Evaluating mandated personal finance education in high schools

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of personal finance education mandates. Personal finance mandates in high school are classified into three categories based on curriculum requirements: (1) standard mandates provide guidelines for instruction; (2) course mandates require students to take a personal finance related course before graduation; and (3) test mandates require students to take a financial literacy test before graduation.; To evaluate the impact of state level education mandates data from the 1997 to 2006 Jump{dollar}tart Financial Literacy Surveys was analyzed. The prior research using the Jump{dollar}tart data has shown that imposing a general mandate may have little impact on student financial literacy. In this study, mandating educational standards show partial positive impact on student financial knowledge test outcomes. Mandates that require taking a specific personal finance course upon completion of high school have a significant and positive impact on student financial literacy. Mandates that require testing of personal finance knowledge before graduating from high school were found to have negative impact on student financial knowledge.; The key findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, educators and researchers who are promoting the implementation of personal finance education.; As more states are implementing personal finance education in current curriculum in recent years, the mandated educational standards start to show a positive relationship with student financial literacy. Development and implementation of a national educational standard for personal finance education should be guided under the leadership of federal government.; Empirical results indicate that a positive relationship between a course mandate and student financial literacy enhances with the maturity of course mandates. More efforts on promoting mandatory personal finance course are encouraged. Policymakers should reevaluate the policy on mandating a state-wide personal finance test in high schools since the mandatory test appears to have a negative impact on student knowledge of personal finance. Mandating a specific personal finance course better enhances student personal finance knowledge than mandating tests. Educators are encouraged to work closely with government agencies to highlight the most efficient methods of increasing financial literacy in high schools. Researchers should further investigate the relationship between mandated personal finance education and student financial behavior.