or lounging in a hammock with a book.