Jeff Lilley began volunteering with Junior Achievement® in December of 2014 at Sligo Middle School where his twin boys go to school. Since then, he’s volunteered at Westland Middle School, Takoma Park Middle School, most recently at Chevy Chase Elementary School and will volunteer at Briggs Chaney Middle School this coming December. He’s been a great volunteer in the classroom and recently reflected on it means to give back to the community that gave him a foundation for his love of learning.
Prince George’s County Public Schools, along with several community and business partners, are working to strengthen students’ financial literacy education by opening of a technology driven financial center. The Junior Achievement Finance Park opened on the campus of G. James Gholson Middle School and Cora L. Rice Elementary School in Landover on Oct. 27. It is the first student-oriented finance park in Maryland and the second one in the region.
For many of our region's students, the ladder to the American Dream has become too steep to climb. Their ability to succeed is hampered by the gap between what's taught in the classroom and skills they need to succeed in the modern economy. A new Champlain College study measuring how well U.S. high schools are providing personal finance education gave nearly one-quarter of states and the District a failing grade.
At a sparkling new building in Landover, Maryland, students are getting a crash course in how to spend, save and look after their money responsibly.
Tuesday marked the grand opening of the newest Junior Achievement Finance Park, where eighth-graders from Prince George’s County schools will use tablet computers to practice personal finance skills they’re learning in class. An international study last year found that more than 1 in 6 U.S. teens are unable to make simple choices about how to spend their money.
Middle school students in Prince George's County take on a new identity when they visit the Junior Achievement Finance Park.
Collin Bast, a student at Benjamin Tasker Middle School told ABC7, "I'm a 29-year-old with a child and I make $64,500 a year." The role playing is designed to help students learn financial literacy which has become a priority in the county. According to Junior Achievement, one government study found the average high school student scored a failing grade of 56-percent on a test of financial understanding.
Today, Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, Prince George’s County Public Schools, and Capital One Financial Corporation (Capital One) celebrated the opening of JA Finance Park® on the campus of G. James Gholson Middle School and Cora L. Rice Elementary School in Landover, Maryland. The 13,500-square-foot experiential financial literacy supercenter is the second in the region, the first in the State of Maryland and will serve 9,000 PGCPS students each year.
Champlain College's Center for Financial Literacy, using national data, has graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) on their efforts to produce financially literate high school graduates. What the grading shows is that we have a long way to go before we are a financially literate nation.
In this 2015 report card, we attempt to measure how well our high schools are providing personal finance education. Although there have been improvements made over the past few years, more can be done. When it comes to report cards, everyone wants an A. But when the Center graded 50 states and D.C. on their financial literacy education, only five states earned an A.
Sadly, 26 states received grades of C, D or F. Less than half were given grades that you would want your children to bring home from school—grades A or B, and 29% had grades of D or F.
