Greenlight® Financial Technology, Inc. (“Greenlight”), the fintech company on a mission to help parents raise financially smart kids, today announced the launch of Greenlight for Classrooms, a free, web-based personal finance library of interactive K-12 lessons and teaching materials mapped to state and national standards. Starting today, teachers nationwide can access more than 100 educational resources to empower their students with financial knowledge, skills, and confidence.
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Greenlight for Classrooms lesson library (Graphic: Business Wire)
Only 30 states require a personal finance course for students, and teens score an average of 64% on the National Financial Literacy Test, showing a clear gap in financial education that is accessible and effective. In a new national survey, Greenlight found that 97% of teachers agree financial education is important for their students’ futures, yet personal finance is ranked as the #1 most under-resourced subject in schools. 3 out of 4 teachers say students rarely or never learn about personal finance in school.
Greenlight for Classrooms brings teachers the educational resources they need to teach students personal finance in an effective, engaging way. It includes hundreds of bite-sized videos, quizzes, activities, discussion topics, and lesson plans — tailored to all grade levels K-12 and mapped to state standards. Lessons are also aligned to the National Standards for Personal Financial Education developed by the Jump$tart Coalition and Council for Economic Education, covering critical financial topics like earning, spending, saving, investing, managing credit, and more.
Additional survey results found that teachers are concerned for students’ futures and want more effective financial education in schools.
Key insights include:
Teachers believe personal finance is a critical life skill and are concerned students aren’t equipped for their financial futures.
- Personal finance is ranked in the top three most important subjects for students to learn, alongside English and Math.
- 97% of teachers say personal finance education is very or extremely important for their students’ futures, yet more than half (58%) say students aren’t prepared to be financially independent adults after graduation.
- 58% of teachers equally don’t believe students are equipped to navigate age-appropriate financial situations in their daily lives today.
There is a significant lack of educational resources for personal finance in schools.
- Teachers ranked personal finance as the #1 most under-resourced subject in schools.
- 3 out of 4 teachers (76%) say students rarely or never learn about personal finance.
- 84% of teachers say schools do not allocate enough time to teach personal finance, and 70% say schools do not have the educational resources needed for students to learn personal finance.
- 89% of teachers wish schools had more effective financial education resources.
Teachers want better personal finance education that is interactive and engaging for students.
- Teachers recognize challenges with existing financial education resources — more than half (56%) say it’s too difficult to integrate them into the classroom, 36% say materials are too complicated, and 30% say they are too boring.
- Teachers crave engaging educational resources like interactive lesson plans (85%), educational games (79%), and group product ideas (68%) for more effective learning.
- 90% of teachers say students would learn personal finance best through interactive games.
“Greenlight’s mission has always been focused on empowering young people to learn about money,” said Jennifer Seitz, Certified Financial Education Instructor and Director of Education at Greenlight. “Greenlight for Classrooms helps advance our mission even further by supporting teachers with the engaging educational resources they need to teach students personal finance effectively.”
More than 500 teachers have already signed up for Greenlight for Classrooms since the pilot program earlier this year. Stephanie Pennetti, a personal finance teacher at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School in Rumson, NJ, said, “I love using Greenlight for Classrooms in my high school personal finance class. The lessons are turnkey and easy to implement in the classroom. My students find the videos and activities engaging.” After completing one week of Greenlight for Classrooms lessons and using evaluation questions from the National Endowment for Financial Education, the average assessment score in Ms. Pennetti’s personal finance class increased by 23%.
Greenlight for Classrooms builds on the industry-leading curriculum used in Greenlight’s in-app financial literacy game Level Up™. This year, kids and teens have completed more than 1 million personal finance lessons using Level Up with an average score of 88.4% on post-lesson assessment across all subjects, including spending, saving, earning, investing, and managing credit.
“As a Jump$tart National Partner, Greenlight has made great efforts to advance financial literacy for the next generation,” said Laura Levine, President and CEO of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. “The new Greenlight for Classrooms program brings tremendous opportunity to help transform financial education in schools.”
Teachers can choose to integrate Greenlight for Classrooms into their existing curriculum or leverage ready-to-use lesson plans to fit the unique needs of each classroom. To access Greenlight for Classrooms for free and learn more, please visit: greenlight.com/classrooms.
Survey Methodology
Survey insights were collected by Greenlight through a Researchscape survey fielded between August 22-26, 2023, among 525 K-12 teachers in the U.S. Results were weighted to the population of educational instructors by geographic estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
About Greenlight
Greenlight Financial Technology is the family fintech company on a mission to help parents raise financially smart kids. Its product, Greenlight, is an award-winning banking app, complete with a debit card for kids and teens, cash back credit card, and safety features for the whole family. Parents can automate allowance, manage chores, set flexible spend controls, and invest for their family’s future. Kids and teens learn to earn, save, spend wisely, give, invest, and manage credit. Together, families can also stay safe and connected with location sharing, SOS alerts, and crash detection with 911 dispatch.
The Greenlight Debit Card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International. The Greenlight Family Cash Card is issued by First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO®), member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International. Greenlight Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor, provides investment advisory services to its clients. Investing involves risk and may include the loss of principal. Greenlight is a financial technology company, not a bank. The Greenlight app facilitates banking services through Greenlight’s bank partners. For more information, please visit: greenlight.com.
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