The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) convened for its first meeting of the year on Jan. 30 following an orientation day on Jan. 29 to hold elections, set goals for 2025 and receive presentations regarding personal finance curriculum and newly revised Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations.

Kicking off the agenda, commissioners elected Charice Guerra (district relations manager, Sobrato Early Academic Language Model) as the IQC’s 2025 chair and Jennifer Hicks (assistant superintendent of Educational Services, Placer County Office of Education) as vice chair. Alicia Raygoza (teacher on special assignment, Mountain View School District), Janet Lanning (teacher on special assignment, Fillmore Unified School District) and Kou Vang (English language arts/English language development curriculum specialist, Sacramento COE) were chosen to serve as executive committee members.

Elections and appointments for several committee positions also took place.

Commissioners unanimously approved 2025 goals, which include providing support for mathematics instructional materials adoptions as well as rollout plans and professional development related to other curriculum frameworks, model curricula and instructional materials. Among other goals, the IQC is providing guidance on the development of the Personal Finance Curriculum Guide.

Per Assembly Bill 2927, the IQC will oversee the establishment of the curriculum guide and resources for a one-semester course in personal finance. High schools are required to offer a personal finance course by the 2027–28 academic year, with course completion becoming a graduation requirement beginning with the Class of 2031. The course will include lessons on the fundamentals of banking for personal use, credit, uses and costs of loans, insurance, taxes, wealth building, consumer protection skills and more.

The commission voted to approve the formation of a seven-person Personal Finance Subject Matter Committee as it is a cross-curricular content area and doesn’t fit under existing subject matter committees. The committee will offer feedback on drafts of the guide — which will be developed in spring — and make recommendations to the full IQC and ultimately to the State Board of Education (SBE) for adoption by May 31, 2026.

The commission also heard a presentation on the basics and implementation of the revised Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations. Meant to describe the knowledge and skills most 3- to 5-and-a-half-year-olds develop when receiving high-quality early education, it includes a focus on the whole child. Updates improve alignment with kindergarten standards in language and literacy, math and science and promote inclusion, diversity, equity and belonging.

Complementary to the foundations, resources on P-3 learning progressions in language and literacy, math and science for alignment with K-3 standards and social-emotional development and approaches to learning for educators to support students will be available this summer.

A recording of the meeting will be available on the California Department of Education’s YouTube page.