America Saves Week

June 2009 e-Wealth Coach

Picking Financial Education Curriculum

This month’s e-Wealth coach is Laura Levine, executive director of the Jump$tart Coalition. Laura works to improve financial literacy for kindergarten through college-age youth.

Dear Saver,

It should be no surprise that experts agree on the importance of saving and that even young children can—and should—be taught how to save. But many of us still wonder, where should financial skills be taught, by whom, and what resources are available to help?

I’ve often said that financial education needs to be delivered in school, after school and at home. Parents and guardians must be the “front line” of financial education for their own kids, by setting a good example and encouraging discussions about money matters around the dinner table or on the steps of the back porch.

Many adults, however, aren’t or don’t feel able to provide their children with sufficient guidance, because they lack the experience themselves, they’ve made their own mistakes, or they’re simply confused by today’s profusion of financial products, services, and strategies. That’s why standards-based, financial education in the classroom and activity-based extra curricular programs are needed to level the playing field for those students who aren’t getting the information at home.

An effective financial education program would enable a high school graduate to take individual responsibility for his or her personal economic well being and, generally, know how to:

find, evaluate, and apply financial information, like comparing the cost of different types of credit or the risks and returns of various types of investments;
set financial goals and plan to achieve them;
develop income-earning potential and the ability to save, including setting career goals;
use financial services effectively, like successfully and demonstrate how to reconcile a checking/debit account, develop a filing system, calculate investment growth and compare auto insurance rates;
meet financial obligations; and
build and protect wealth, which may include identifying and comparing strategies for investing and knowing the appropriate investments for various goals, such as college, a home, or retirement.

Teachers, administrators and program leaders should look for financial education resources that:

Are clear and objective in content and tone, and offer differing viewpoints or none at all.
Clearly identify sponsors, but don’t promote a particular product, service, or brand.
Correlate to the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education and/or educational standards in business, economics, family and consumer science, mathematics, or social studies.
Use plain language and define any technical terms, acronyms and abbreviations contained in the material.
Include student learning objectives and provide assessment tools.
Offer lesson plans and activities to stimulate student participation in a variety of ways.
Clearly state copyright and terms of use.
Identify the intended user and target educational setting.
Are written at the appropriate reading level for the target audience.
Are culturally sensitive and reflect diversity.
Are reviewed and revised regularly, to be accurate, current and relevant and that the original publication date and subsequent revisions are shown.
Users can find readily and access easily.
State the cost of the resource, if any, clearly and that the cost is fair.
Are or can be made available in special needs formats and other languages to accommodate a variety of learners.
Have been adequately tested before publication or launch and revisions, and considered teacher and learner feedback.
Contain assessment tools—especially pre- and post-tests—to measure knowledge and behavior change.

Not all good resources will address each of these financial skills or encompass all of these elements, but the list serves as a reliable guideline for consumers, parents, educators and others who endeavor to navigate the waters of financial information.

Sincerely,

Laura Levine

Executive Director
Jump$tart Coalition

The Jump$tart Coalition operates an online clearinghouse of more than 700 financial education resources at: www.jumpstartclearinghouse.org. Jump$tart also publishes the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance EducationBest Practices for Personal Finance Education Materials (Second Edition, 2008) at: www.jumpstart.org. (Third Edition, 2007) and Best Practices for Personal Finance Education Materials (Second Edition, 2008) at: www.jumpstart.org.