What can a national financial literacy test tell us? A lot. It will compare the efficacy of your program to those nationwide. This will help reveal where your program might need help. Positive test results can be used to advance the agendas of the program and of the students. Program officials use them to expand and grow the program. Students use certificates of completion on their resumes and educational applications. That’s why the NFEC offers complementary testing. Just choose your subject matter, take the test and you’ll get your personal financial literacy test results quickly in an email so you can review it while it’s still fresh in your mind.
Assessing Financial Literacy Test Results
We measure five main aspects of financial literacy programs. Of course, we test students’ financial knowledge, but we don’t stop there. We also gauge their attitudes and behaviors toward money. If a person has a negative association with money, they’ll have a bad attitude about it. This might lead to bad money behavior. These aspects of a person can easily nullify all book knowledge. Our curriculum gets students to design financial systems specifically for their own lives. Then comes actual implementation, which we also measure. Overall success of the program is decided by improvement of students’ financial situations.
Make Sure the Course Timeline Keeps Pace with the Level of Understanding
National financial literacy test results give us a wealth of actionable information. For example, if a program moves along too quickly, students will get lost, feel frustrated and want to give up. To stay interested, students must attain a certain level of understanding before moving on to the next level. That’s why we measure students’ understanding based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Knowledge and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. The ability to analyze and think strategically about a subject cannot be attained before students are comfortable with the skills and concepts, and how to apply them to the real world.
First, talk with your network of friends, colleagues, and community members who work with your target audience. Gather ideas about the needs of the participants and the best ways to reach them. Then reach out to the participants themselves. The NFEC can provide a sample financial literacy test that examines participant knowledge. Also conduct outreach via surveys and informal face-to-face interviews. Collecting information about what people are most motivated to learn and teaching methods they prefer will help you design a program that meets, or even exceeds, participant expectations.
Another important piece of planning is preparing a personal finance quiz that measures what participants know about money management both before and after they attend the event. If you can demonstrate that people learn key money skills, you’ll be better able to build support for future initiatives. Make sure the quiz measures the same skills you’re presenting in the educational materials—that is, “teach to the test.”
The NFEC financial literacy tests and approach to teaching financial literacy is holistic, meaning they have fully imagined the process from start to finish. They place heavy emphasis on measurement because that’s how programs meet participant expectations and promote long-term behavior change.
Industry Experts Guide Development of National Financial Literacy Test
The National Financial Educators Council has become widely recognized over the past ten years as a leader in the financial literacy education space. They have a full range of curriculum, resources, services, and products aimed at improving the lives of a global audience by giving people crucial money management skills. One such resource is the NFEC’s national financial literacy test—a measure that helps assure that participants achieve lifelong benefits from learning about money.
All the NFEC resources and materials are guided by its Curriculum Advisory Board. This board is comprised of top-notch expert members such as financial advisors, bank auditors, award-winning educators, realtors and mortgage professionals, university professors, attorneys, and debt experts. Several Advisory Board members have published books in the field of personal finance education. The financial literacy assessment tools this board has developed arm organizations with empirically based evaluative capabilities guaranteed to accurately measure impact on participants’ lives.
Why does the NFEC consult an expert board to develop the National Financial Literacy Test and other materials? Such collaboration helps make sure that participants can address their financial issues proactively. The advisory board members have first-hand knowledge of the common money pitfalls into which so many Americans fall. They are experts in debt consolidation, dealing with foreclosure, and retirement planning. Thus the money management quiz they helped write addresses people’s practical capabilities to deal with real-world personal finance situations.
The NFEC believes deeply in collaboration, and consultation with an expert team like the Curriculum Advisory Board illustrates that belief. The board works with the NFEC to create materials that truly help people to deal with money problems proactively, even before they occur. These key strategies for developing top-of-the-line materials for teaching financial literacy demonstrates the organization’s commitment to building positive partnerships and strategic relations to improve people’s lives over the long-term.
Over 70,000 people including all 50 states have completed the NFEC Financial Literacy Test – a 30 question test designed to measures participants’ ability to earn, save and grow their money. The test questions cover the ten subjects covered in the Financial Literacy Framework & Standards and were written to measure 3 key areas: motivation to learn, subject knowledge and recognition of the first step.
The NFEC’s National Financial Literacy Test results have been featured in Yahoo Finance, The Hill, Business Insider, CNBC and more. The test provides measurement tools for financial educators, self-testing for those interested in their personal finance capabilities and giving the media up-to-date information about the financial literacy rates of people across the country.
View the results below and visit the Financial Literacy Testing & Survey Center to access 4 complimentary measurement tools, surveys, tests and to view results from past participants. NFEC clients can access the full Testing & Survey Center which includes over 50 online measurement tools.
Top 3 Most Missed Questions:
Question 1.
If I invest $100 per month starting at age 21, and that money earns a 7% annual return, how much will I have after 70 years?
Answered Correctly:
44.27%
“More than 1.5 million dollars”
Question 2.
How can I start setting personal goals now?
Answered Correctly:
46.33%
“Daydream, think about and/or research the type of lifestyle you want to live, and write down ideas.”
Question 3.
What is the safest initial step that I can take to start building my credit?
Answered Correctly:
45.89%
“Create a credit plan that includes a budget, money set aside for emergencies, and the steps you’ll take to prove to the credit bureaus that you can repay money you borrow. “
Standards
The NFEC sets industry standards for financial educators and financial counselors that are referenced by organizations around the globe.
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Research
Financial literacy research to disseminate empirical data and professional opinions to the industry.
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Advocacy
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