Two numbers have anchored a lot of what I’ve written this month. Seventy-three percent of our own residents once told […]
Janet, One Month Later
A month ago I introduced you to Janet, a resident who scored in the 98th percentile on a numeracy-based financial […]
Should I Address This?
Picture the scenario: a participant in a financial literacy workshop asks the facilitator about investing. Should the facilitator answer that […]
Five Domains, Not One Curriculum
Most financial literacy curricula are built as if there’s one competency to teach. In crisis contexts, there are at least […]
I Need Something I Can Reference
During fieldwork, a case manager said something that’s stuck with me: “I need something I can reference when I’m trying […]
The Adult Who Was Never There
Gutman and McLoyd’s research found something specific: children whose adults actively organized their engagement with school, institutions, and community resources […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Debt That Was Never a Choice
Some of the residents who come through Fresh Start Housing arrive already carrying debt they never agreed to. Pogrebin et […]