Education Commons^™

Mandated Personal Finance Education, Martina Peng, Souren Soumbatiants

Learning Showcase 2014

The urgency of implementation of financial literacy education has been recognized in the recent years. This study evaluates the recent progress on state financial literacy legislation and the effectiveness of personal finance education mandates in high schools. The three common approaches to the mandatory personal finance education policy take forms in setting education standards, personal finance courses, and required testing. Course mandates appear to be the most effective in raising financial literacy scores. State policy requiring testing personal finance concepts has been the least effective. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, educators and researchers considering personal …