JA Personal Finance^® Blended Model

High School

Implementation:
Classroom Based

Pillars of Student Success

Work Readiness Moderate Work Readiness

Entrepreneurship Minimal Entrepreneurship

Through JA Personal Finance Blended Model, students experience the interrelationship between today's financial decisions and future financial freedom. To achieve financial health and wellness, they learn about money-management strategies, including earning, employment and income, budgeting, savings, credit and debt, consumer protection, smart shopping, risk management, investing, credit card usage, debt management, and net worth. At the conclusion of this program, students will be able to identify how their personal finances affect their quality of life. They will understand how their financial choices will be the basis for meeting their needs and wants.

JA Personal Finance Blended Model consists of eight 45-minute sessions with 3 additional modular sessions.
Basic implementation includes Sessions One–Five delivered by the volunteer.
Sessions Six through Eight are optional and designed to be student self-guided activities with teacher or volunteer support.
Sessions Nine, Ten, and Eleven are both optional and modular. Each session includes self guided learning experiences and an introduction and wrap-up by a teacher or volunteer.
Program implementation depends on educator requirements and correlations to local standards. Contact your local JA Area staff to find out which implementation will be used.

All JA programs are designed to support the skills and competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. JA programs also correlate to state standards in social studies, English, and mathematics, and to Common Core State Standards.

Program Concepts

Benefits versus costs, budgeting, compound interest, consequences, cost of living, credit, credit card fraud, credit reporting and rating, debt, delayed gratification, earnings, education, expense tracking, financial management, identity theft, income, information mining, interest, investing, job skills, limited resources, liquidity, maximizing earnings, opportunity cost, pawnshop, payday loan, priorities, rent-to-own, return on investment, reward, risk, saving, savings plan, unlimited wants, variable and discretionary expenses

Skills Students Learn

Analyze and evaluate data from multiple sources
car buying
comparing results
comparison shopping
computer skills
create savings plan
critical thinking
decision making
disputing unauthorized charges on a credit card
estimating
evaluate the risk and reward of an opportunity
evaluating online resources

evaluating options
evaluating personal skills
grocery shopping
interpreting analogy
long-term planning
online research
personal inventory
planning
predicting outcomes
presentation skills
prioritizing
proactive planning

problem solving
recognizing scams and fraud
recognizing the impact of relationships on personal finance
requesting and checking credit report
research
saving and investing
sorting
teamwork
tracking expenses
weighing costs and benefits

Program Resources

Alignment with State and National Standards

State Standards

Junior Achievement curricula are created to align with state standards. To see how our programs align with your state’s standards, explore the options below.

Scope and Sequence

Junior Achievement learning experiences cover financial literacy, career and work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Our extensive scope and sequence helps explain how our programs cover these subjects at various grade levels.

Request a Presenter to Teach Curriculum

A Junior Achievement Volunteer teaches students

Junior Achievement lessons are delivered by volunteers from the community. These presenters are prepared by JA to facilitate engaging learning activities that focus on financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship. This results in an enriched learning experience that helps students make the connection between what they learn in school and the world outside the classroom.

Steps to Request a Presenter

1) Request Info

Once you’ve decided to have a JA volunteer in your classroom, fill out the form on this website. You will receive information on next steps.

2) Pick Schedule

You will be able to coordinate a schedule that works for your class either online or in conjunction with a JA representative.

3) Meet Presenter

Once a volunteer is identified for your class, JA will connect you with the presenter to discuss roles, expectations, and logistics.

4) Empower Students with Standards-Based Education

After all details are in place, the JA volunteer will deliver lessons to your students either virtually or in-person.

Request Information about this Learning Experience

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