Florida Financial Literacy Summit: a Call for Education
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Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education
In the current environment of national educational reform, the emphasis on “reading, writing and arithmetic” leaves one very important area for literacy out: how to handle money. The recent financial crisis made it very clear that the cost of financial illiteracy is high. Employees under financial stress, says the evidence, are less productive, absent more often, and frequently develop health or relationship problems that make them inattentive at work. Further, people who have ruined their finances are less likely to be hired by employers who check credit reports. Lack of financial knowledge leaves families vulnerable to bankruptcy and foreclosure in the face of even one adverse situation, such as a health crisis, divorce, or job loss. Credit card debt, fallout from home foreclosures, and student debt levels continue to mount. These personal financial issues affect more than just the person—they affect the bottom line for businesses, the economic stability of the nation, and the future of a whole generation.
On August 12, 2013, the Florida Council on Economic Education (FCEE), in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of South Florida, the Florida Bankers Association, and Bay Cities Bank, convened the Florida Financial Literacy Summit in Tampa on the campus of the University of South Florida. The summit’s inspiration was the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1076, which now requires that personal finance standards be taught to all students in Florida in their required senior year economics course. The bill also calls for the commissioner of education to submit a report by October 1 of this year to the Florida legislature evaluating the impact and costs of requiring a new semester-long personal finance course for Florida students.
The summit included keynote addresses by Pamela Stewart, interim commissioner of education for the State of Florida, and Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade Public schools. Panel sessions highlighted best practices among states that have implemented a personal finance requirement; the cost of financial illiteracy to students, families, and businesses; research findings; and educational resources.
Framing the discussion: Commissioner’s keynote Geoffrey Simon, chair of FCEE and senior vice president for investments with Simon and Associates Wealth Management of Raymond James, welcomed attendees by calling attention to the urgency of the crisis facing the nation. The inability of many Americans to manage their finances responsibly has had a “ripple effect throughout the economy,” Simon noted. To highlight his point, Simon pointed out that annual home foreclosures have grown from one in 1,000 homes in 1960 to 22 in 1,000 today—a 2,200 percent increase that represents three million foreclosures a year. “We can no longer be blind to the crisis that is evolving,” he warned, citing the heavy cost to families, individuals, businesses, and the economy if we don’t take action. With personal bankruptcies increasing by 650 percent over the last 30 years, average personal debt doubling, and the federal budget deficit now exceeding 16 trillion dollars, Simon framed the call to action by asking, “Do our children and grandchildren have the tools to deal with this?”
Simon noted that the state, in passing Senate Bill 1076, made progress with the mandate that financial literacy be taught as part of the regular semester economics course required of all Florida students. With support from the Senate Education Committee chair, John Legg, and State Representative Janet Adkins, the bill both alerted the legislature to the crisis and to the fact that more is necessary if students are to become truly literate in personal finance. The goal, said Simon, is to create a separate required course in personal finance for all Florida students. The education commissioner’s report to the legislature (mentioned earlier) will detail the costs of implementing such a course, which will include instructional personnel, training, and materials. The report will provide data on efficacy and information on several nonprofit organizations that can provide free resources for instruction, and it will provide research on the costs of financial illiteracy and the economic impact on students, businesses, and families.
Simon read letters of support for Florida’s efforts from influential people. In one letter, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote that making sure young people graduate from high school financially literate is “one of the biggest gifts we can give them.” Another supporter was Will Weatherford, Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, who wrote that “because today’s students are tomorrow’s taxpayers, being successful after graduation is directly related to how well we equip our students for success before graduation. This is especially true when it comes to being financially literate in an increasingly complex global economy.”
Pamela Stewart, interim commissioner of education for Florida, began her keynote address with these crucial questions: “To frame the whole discussion, we sort of have to ask the question, why?...Why should we include those topics for students who aren’t going to be bankers, or mortgage investors, or work for the Federal Reserve?…[W]hy do all of our students need all of those skills that are included in financial literacy?” Stewart added that “financial literacy has always been very important to our economic stability.”
Stewart referred to the nation’s very slow economic recovery as evidence for personal finance literacy being even more important than ever. “I think that in order for our students to accomplish what we know is going to need to be accomplished in managing their money better, in order for our nation’s economy to get on the track that we need to be, they need to be armed with the skills that are necessary in order to accomplish that.” She cited a study from the Council for Economic Education (CEE) that found that students in states with required financial education courses are more likely to save, pay off their credit cards, and take average financial risks, and less likely to be compulsive buyers, max out their credit cards, or make late payments compared to those who have not had these courses. She also noted that fully one-third of teens are already in debt, owing either some individual or corporation money, mostly at levels greater than $1,000.
Stewart also cited results from two surveys that underscore the need for financial literacy among students. A Jump$tart Coalition survey found that fewer than half of all high school seniors have a general understanding of credit, saving, insurance, or retirement. A 2011 Charles Schwab survey found that students expect to earn $70,000 per year upon graduation from college, and $150,000 once they become established in their careers. These unrealistic attitudes about money make it clear that students must receive education about credit scores, checkbook balancing, paying for college, and postsecondary payment options. “I would tell you that the time is now,” the commissioner declared. “Our global economy is such that we have an even greater opportunity and need for financial literacy.”
Stewart also informed attendees about the Florida Department of Education (DOE) Office of Student Financial Assistance’s website, “Navigating Your Financial Future.” On this site, students, parents, and
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 2 school staff can read about topics such as applying and paying for college, scholarships and financial aid, and debt management and budgeting.
The commissioner concluded her address by reiterating how important it is for students to understand that the financial decisions they make today will have an impact now and in the future. “If we are to remain an economically competitive state, it is imperative for our young people to understand how the economy works and how to achieve financial security in their own lives,” said Stewart.
Best practices in implementing a personal finance course The first panel brought together experts from the Virginia DOE, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Chicago Public Schools. These representatives shared their states’ experiences in implementing courses in personal finance. They also discussed lessons learned, best practices, and strategies as advocacy for a required personal finance course in Florida begins.
In 2009, the Virginia General Assembly and Virginia Board of Education passed legislation requiring every student in the state to take a full-credit course in economics and personal finance. The course, which more than 28,000 students take each year, is grounded in required standards and benchmarks, according to Judith Sams, program specialist for the Virginia DOE. Sams gave an overview of Virginia’s successful program, and outlined four elements vital to the success of the program: partnerships, professional development, resources, and assessment. She stressed the value of partnerships in both vetting resources to ensure the high quality of instructional materials and training educators to teach the standards. “Those partnerships cannot be stressed enough,” Sams said.
A true measure of success, Sams said, is when programs result in behavioral change. In her state, 900 teachers have been certified to teach financial literacy. Virginia now boasts a 92 percent pass rate for its end-of-course assessment, and was also one of only seven states to receive an A in a Center for Financial Literacy study of state efforts to improve financial literacy. Florida, by comparison, scored a “D” in the study.
Speaking on behalf of David Martin, executive director of the Georgia Council on Economic Education (GCEE) was Amy Hennessy, director of economic education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The GCEE is a close partner with Atlanta Fed. Hennessy shared Georgia’s journey in developing a comprehensive curriculum that incorporates economic and personal finance standards in grades K-12. She said that the curriculum culminates in a stand-alone course in economic and personal finance for high school students.
An important component of the Georgia plan is accountability, Hennessy noted. Georgia’s third- through eighth-grade students are tested on the standards through the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. High school students take end-of-course tests (EOCT) for the economics and business and free enterprise courses. With eight EOCTs now required in Georgia, 79 percent of students passed the economics test in 2013, compared to only 44 percent in 2004, when the Georgia Performance Standards were rolled out. Hennessy attributed the difference to professional development for the teachers. Interestingly, among the teachers teaching these classes, very few “come with a degree in economics, or a degree in finance, or a degree in banking,” Hennessy said. But professional development has given
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 3 teachers the confidence to teach the standards. As evidence, Hennessy pointed to the increased EOCT scores for students of teachers who had attended even just one workshop delivered by the GCEE. Teachers attending additional training saw even larger gains. Beginning in 2006, teachers seeking first- time certification and a designation of “highly qualified” must pass subject-specific testing to teach the economics and personal finance course. Hennessy concluded her remarks by listing four elements that are critical to success.
Comprehensive standards for K-12
A stand-alone course in economics and personal finance
High-stakes testing, such as an EOCT
Professional development for teachers
The Chicago Public schools recently brought personal finance to high school seniors with a semester- long capstone course funded by a grant from Discover Financial Services. Angell Campbell, an educational consultant, echoed the sentiment that “it takes a village.” She said that Chicago used a team of partners to implement the course and assist in curriculum selection, to provide teacher training and instructional support, and to garner buy-in from administrators. Essential to Chicago’s achievement were professional development for teachers, institutional support, student engagement through high- quality materials and qualified instructors, and support from administration. Campbell also said that professional development is especially important since most teachers do not have a background in economics and personal finance, and noted that the team approach was helpful here. “We found that partners are very influential, very helpful in terms of professional development and in providing resources. Without professional development, teachers found it difficult to navigate in a lesson. So I want to say teacher training is key.” Once the course was implemented, Chicago’s support of teachers in the program included monthly reflection sessions and classroom visits by partners. High-quality instructional materials were essential in keeping students engaged.
Economics and financial literacy can be made important to administrators by encouraging them to make classroom visits, Campbell noted, and by calling attention to the literacy and math standards incorporated in personal finance. Results from the first year’s pilot led Chicago to strike a better balance between content and skills, streamline the curriculum, and improve alignment with national standards. This year, the program will expand to include more than 50 high schools. “Financial literacy and economics are important,” Campbell said. She finished by reminding the audience that Chicago’s personal finance standards not only align to national standards but also “emphasize the reading, writing, and speaking skills” that are the focus of high-stakes testing across the nation.
What’s at stake: The effects of debt on education, business, and the economy Mark Anderson, a Tallahassee lobbyist and consultant who has worked closely with the FCEE to procure passage of bill 1076, gave the audience an idea of the scope of the financial literacy crisis. He cited two alarming statistics from recent news articles: almost 20 percent of federal student loan debt is not being
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 4 repaid, and lost economic activity resulting from consumers with financial problems is now estimated to exceed $4 trillion.
Florida State Senator John Legg, moderator for the panel on financial illiteracy‘s impact on businesses and students, spoke next. He began by saying that he comes from a background as an educator, so “my passion is education,” a passion that he demonstrated by founding, with his wife, the first charter school in Pasco County. “It’s impossible to imagine an education system that does not prepare the students for the realities of life by ignoring issues in areas like technology, health and nutrition, the fundamentals of reading, writing, math, and science. Yet at times, our education system often overlooks an equally, if not as, important area of our lives, and that’s financial literacy,” Legg said.
The senator warned of the consequences of a “free-money world” and said that seemingly easy credit and the buy-now-pay-later attitude prevalent today traps students with hidden provisions that impact not only the young people, who are often uninformed of the consequences of their financial decisions, but also their families. The senator closed his remarks by maintaining, “Our financial system is more complex and it’s even more critical that our students have the basic skills to navigate in an increasingly more financial world.”
Billie Jo Hamilton, director of university scholarships and financial aid services for the University of South Florida (USF), spoke to the audience from her years of experience in financial aid. She acknowledged the growing student debt crisis, reporting that, nationally, student loan debt now exceeds $1 trillion. For 62 percent of USF students, loans are the predominant source of funding for college. Current economic conditions make 42 percent of USF students eligible for Pell Grants, up from 29 percent in 2008. As a result, postsecondary financing is stretched at all levels. Hamilton remarked, “Our system, which finances higher education at the national and state level, has really been stressed over the last few years. More students are qualifying for aid than ever before, and really there’s no additional funding at the national level.” In fact, she added, there are fewer student federal loans available. She warned of a coming crisis: in 2014–15, the state will raise eligibility requirements for its Bright Futures scholarship program, which will reduce by 40 percent the number of USF students eligible for funding.
Hamilton also discussed student loan debt and default. Her office oversaw $260 million in loans last year. Since 2006–07, the university’s default rate has more than doubled, rising from 2.7 percent to 5.5 percent. The national default rate is 9.1 percent, up from 4.6 percent in 2006–07. USF graduates also reflect a national trend of leaving college with more debt. In 2006–07, students had an average loan debt of just under $18,000. The average debt is now $22,600. Overall, Florida’s average student debt load is now over $23,000, compared to $26,600 nationally.
Florida’s public research institutions rank 47th in the nation in cost, which should give the state an advantage but instead the state ranks 33rd in the nation in student debt, Hamilton noted. Further, tuition and fees have risen 25 percent, but debt has risen 44 percent. “This is not just a financial issue. It’s an academic issue as well,” Hamilton said. Her office advises students to take course loads that will allow them to complete their education in four years because two-thirds of the cost of college at USF is not tuition, but rather living expenses. In 2009, to help students make both wise academic and financial
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 5 decisions, USF instituted a Financial Literacy 101 course that all entering freshmen must complete before they start classes in the fall.
Hamilton listed some statistics for freshmen who take the class. 75 percent learn about money from friends or family.
76 percent don’t keep a record of what they spend.
53 percent worry a moderate amount to a lot about the amount of debt they will graduate with.
Only 73 percent think that their debt will have some effect on the kind of work they do.
45 percent worry a moderate amount to a lot that they won’t have enough financial resources to finish college.
34 percent worry that financial problems will affect their school work.
28 percent say that financial problems interfere with their relationships a moderate amount to a lot.
25 percent feel unprepared to pay for their college education.
In response, USF opened a new storefront operation in April of this year housed in the Office of Financial Aid. Known as Financial Education at USF, this student-driven program, delivered in multiple formats, includes one-on-one counseling with peers with the goal of reducing student debt levels and loan defaults. Hamilton stressed that “it would be helpful if students came knowing the language. They don’t understand what an interest rate is. They don’t understand very basic financial knowledge. They really have no understanding of how much it costs to go to college.” Students who come to college with no financial plan make poor decisions, and Hamilton is committed to helping students learn the financial skills needed to be successful. Speaking of her financial intervention program, Hamilton said, “Ultimately our goal is not to need this office.”
Broc Rosser is the Florida Regional Representative for CredAbility, a national nonprofit financial education and counseling service. The agency reached more than 300,000 clients last year, about 49,000 of them in Florida. Rosser framed the financial literacy crisis in terms of unemployment. “We all know what the Florida unemployment number is right now. What’s that mean? Very tough job market.” Making the connection to financial literacy, Rosser cited that 47 percent of employers now use credit reports as a screening process for job applicants. “If you have bad credit, it’s going to severely impact your ability to get a job. Now you have things that might hold you back from getting a good job. It doesn’t just stop there. This impacts your entire career.” Rosser mentioned what he called “some scary numbers”: 50 percent of American workers are uncertain if they can afford to retire, one in four are feeling financial distress, and 51 percent of American, according to a Wall Street Journal report, will have less than $10,000 in assets accumulated by the time they retire.
To explain why financial literacy is important to business, Rosser pointed to the effects of employee financial problems in the workplace: increased absenteeism, poor performance ratings, excessive time
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 6 spent on personal financial issues, and decreased productivity. Employees under financial stress risk depression, divorce, and increased health problems. As Rosser emphasized, “There’s no doubt that investment in financial literacy is a great decision for our community.” Among CredAbility’s 18- to 30- year-old clients seen this year, most have an average of four to eight creditors, and a thousand filed for bankruptcy. Rosser said students must receive financial literacy training in high school because they will face financial decisions right after they graduate. Their credit scores will affect their ability to rent an apartment and purchase a cell phone, and determine everything from utility deposits to the interest rate they will pay for car loans and private student loans. Poor financial decisions can have a lasting and costly impact. Poor credit can also keep them from traditional sources of credit. He said that most of CredAbility’s many clients with payday loans are not aware that the interest rates charged by such companies can exceed five hundred percent, and sometimes even a thousand percent.
Another troubling trend that Rosser reported is that 20 percent to 28 percent of Americans borrow from their 401k plans, using the funds as emergency savings instead of an investment for the future. Younger people are piling up debt and accumulating less wealth than their parents, he said. Fewer than 11 percent of people who are under 35 participate in their company’s 401k plan. According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office study, by 2050, less than one-third of workers will have any funds invested in a 401k plan. Warning of a “real crisis coming down the pipeline,” Rosser urged action, hoping that 20 years from now, another summit could be called to talk about the return on investment of making people financially capable and able to make wise financial decisions.
“The purpose of financial literacy education is to keep people out of bankruptcy court,” said Caryl Delano, presiding U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Ft. Meyers division. Contrary to what many may believe, she said, middle-class families often file for bankruptcy; it is not concentrated among the poor. “They are people who have been to college, who have gotten decent jobs, and who have gotten homes and started families. Most are wage earners. About one in seven have started a business. They are our neighbors and friends. They are doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers and firemen. People who never thought they would file for bankruptcy.”
Delano described families whose strained financial situations are blown apart by one event out of the ordinary, such as a lost job, medical crisis, divorce, or failed business. Among a Florida population of 19.5 million, bankruptcy filings in Florida grew from 50,000 in 2008 to a record 102,000 in 2010. Tracking the economy, the number of filings has dropped to 78,635 this year, but she said this is only a modest improvement. The common thread, Delano said, is excessive credit card debt, which leaves the filer unable to cope with even one incident of economic distress. What this reflects is a population lacking the proper skills to manage credit and debt, understand standard language used in mortgage and car loans, or determine how much they can even afford to borrow.
Although many may see bankruptcy as an easy solution to overextended finances, Delano cautioned that it is a costly solution that does not discharge all debt and may even affect a filer’s future employability. Because so many of the filers she sees have made their financial situations worse by overextending themselves with credit cards and car loans, Delano ended her remarks by affirming that “understanding the cost of credit is key to personal financial freedom.”
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 7 From a business perspective: Employers and employees Moderating and serving as a speaker for the day’s panel on financial literacy’s cost to the business community, Alex Sanchez, president of the Florida Bankers Association, told the audience that “all of us are in the business of financial literacy.” He said that young people are “our future customers, our future employees, and we need them to be financially literate so they can be positive producers in our economy and our workplaces.”
Rhea Law, CEO and chair of Fowler White Boggs PA and vice chair of the Florida Council of 100, began her remarks by citing a recent study that found that 61 percent of Americans could not correctly answer three out of five questions on a basic financial literacy test. She said this lack of knowledge affects a person’s ability to obtain such basic consumer goods as a car, cell phone, or mortgage. But for businesses, financial illiteracy means that the size of the market to sell goods and services is reduced. “If you reduce the market, that means that those businesses need less people to work for them. It is a continuous spiral, and it is downward. We have to turn that around.” Decreased sales and ad valorem tax revenues decrease services that state, city, and local governments are able to provide. Further, because financially stressed employees can’t pay full attention at work, their productivity suffers and absenteeism grows.
To address these issues, Law’s firm created “Families First,” a program that offers assistance to employees under financial duress. The program helps employees through financial difficulties with advances and gifts as well as counseling to prevent future situations. Law suggested five steps to a debt- free life: knowing where you stand in case there is an emergency, budgeting, prioritizing debt repayment, ceasing borrowing to get finances in order, and changing behavior. Even though employees at Fowler White have advanced education and training, the firm found that employees still needed more skills to read basic financial documents such as income statements and balance sheets. To that end, the law firm created a course—Law Firm Economics 101—and developed an online dashboard for all lawyers at their firm with key indicators such as hours worked, which allowed employees to better understand their impact on the firm’s bottom line. Understanding finances, Law concluded, is “actually about making the business you work for successful. We need to educate and empower our employees on financial matters and together we can make a positive difference.”
Panel member Dan Doyle, senior vice president of human resources for Bradenton-based Beall Corporation, began his remarks by describing his company’s commitment to a debt-free way of business. In 1931, during the Great Depression, founder Robert Beall lost his flagship—and only—store to the bank during the Great Depression. Four years later, when he got the store back, he vowed to never be so in debt as to ever again lose a store and to open only stores that would turn a profit.
Focusing attention on the immediacy of the financial illiteracy crisis, Doyle cited a Brookings Institute study that revealed that 21 percent of survey participants believed winning the lottery was the best strategy for accumulating wealth. Customers today have less disposable income, with half of all adults living without budgets, a quarter not paying their bills on time, and many carrying more than $15,000 in credit card debt. From a business’s perspective, financial illiteracy hurts companies because “we need people to have income to go out there and spend at our stores. So this does not help any of us in
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 8 business.” Doyle also described a National Financial Educators Council survey that estimated that 10 percent of adults are being contacted by a collection agency and are considering bankruptcy. A national retail security survey done at the University of Florida indicated that 44 percent of retail company losses are coming from employee theft. To help combat theft, more employers are relying on credit reports to guide their hiring decisions, creating what Doyle described as a Catch-22. “Those who need a job to recover financially can’t get a job because their finances are already ruined.” For business, Doyle said, increased financial mismanagement translates into a shrinking pool of qualified talent. Many businesses won’t hire employees with negative credit reports. “If they can’t run their own finances, why should they trust them to run ours? It’s a mantra in business that’s been around forever,” Doyle said.
Doyle has also seen the effects of financial illiteracy in his 12,000-employee firm. He said that prepaid debit and payment cards are a new cost to employers who have to accommodate the growing number of employees without a relationship with a financial institution. As for 401k programs, Doyle said, “We can’t even talk people into getting it. They simply don’t understand the tax benefits of it and they don’t understand the employer match piece of it.” His firm started holding lunch-and-learn sessions to educate employees on the benefits of “what is essentially free money being given to them through the employer match.” Many of his employees also have difficulty understanding the basic of income taxes. Doyle concluded by saying that financial illiteracy is “a huge challenge for retail companies.”
Alex Sanchez began his panel comments by noting that people who manage their money are more likely to purchase homes and invest in retirement accounts. A child with a savings account is seven times more likely to go to college. “This crisis that started in 2008 really taught us a lesson,” Sanchez said. “We cannot afford to be ignorant on financial literacy.” As proof of the woeful state of financial literacy today, Sanchez shared the following statistics from a University of Arizona study.
50 percent of adults do not budget.
One third of Americans—over 77 million—do not pay their bills on time.
39 percent of Americans carry credit card debt from month to month.
Sanchez noted further that most adults would give themselves a grade of C, D, or F on their knowledge of personal finance. He also said that young adults between the ages of 20 and 24 are the fastest growing group of bankruptcy filers. Fewer than 50 percent of parents feel they are good role models for their children regarding decisions on spending and saving. This is important, Sanchez says, because “millenials” will account for 40 percent of all financial transactions by 2018.
Keynote address: Highlighting success in Miami-Dade schools Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of schools for the Miami-Dade school district, spoke about education reform. “The most effective reform is achieved during times of economic hardship,” and the best is demand-driven. Carvalho assumed his job as superintendent in 2008, when the financial crisis was at its peak and decreased property tax revenues had left Miami-Dade schools on the verge of bankruptcy. The schools were also failing academically. School district reserves amounted to only $4 million for a $6 billion dollar budget, district graduation rates stood at less than 40 percent to 50 percent in majority-
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 9 minority schools, and nine schools in the urban core were in danger of being shut down for poor performance.
When modest economic recovery took hold, Carvalho initiated a $1.2 billion school bond referendum, approved by 72 percent of the county’s voters. He said that just as the value of education is something that had to be taught in his district, so too must the value and benefits of financial literacy. Math, science, and language arts are being taught and tested in schools, but “what we do not have are practical deliverable skills that empower the youth of today, that will help the adults of tomorrow, and the workforce that will be required to sustain who we are as a county.” He said that financial literacy skills can no longer be ignored. Citing studies estimating that 45 percent of college students have four or more credit cards and projections that the student debt load is on a trajectory to double, Carvalho said we “must teach the ability for a young adult to understand the basics of banking, of wealth accumulation and wealth management, the risks of out of control credit that is too quickly without consequence.”
Miami-Dade recently received a Discover Grant to implement two weeks of personal finance training to the district’s 18,000 seniors. Partnerships with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and EverFi will allow the district to provide curriculum and training to three teachers in each of Miami-Dade’s high schools to deliver the program. Carvalho pointed out, as did earlier panelists, regarding the implementation of new courses and standards: “If you can’t measure it, you cannot manage it.” Testing, he said, ensures that there is an incentive for the standards “to be taught adequately and to be learned.”
Research findings: What is effective? To underscore the effectiveness of financial literacy education that is built on the pillars of required courses, strong standards, accountability through testing, and a commitment to professional development for teachers, the summit included a panel that brought together academics, educators, and researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Florida. Chris Oakley, vice president and regional executive for the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, introduced the panel and recognized the Fed’s efforts in educational outreach across the state. In Florida, both the Jacksonville and Miami branches of the Atlanta Fed offer online educational efforts and professional development training, often in partnership with the FCEE and its various centers throughout the state, including the Stavros Center at USF. Observing that financial education is something that the Fed thinks is important, Oakley added, “Looking at what we have all been through over the last five or six years, I think we can recognize that at least some element of some of the struggles that have been seen as a national economy are due to a lack of education.”
Mary Suiter, assistant vice president and education officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, listed some elements describing the current landscape for personal finance education.
46 states include some personal finance in school standards.
36 states implemented standards.
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 10 14 mandate a personal finance course (13 require that it be taken).
5 states tie the personal finance mandate to testing.
She noted that, while mandates are a move in the right direction, the majority of them are unfunded and don’t require professional development or systematic implementation of personal finance K–12 culminating in a high school course. Problematic is the fact that “we don’t provide personal finance instruction in any systematic or significant way,” Suiter said. In Missouri, any certified teacher is qualified to teach the course, without requirement for training. Agreeing with earlier panelists, Suiter stated that among the important needs for personal finance education are strong, solid standards that use economic decision-making as the framework. As an example, Suiter pointed to the l CEE’s personal finance standards, which are “comprehensive in content and assessable”—meaning that their efficacy can be tested against the goal of the standards: financial literacy. Suiter reported that better content standards, better curriculum development and alignment, high-quality professional development resulting in better teaching, development of a standards-aligned assessment, and implementation and evaluation of that assessment are all critical for increasing financial literacy. The CEE’s national personal finance standards can serve as a guide for teachers to know what to teach, a tool for administrators to evaluate curriculum, and an aid to help curriculum writers prepare educational materials. They can also be used by test developers to assess learning, by researchers to evaluate long-term outcomes, and by parents and the general public. Suiter said that grounding each standard is the notion that people make choices, and ultimately we are responsible for the decisions we make.
Bill Bosshardt, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for Economic Education at Florida Atlantic University, began his remarks by revealing the results of a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation study that found that only 75 percent of adults are able to correctly answer a question about the benefits of compound interest. Even fewer adults in the study understood the basics of inflation and investment diversification. Among those surveyed, however, 89 percent believed that personal finance should be taught in school. Bosshardt’s remarks sought to answer two questions: Is training for students effective? Is training for teachers effective?
To answer the first question, Bosshardt cited research from two initiatives, Smart Tennessee, a personal finance program for elementary and middle school students using the Council for Economic Education’s Financial Fitness for Life curriculum, and “Keys to Financial Success,” a high-school-level personal finance course. Both initiatives also involved training for teachers who would be implementing the standards in their classes. For elementary and middle school students, the assessment results showed significant knowledge gains for students at all levels receiving the courses versus a control group. In the Keys program, students taking the course saw personal finance test scores rise over 24 percentage points. To answer his second question, he shared research results from Georgia’s personal finance program showing that teachers who were trained in even a single workshop had higher student test scores than the control group, a result that underscores the need for teacher training in the implementation of the new standards. Bosshardt asked, “How could one workshop make a difference? Yet it did. Students of the trained teachers did significantly better.” He encouraged the creation of learning communities for personal finance teachers to share best practices, as better learning results in better performing
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 11 students. “Teacher training matters,” Bosshardt said. “Teacher training is the best way to effect change.”
Dr. Michael Gutter, associate professor, graduate studies coordinator, and family economics state specialist for the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, rounded out the research panel by imparting results from his National Endowment for Financial Education-funded study, “Are Difference in College Student Financial Behaviors Related to Difference in High School Financial Education Policy?” To classify the results, Gutter‘s study divided financial education policies into six categories:
States with no standards, testing, or overt policies
States with standards in place, but whose implementation is not required
States with standards that must be implemented
States with course requirements but a lack of mandatory testing
States where a course was not required, but testing was mandatory
States requiring both a course and mandatory testing
The study’s goal was to find which combination was most effective. The study found that students in states with a course requirement were less likely to max out their credit cards and more likely to pay off their bills each month. When both a course and assessment were required, late payments decreased and students were also likelier to pay off credit cards monthly. “This study definitely shows that policy matters” Gutter said. He added that “financial behaviors we really cared about were definitely better with increasing rigor to the policies, and that is a pretty big deal to us.” Calling for Florida to implement personal finance standards, to incentivize and train districts to offer a personal finance class, and to encourage students to take it, Gutter concluded by saying that although Florida is just getting started, “we’re on the right path.”
Resources for educators and school districts The day’s final panel brought together representatives from the FCEE, Junior Achievement, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Discover in a session on free resources. Dick Puglisi, Professor and Stavros Chair in Free Enterprise and Economic Education and director of the University of South Florida’s Gus A. Stavros Center, moderated the panel that provided an overview of resources available from nonprofits, a Bill 1076 requirement for inclusion in the commissioner of education’s cost analysis report.
Robin Warren, executive director for FCEE, highlighted FCEE’s motto of “train one, teach thousands” and her organization’s success in providing professional development to more than 2,700 teachers last year through the state’s five centers for economic education. These teachers, in turn, can reach a quarter of a million students in the coming year, and literally millions over the course of their careers. Other effective council programs included the Stock Market Challenge, an investment competition played by more than 25,000 Florida students last year, and Financial Freedom, FCEE’s financial literacy guide
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 12 written by Florida teachers for Florida teachers. Support from sponsors allowed the council to distribute nearly 30,000 copies of the curriculum last year. Warren pointed out that students from states with a required financial education course are more likely than their peers to save, budget, and use credit cards wisely. In addition, 90 percent of teachers agree that students need to be trained in personal finance before they leave high school, but only 20 percent feel capable of teaching the topic. Touching students in nearly every county in Florida, Warren noted that the FCEE “empowers students with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to successfully manage their personal finances for the rest of their lives. Last year between professional development workshops, Financial Freedom and the Stock Market Challenge, the Florida Council on Economic Education’s programs impacted over half a million students.”
Lesley Mace, economic and financial education specialist for the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, highlighted the Atlanta Fed’s efforts in economic education in Florida. Through its branches in Jacksonville and Miami, the Atlanta Fed’s economic education team provides free teacher training across the state and distributes and develops curriculum and materials for teachers both in Florida and across the nation. Before showcasing the materials, Mace commented, “As we develop these great resources, we want to have training so that the teachers know the best way to use them in the classroom. All of our resources are developed by educators and they are also all supported by that very important professional development piece.” Among the Federal Reserve’s popular online programs that Mace featured were the St. Louis Fed’s Econ Ed Live!, a series of free online student courses in economics and personal finance , and No Frills Money Skills, an innovative video series with a focus on personal finance and money management skills. She also described Katrina’s Classroom, an Atlanta Fed curriculum that uses the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina to teach financial preparedness; Building Wealth, the Dallas Fed’s interactive online money skills curriculum; and mobile applications from the St. Louis and Dallas Feds that teach financial concepts through interactive calculators, quizzes, and challenge games. She also pointed out an online clearinghouse that contains more than 150 personal finance lessons and resources that can be searched by grade level and resource category.
Richard George, president of Junior Achievement (JA) Tampa Bay, told of his organization’s nearly 50- year history in the Tampa Bay area and of last year’s success in training nearly 90,000 students through more than 10,000 volunteers in 4,717 classrooms. According to George, JA aims to “empower” young people to own their own economic success, and is centered on youth development, redevelopment, and economic development. The organization focuses on the “three pillars”: work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. JA is a volunteer-driven program, and provides partnership, curriculum, and training to support teachers and makes the classes relevant to students through hands- on experiential learning programs such as JA BizTown, Economics for Success, and JA Virtual Finance Park.
George pointed out that the unique JA model of using classroom volunteers makes the content more relevant for students. “How do you teach these kids?” he asked, “We bring a role model inside and say ‘I’ve been there too.’” Adding his support to earlier panelists’ focus on teacher training, he said, “We want trained teachers, we need trained teachers. It makes our job easier and we appreciate them being a strong advocate. It makes all of us better.”
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 13 Matthew Towson, senior manager of community affairs for Discover, began his introduction of Discover’s Pathways to Financial Success program by sharing a statistic from a Discover financial survey: when students were asked what they wished they had learned in high school to prepare them for success after graduation, 84 percent cited personal finance and money management skills. That was the top answer in the survey, tied with mathematics. Teachers were in line with this. Ninety percent of them answered that financial education is important, yet only 20 percent said they feel comfortable teaching it. Discover’s program—a five-year, $10 million investment to help local high schools across the country incorporate financial education into their curriculum—was launched in 2012 to help people have a brighter financial future. “Pathways was created to give teachers and parents the tools and resources to teach their children about personal finance,” Towson said. He added that Discover also wants to be an advocate for personal finance standards in the classroom. The Pathways program is projected to reach more than a half million students in its efforts, which will be achieved through strategic partnerships that help students, parents, teachers, and school administrators become champions for financial education. So far, more than $4 million dollars in grants have been awarded to more than 300 schools. These grants give school districts such as Chicago’s the resources they need to provide curriculum, teacher training, and technology resources, grounded in collaboration between teachers, administrators, parents and students. Assessment results that are required by the grants have yielded positive results, showing that students on average are achieving a 25 percent knowledge gain through their participation in the program. Lastly, Towson explained that the group Pathways will be targeting this year is parents. Discover recently launched a public service announcement for this group that made clear that parents are uncomfortable talking to their children about finances. In fact, they’re more comfortable talking about sex and drugs than money, he said. But getting parents and students on board, as well as teachers and administrators, is essential to the program’s success.
Financial literacy: Important for Florida Ultimately, what all the summit’s speakers stressed is that the time for implementing a personal finance course is now, and the need has never been greater. Financial literacy is more than something that we would like for our students to know about—it is an essential skill crucial to their future success in life. If we don’t act, the next generation will not be the only ones to feel the cost: businesses, employers, government, and ultimately the economy will suffer if young people are unable to navigate their way through the world of personal finance. Research shows that a course in financial literacy, particularly when paired with testing for accountability, definitely results in improved outcomes in student behavior when managing money. Several states have already implemented successful programs that can serve as a model for Florida. With the wealth of organizations throughout the state already prepared to provide curriculum and training at little to no cost, the barriers to implementing the course are few. If all Florida students leave school equipped with a solid standards-based personal finance course, supported by teacher training and course assessment, the next generation of Floridians will have the tools they need to manage their money, the knowledge necessary to achieve their financial goals from college to retirement, and the ability to be productive employees and contributors to the state’s economy. Evidence from the summit’s speakers provided ample proof of Commissioner Stewart’s opening statement: this is important, and it is important that we get this right.
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 14 By Lesley Mace, economic and financial education specialist with the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Florida Financial Literacy Summit: A Call for Education 15