Junior Achievement USA announced that research conducted by the independent RMC Research Corporation and the JA Education Group shows that the combination of the nationwide JA Finance Park financial literacy curriculum and experiential learning simulation increases the financial capability of middle school students who participate.
The curriculum for JA Finance Park was developed with the support of KPMG.
This academic year, 4,789 local middle and high school students are participating in JA Finance Park with the collaboration of more than 45 schools and agencies with Junior Achievement of Delaware.
The study indicated the JA Finance Park experience influenced student self-efficacy around educational attainment. “There were positive changes in student attitudes around their own high school graduation, pursuit of post-secondary education, and even course selection as a result of their participation in JA Finance Park,” says JA of Delaware president Rob Eppes.
Students from New Castle, Kent, Sussex, Cecil and Salem Counties comprise this year’s JA Finance Park cohort, which is also the first to utilize the newly disrupted and redesigned JA Finance Park simulation, involving one-to-one tablet technology in a personal economics simulation. This new simulation is currently the subject of another evaluation, being conducted by Princeton Research & Evaluation Partners. Those outcomes will be available in 2017.
Some of the evaluation findings released this month include:
• Students who participated in JA Finance Park demonstrated more financial literacy knowledge than comparison students.
• The average Effect Size for financial literacy knowledge gain was “moderate-to-large,” indicating a meaningful gain in knowledge by participating students.
• Students who participated in JA Finance Park demonstrated positive attitude changes across all dimensions of interest.
• Students, teachers, volunteers, and JA staff all affirmed the value of JA Finance Park.
“The combination of financial literacy curriculum and real world scenarios students are presented with in the JA Finance Park experience serve as a real ‘wake up’ call to students who go through the program,” said Joe Thomas, Ph.D., Vice President – Evaluation and Research for Junior Achievement USA. “This evaluation shows that students not only gain a better understanding of financial concepts as part of this program, but will be more inclined to exhibit financially responsible behavior in the future.”
The JA Finance Park program is composed of 13 required teacher-taught, in-class lessons. It culminates in a hands-on budgeting simulation that is implemented either at a JA Finance Park facility, mobile unit, or virtual site. Visit here to see JA Finance Park in action.
