"The Features and Effectiveness of the Keys to Financial Success Curriculum"

The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 has generated a renewed interest in including personal finance in the secondary curriculum in the United States and in many countries around the world. This paper explains the features of a successful and unique high school personal finance curriculum, Keys to Financial Success, which is offered by a consortium of partners in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and is available to teachers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Using the Financial Fitness for Life High School Test (FFFL-HS Test), pre- and posttest results are reported for 967 students who participated in a one-semester Keys course during the 2011 and 2012 academic years. The survey results indicate that the training of teachers in the Keys curriculum, and the implementation of a one-semester Keys course, significantly improve the average personal finance knowledge of students in each of the standards and concept areas of the FFFL-HS Test. These results contribute to the growing literature showing the positive effects of a well-designed personal finance course, taught by properly trained teachers, on the financial knowledge of high school students, and should be of interest to an international audience.