News Release
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Office of News and Information Johns Hopkins University 901 South Bond Street, Suite 540 Baltimore, Maryland 21231 Phone: 443-287-9960 | Fax: 443-287-9920 |
August 28, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Lunday acl@jhu.edu 443-287-9960 |
Stock Portfolios
Johns Hopkins-based financial literacy program
is expanding this fall.
A bear market isn't holding back the expansion of Stocks in the Future, an innovative financial literacy program that teaches students about investing while bolstering attendance and class participation.
This fall, the Johns Hopkins-based program is realizing a 95 percent growth in the number of middle school-aged participants, expanding to 25 classes in 14 schools in Baltimore City, Baltimore and Carroll counties and the District of Columbia. Eleven schools are in Baltimore City with one in each of the other jurisdictions. The program will reach 750 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 — up from about 400 last school year. Seven schools are new to the program for the 2008-09 school year.
Developed at the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Social Organization of Schools, Stocks in the Future offers a scripted curriculum that teaches strategies for earning, saving and investing money, as well as reinforcing academic fundamentals. By attending school regularly and improving their grades, students earn "SIF Dollars" that enable them to buy publicly traded stocks, which they receive when they graduate from high school and turn 18. A student can earn as much as $80 a year to invest.
SIF board member Tedd Alexander, managing partner of Credo Capital Management in Baltimore, knows from personal experience that teaching youngsters about the stock market can help prepare them for the future.
"I bought my first stock at the age of 13 and that was the catalyst to my becoming an investment manager," Alexander said. "SIF can offer similar inspirations. It provides critical building blocks towards financial literacy that will benefit students throughout their lives regardless of the careers they ultimately pursue."
At its creation, the three-year program targeted students who needed extra incentives to attend school and work hard, and was originally offered to just one class in each grade. This fall, Stocks in the Future will be taught to all sixth-graders in several schools. Classes taught by staff teachers take place once a week during the school day.
Johns Hopkins' evaluations of the program show that it can reverse a tendency toward poor attendance, with Stocks in the Future students attending school 10 more days than those in control groups. Seventh-graders who took part in the Stocks in the Future program scored 31 percent higher in reading, vocabulary and math than did students in a control group, and sixth-grade participants' scores were 18 percent higher in reading comprehension and mathematics.
The schools participating this year are:
For more information, contact SIF founder Pat Bernstein at 410-241-6944, Mary Maushard at 410-516-8810, or Amy Lunday at 443-287-9960.AFYA Public Charter Middle
Arlington Elementary/Middle
Baltimore Civitas Middle/High
Barclay Elementary/Middle
Cross Country Elementary/Middle
Dickey Hill Elementary/Middle
Falstaff Middle, Francis Scott Key Middle
Holabird Elementary/Middle
Winston Middle and Sisters Academy in Baltimore City
Deep Creek Middle School in Baltimore County
East Middle School in Carroll County
Washington (D.C) Jesuit Academy
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