Contact: Jim Hedemark
401.385.9411 | email
“Money Math”
Resource for Middle Schools Launched
US Treasury, Jump$tart Coalition Collaborate
to Promote Free Teaching Resource
02.29.08 – In an effort to provide free financial education tools to middle school teachers, the United States Treasury, Jump$tart Coalition, and other collaborators have launched the new “Money Math: Lessons for Life” curriculum that can be accessed at www.mymoney.gov in the Kids section.
A free copy of Money Math can be ordered by emailing moneymath@bpd.treas.gov
Money Math is a four-lesson, 86-page curriculum that uses real-life examples to teach personal finance through middle school mathematics concepts. A release from U.S. Treasury can be found at: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp843.htm
Jim Hedemark, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition applauds the new curriculum, “With Rhode Island schools struggling to meet budgets, I am pleased that this best-practice resource is being made available to schools for free.”
Hedemark continues, “In light of recent news that only 22 percent of Rhode Island 11th graders are proficient in math through New England Common Assessment Program testing it is clear that additional focus on math education is needed. Similarly troubling, according to the 2006 national Jump$tart Coalition survey of high school seniors’ financial literacy, Rhode Island students are only able to answer 49 percent of basic financial questions correctly. I am not able to make a case for correlation, but will point out that both of these findings are very bad for our students and our state.”
General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio joins in the praise for Money Math: “With the recent news on the dismal math scores in our state and the ongoing concern about the lack of standardized financial literacy training, I am very concerned that our next generation of adults may continue to struggle with their personal finances. I believe that this new resource can help to increase student knowledge in these related areas.”
The University of Missouri/St. Louis, Jump$tart Coalition, and Citi worked in consultation with Treasury on the new version of Money Math. Treasury's Bureau of Public Debt will distribute the curriculum to teachers.
About the RI Jump$tart Coalition:
The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition (founded in 2004) is an coalition of dozens of Ocean State and New England region businesses, community organizations, educational institutions,
government agencies and officers. The coalition¹s mission is “to increase the financial literacy of individuals in Rhode Island.” The coalition¹s website is www.rijumpstart.org
In 2006, for the first time, Rhode Island high school seniors participated in the national Jump$tart Coalition personal financial literacy survey that measures teenagers¹ knowledge of personal financial literacy topics. Rhode Island high school seniors answered 48.8% of the questions correctly. The national average was 52.4%. For more details on the national survey, please click here
