FINANCE
STOCK MARKET GAME
Participants in the Stock Market Game develop and manage an investment portfolio. Each participating team manages all aspects of the portfolio including stock selection, buying and selling. The goal of the competition is to increase the value of the beginning portfolio.
VIRTUAL BUSINESS CHALLENGE
In the VBC Personal Finance track, participants will manage bank accounts, credit and debit cards, bills, credit scores, taxes, insurance and investing. Participants will interpret actions, charts and graphs to make strategic financial decisions and optimize net worth.
JUMPSTART COALITION RESOURCES
As a coalition of many organizations that conduct and support financial education and create, distribute or promote financial education materials and tools, Jump$tart avoids competing with its own partners to deliver educational products and programs. Jump$tart’s strategic role is, instead, to provide resources that complement and enhance the individual and collective work of its partners and to take on activities that advance the financial literacy effort on behalf of all of its partners.
Clearinghouse
Jump$tart’s online Clearinghouse is the nation’s most comprehensive collection of financial education resources suitable for students in pre-kindergarten through college. All of the resources listing in the Clearinghouse have been reviewed for appropriateness, based on the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education.
National Standards
The third edition of the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education was developed by the Jump$tart Coalition with a team of academic experts and 50 content reviewers. These voluntary standards can be downloaded from the Jump$tart website.
Survey
Between 1997 and 2008, Jump$tart’s Biennial Survey of Financial Literacy Among High School Students was arguably the most notable and most often quoted research on the level of financial knowledge among American youth. The research documented consistently low levels of financial literacy. In 2008, Jump$tart added a survey of college students and in 2010 launched a comprehensive effort to retool the research efforts and update the survey instrument.
Best Practices
Jump$tart developed its “Best Practices” for teachers, authors, publishers, educational consultants, and other to use when developing and/or selecting personal finance educational materials. The second edition, created in 2008, is available online and Jump$tart grants permission to use them freely.
Reality Check
When it comes to understanding what it’s really going to take to live independently as an adult consumer, most young people need a “reality check.” Jump$tart developed this online resource as a quick and easy tool to use alone or to complement a wide variety of existing personal finance curricula.
THE CLASSROOM ECONOMY
My Classroom Economy (MCE) is an established classroom management tool that promotes the understanding of financial literacy concepts through experiential learning. Students “rent” their desks, strive to earn bonuses and avoid fines, participate in auctions, and, in upper grades, make simulated investments in stocks and bonds. The program emphasizes learning to budget and save and demonstrates the value of delayed gratification.
Begin by creating a promotional / marketing plan to encourage teachers to adopt this program within their own classrooms! Be creative and utilize the resources already established on the MCE website.
To learn more about MCE and its partnership with DECA, contact Savannah Bower at savannah_bower@vanguard.com.