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Chairman Ben S. Bernanke at the '08 Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and Federal Reserve Board Joint News Conference

Contact: Jim Hedemark
401.385.9411 | email

Rhode Island and United States
High School Seniors
Continue to Receive Low Financial Literacy
Marks on National Survey

Fed Chairman Bernanke Encourages Increased
Youth Financial Literacy Education

Washington, DC – April 9, 2008 – United States high school seniors’ financial literacy scores have gone from bad to worse as announced by the Jump$tart Coalition at a press conference held yesterday in the Federal Reserve Board of Governors meeting room.

Over 6,800 high school seniors from across the United States, including Rhode Island, took the Jump$tart Coalition survey.  The mean U.S. score was 48 percent, a decrease from 52 percent in 2006.  Rhode Island students had a mean score of 48 percent in 2008, a slight decrease from 49 percent in 2006.  However, more Rhode Island students (29%) received a “passing” grade than the national average (26%). 

For additional detail, please see the chart below and visit the “downloads” section of www.jumpstart.org.  On this site, the following documents are available:

  • National Jump$tart Coalition 2008 survey press release
  • Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s comments
  • 2008 high school survey with questions, results and answers

At the press conference, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors, Ben S. Bernanke said, “Today, only eight states across the U.S. require personal finance before middle or high school graduation.  I believe more states should consider making personal finance a requirement for all students who seek a high school diploma.”

Rhode Island is not among states requiring personal financial education.

The Chairman continued, “I am personally convinced that improving education is vital to the future of our economy and all its citizens, and I strongly believe that promoting financial literacy, in particular, must be a high priority.”

 

President of the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, Professor Paul Maloney who also serves as the Chair of the Providence College Finance Department states, “The survey results reinforce the importance of the work of the Rhode Island special legislative commission that is studying the current personal financial education practices in our middle and high schools.”  Maloney serves as a member of the fifteen member commission that is Co-Chaired by Senator Daniel Issa and Representative Raymond Church.

Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition Directors, Claudia Kerbel and Professor Joan Gray Anderson as well as Executive Director, Jim Hedemark attended the press conference.

Professor Anderson, Director of the University of Rhode Island Center for Personal Financial Education offers, “I am pleased that Chairman Bernanke is on record supporting my long held belief that all students in Rhode Island and throughout the United States should be required to pass a course in personal finance before high school graduation.”

Also commenting on the survey results, Hedemark states, “Rhode Island citizens who are as concerned about these results as we are should consider themselves invited to join the Coalition.  We need support in many forms and only through the active engagement of many partners will we reverse the alarming current personal financial trends that we cannot allow to be continued by our next generation of adults.”

April has been proclaimed “Financial Literacy Month” by Governor Carcieri and the Legislature (Sponsors: Senator Daniel Issa and Representative Raymond Church).  Copies of the 2008 Rhode Island proclamations can be found at www.rijumpstart.org in the “downloads” section located under “about us.”

Activities, related to or occurring in Rhode Island during Financial Literacy Month include:

  • The Rhode Island State Champion LifeSmarts team from North Providence High School to compete in the national LifeSmarts competition in Minneapolis, MN on April 12 through 15.  
  • A meeting, on April 15th at the State House, Room 203, of the Special Legislative Commission to Study Youth Financial Education in Rhode Island Middle and High Schools  
  • The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition annual Financial Literacy Leaders’ Luncheon to occur on April 22.  This event is by invitation only due to space limitations.  For further information, please inquire to Jim Hedemark at 401.385.9411.  
  • Four Rhode Island high schools will visit the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for all day teen financial education activities on April 24 and 29.
  • Late April through mid May, President Bush’s Financial Literacy Advisory Council’s endorsed high school financial literacy challenge that can be joined by high school teachers by visiting http://flc.treas.gov/


The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition is a nonprofit organization founded in May of 2004 and consists of over three dozen academic, business and civic organizations with the mission, “To increase the financial literacy of individuals in Rhode Island.”  The website can be found at www.rijumpstart.org