Impact
Building Strong Financial Futures and Economic Knowledge
Many students lack the basic financial skills needed to prosper in life. CEE is working to change this.
CEE provides young people the tools to make informed decisions, prepare for careers or post-secondary education and understand the economic impact of real-world events. The true effect of CEEโs wide range of economic and financial education resources exists in the ripple effects that extend across families, communities, and even future generations.
Who We Serve
CEE serves students from all walks of life and has a particular focus on ensuring that students of color, young women and those historically underserved by the financial world have equal access to financial opportunity.
The Reach of CEE
CEE offers K-12 economic and financial education resources for all 50 states.
2 million+
Students reached by CEE programs and teachers
450,000
Unique users of EconEdLink, the premier online site for K-12 teachers
50,000
Teachers a year participate in professional development workshops nationwide
30,000
Students per year participate in CEE high school challenges
11,000+
Hours of teacher training
1,000+
Lessons, guides & activities for teachers
The Impact of CEE
We believe that supporting educators is the key to improving student learning and achievement. And studies show that our approach is working. With a foundational understanding of finance and economics, young people have the tools they need to make informed financial decisions and create a better life, not only for themselves but also for those around them. CEE is:
Diverse & Inclusive
- Two-thirds of teachers we reach work in Title 1 schools
- 75% of Invest in Girls participants are girls of color
- Over half the students who participate in the National Personal Finance Challenge are students of color
Effective at improving student knowledge
- We saw a 350% increase in the percentage of students achieving the benchmark after taking CEEโs personal finance curriculum, Financial Fitness for Life (FFFL) in Tennessee1
- Scores rose 41% in elementary school, 21% in middle school, and 24% in high school for students whose teachers had used FFFL in Kentucky1
- Participation in the National Economics Challenge increases AP scores
Equipping teachers to transform lives
- Effective teachers can generate marginal gains of more than $400,000 annually in student future earnings.3
- When teachers know how to teach economics, students from kindergarten to high school seniors can and do learn economics and financial concepts.3
The Impact of Financial Education
State-Mandated Financial Education Makes a Difference
Three studies4 show consistent results: Students who have received a personal finance education make different financial choices.
- Improved credit scores
- Reduced default rates
- More likely to have a credit file
- Less likely to have outstanding debt
Financial behaviors improve over time.
Hereโs what happened to young adults three years after receiving a state-mandated education in personal finance.5
- Severe delinquency on credit accounts or auto loans decreased up to 32%
- Credit scores improved from 1.8% in Georgia to 5.2% in Texas
Low-income students make better college financing choices.
Financial education requirements help to change how students use the resources available to them.
- They borrow more knowledgeably, shifting from high-cost to low-cost financing
- They apply for more aid, increasing the likelihood of receiving a grant or accepting low-interest federal loans
Giving Back
Join a community of donors, working to create equal access to financial opportunity.
References
- Studies demonstrating the effectiveness of FFFL programs. In Tennessee, student performance (measured by % of students scoring 70% or better on a pre/post assessment) increased from 10% reaching the benchmark in the pre-test to 48% in the post-test, when taught using FFFL. In Kentucky, a study showed that for students of teachers who had been trained on FFFL, elementary students scores rose 41%, middle school scores improved 21%, and high school scores increased 24%.
- CEE program data.
- Sosin, Dick, and Reiser 1997; Suiter and Meszaros 2005; Watts and Walstad 2006; Schug and Wood 2010; Walstad and Rebeck 2001).
- Cole, Shawn, Anna Paulson, and Gauri Kartini Shastry. High school curriculum and financial outcomes: The impact of mandated personal finance and mathematics courses. Journal of Human Resources 51.3 (2016): 656-698.
- 2015 FINRA Investor Education paper
- Christiana Stoddard and Carly Urban. โThe Effects of Financial Education Graduation Requirements on Postsecondary Financing Decisionsโ