Working Paper #2013-01 – Evidence of Student Achievement in a High School Personal Finance Course

Department of Economics
University of Delaware
Working Paper #2013-01

Evidence of Student Achievement in a High School Personal Finance Course

Andrew T. Hill, Bonnie T. Meszaros and Brian Tyson

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the effect of the “Keys to Financial Success” high school personal finance curriculum on student achievement. It relies on multiple years of pre- and posttest data from 1,701 students who took a “Keys” course and from a comparison group of 261 students from the same schools. The results from the pre- and posttests show that students who take the “Keys” course exhibit a statistically significant increase in their personal finance achievement. These results contribute to the growing literature showing the positive effects on the financial knowledge of high school students when they take a well-designed course taught by properly trained teachers.

JEL Codes: A2, A21, D14

Keywords:  personal finance education, precollege, economic education, curriculum, assessment