Swinton, J., De Berry, T, Scafidi, B., & Woodard, H. (2007). The Impact of Financial Education Workshops for Teachers on Students’ Economic Achievement, The Journal of Consumer Education, 24, 63-77.
Brief Description: Many states emphasize personal finance as an essential skill for graduating seniors. Unfortunately, many high school teachers are inadequately trained in personal finance. The National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) has developed an extensive curriculum, and its state affiliates offer workshops to help teachers deliver its personal finance material. This paper examined the effectiveness of the NCEE personal finance workshops (Financial Fitness for Life). Our results suggest a positive impact of teacher attendance at Financial Fitness for Life workshops on student test scores, using data from the Georgia economics End-of-Course-Test (EOCT).
Implications: A primary conclusion of our research is that Financial Fitness for Life workshops have a positive impact on students’ performance on the Georgia economics EOCT. With this finding in mind, it is interesting to note that fewer than 10 percent of the students in Georgia have economics teachers who have taken FFFL workshops from the GCEE within the past five years. This seems to indicate that a modest increase in workshop attendance would have a positive effect on state-wide average student achievement—at a relatively low cost.[[category:Financial Security: Children and Money Research]