Wise Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy Certification Program

The Urban Forum, Rochester NY

December 15, 2008

Let’s Change the Course of History!

1950’s 1960’s 1970’s

$1.5

1980’s 1990’s 2007

$1.5 $1.5

$3.0

$1.5

$4.5

Credit intensity of GDP(The amount of credit generated by per $1 of GDP Growth)

Source: UBS as reported in the Financial Times on January 24 th, 2008

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Less than a quarter of students (24%) say they are very well prepared to deal with life’s financial challenges (Hartford Financial Services Group, 2007)

68% of high school seniors today do not understand the basics of personal finance and only 21% have taken a personal finance class (Jump$tart, 2008).

Universities lose more students to credit card debt than to academic failure

US consumer debt stands at $2.4 trillion and exceeds household income by over 8%

Why it’s Important!

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Origin: Established in 2003 in New York City as an initiative of the New York Financial Literacy Coalition (the NY State Jump$tart affiliate)

Goals: increase the number of young people who are financially

literate improve instruction of finance to seniors in high schools measure the level of school effectiveness in the teaching

of finance and the financial literacy of students graduating from high school

Market position: 35 schools in the Upstate Region of New York Over 200 schools in 21 States

Recognition: Recipient of the 2007 US Treasury John Sherman Award for Excellence in Financial Education

Background about the Program

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Schools agree to teach Personal Finance unit and test all students in course on business, financial planning, economics, personal finance, math, health and consumer sciences etc.

Topics Taught: Money, Cost of Money, Budgeting, Banking, Credit, Insurance, Investing, Money Management, Retirement Planning, Regulatory Agencies

Program Features: Orientations Workshop training for teachers (with partners) Annual Conference Teacher Resources (curriculum outline, practice tests online) Certification Testing (pre-test and post test) administered by

teachers and scored by w!se Student, Teacher and School Recognition Behavioral Surveys and Psychometric Analysis Troubleshooting support

Program Characteristics


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The Certification Test Newly developed each semester Students randomly assigned one of three tests 50 Multiple Choice questions 15 Survey Questions 60-70 minutes Administered in the fall and spring Test Available in English and Spanish Plans to develop on-line testing


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Participating Students

22,528

7,532

11,666

16,76715,447

10,273

6,226

4,614

2,208 4,5483,350

1,7360

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Number of Students Tested # of Students Financially Literate

Total of 61,296 participating students and 45,599 Certified Financially Literate!

Pass Rate 79% 73% 73% 73% 75.5% 74.4%


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Performance by Topic Area

Performance generally strongest in the area of credit and money management weakest in insurance/investing

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Money Management Banks & Banking Credit Insurance/Investing

Spring 2006 Spring 2007 Spring 2008

% Correct


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Pass Rate by Gender

73.40%

73.40%

74.30%

73.20%

76.40%

83.00%

72.20%

72.80%

72.80%

72.40%

72.60%

75.80%

80.00%

73.10%

0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%

2003-4

2004-5

2005-6

Fall 2006

Spring 2007

Fall 2007

Spring 2008

Males Females

No statistical difference between the performance of males and females. Interestingly, however, females had a higher pass rate than males for the first time in Spring 2008.


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Pre-test vs Post-test Scores

43.00%

50.00%

48.00% 50.00% 47.10%

72.00% 69.00%74.00% 73.90% 72.00%

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

2005-6 Fall 2006 Spring 2007 Fall 2007 Spring 2008

Pre-test Post-test

At least 20% improvement between pre-test scores and post-instruction scores.


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Survey Results A student survey is conducted when the

Certification Test is administered to measure the impact of personal finance education and to identify variables that impact student scores.

Presented in this section are highlights of Student perception of the value of financial

education Changes in student behavior towards their finances

after completing a personal finance course Impact of student exposure to financial products on

test scores


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Value of Financial Education As a result of a personal finance course, students reported

they felt confident in managing their own finances that financial education had been valuable to them believed they would use the skills and knowledge learned

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8

% S

tuden

ts

Confidence Value of Learning Relevance


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38%

50%

68%63% 64%

75%

64%56%

82% 83%75%

85%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Budgeting Banked Saving FinancialGoals

Talking Money ComparingPrices

Changes in Student Behavior

17%22%

34%29%26%

33% 36%29%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Budgeting Banked Saving FinancialGoals

Talking Money ComparingPrices

Pre-test Post-test

38%

54%

38%

72%66%

75%

56%61%

56%

84%77%

89%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Budgeting Banked Saving Financial Goals Talking Money ComparingPrices

2007-2008

2005-2006

2006-2007

N/AN/A

Students adopt positive changes after completing a personal finance course.

Each year since 2005, there has been an increase in the percentage of students: Using budgets Having bank accounts Saving regularly Setting financial goals Talking about money with

their parents Comparing prices


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Owning Financial Products and Effect on Test Scores

7.70%

4.30%

1.90%

7.00% 7.10%

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

BankAccount

ATM Card Debit Card Credit Card InvestmentProduct

Score differential

16.60%

3.00% 3.50%5.20%

7.60%

0.00%

4.00%

8.00%

12.00%

16.00%

20.00%

Bank Account ATM Card Debit Card Credit Card InvestmentProduct

Ownership of financial products positively affects Certification Test scores

Having bank account has greatest positive benefit on test score.

Last year, having a bank account, using an ATM card, and using a debit card all had positive effects on test scores in the range of 7% to 8%.

2006-2007

11.30%

3.54%4.85%4.85%

0.00%

4.00%

8.00%

12.00%

16.00%

20.00%

BankAccount

ATM Card Debit Card Credit Card InvestmentProduct

2007-2008

AVG 2003-2006

N/A


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Prior Exposure to Financial Education

Very few students had exposure to financial education prior to their school participating in the w!se program

SY 07/08 was first year in which there was an increase in the percentage of students indicating prior financial education, suggesting there may be a shift among high schools to exposing more students to personal finance.

22.00% 23.00% 22.00%

36.00%

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8

% S

tuden

ts

N/A


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Blue Star School Banner

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The Financial Literacy Certification (CFL)

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Program Benefits

Free!!!!!!! Results ONLY shared with school contact Schools with 75% + passing the FLC Test are designated

BLUE STAR SCHOOLS Teachers with 90% of class passing test are designated as

GOLD STAR TEACHERS Certificates to students who pass the test; Medals for

students who achieve a 95%+. Annual Psychometric analysis The w!se CFL!


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Testimonials about the Program

The Financial Literacy Certification Program has been a home run at our high school. A leading college recently honored more than 15

students for business leadership at a reception. All involved were very proud and now have a great knowledge base in personal

finance.” - Teacher from New York

“I had a girl last semester who earned a $4/hr raise when she showed to her manager her financial literacy

certification from w!se ” - Teacher from Tennessee

“On a recent job interview, one of my students was about her financial knowledge, credit score and credit

history. She said she was surprised but felt confident in being able to answer the questions. She also explained that she had received a financial literacy certification

from w!se. She got the job! “- Teacher from New Jersey

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The program calendar - 2008-2009 August 17th, First Program Orientation August 27th, Fall 2008 – First Pre-test Date September 16th, Second Program Orientation October 2nd, Fall 2008 Second Pre-test Date October 16th , Fall Workshop New York City November 4th, 6th Annual MoneyPOWER Conference for Educators December 16th, Fall Financial Literacy Certification Test January 2009, Reporting of Fall Certification Test Scores January, Spring Program Orientation (repeated in February) January, 2008, Spring Workshop I (NYC) February 3rd, 2008 Spring Workshop 2 (Saratoga Springs) February, 2008 Spring Workshop (Rochester or Buffalo, NY) February Spring 2008 Pretest March 2008 Spring workshop (Long Island, NY) April, Teacher orientation for Spring test May, Spring Financial Literacy CertificationTest May 15-30th, Reporting of Spring Test scores


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Frequently Asked Questions

Can the test be given in class? Should I count it toward the final grade? Can all schools administer the pre-test? Do the practice tests matter? How does the program work with block schedules? Can you use the program to support dual credit? Do you have multiple testing dates? How long does it take to receive test scores? What is the passing rate on the test?


Thank You!

Documents

Wise Financial Literacy