Topic: Financial Literacy
Target Population: Adolescents
Sector: School-Based
This program is for students who are in middle school.
Money Math: Lessons for Life, a school-based program, is designed to introduce and teach participants how to apply math concepts to real-life personal finance scenarios.
No peer-reviewed publications evaluating the effectiveness of this program were located.
The program is a curriculum supplement that is written to national math standards and includes the following lessons:
Math concepts taught include problem-solving, percents, decimals, data analysis, measurement skills, dimensions, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, using data in tables, reasoning, organizing numerical data, and spreadsheet application.
Personal finance concepts discussed include trade-offs, budget constraint, gross and net income, payroll taxes, fixed expenses, variable expenses, and periodic expenses.
These lessons may be integrated into math, consumer sciences, or social studies classes or may be offered as part of an after-school program.
More than 42,000 copies of the program curriculum have been downloaded since March 2008. Additional previous use information was not located.
This program is implemented by classroom teachers, and no training is required.
Considerations for implementing this program include acquiring school administration and teacher buy-in, obtaining the Money Math book, and finding time to integrate the lessons into an existing classroom curriculum.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing the Money Math: Lessons for Life program, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you! Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Implementation time for the four lessons varies as they are integrated into existing classroom curricula.
The Money Math book, which includes lesson plans, reproducible activity sheets, and teaching tips, is available for free using the website listed in the Source section.
To move the Money Math: Lessons for Life program to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least one evaluation should be performed demonstrating positive effects lasting at least one year from the beginning of the program or at least six months from program completion.
The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact Treasury Direct by visiting https://www.treasurydirect.gov/contact-us/
