Date of Award

Fall 12-2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Program

Curriculum & Instruction

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Austin, Patricia

Second Advisor

Speaker, Richard

Third Advisor

Bole, Paul

Fourth Advisor

McLemore, Tracy

Abstract

Louisiana has a financial literacy problem. In 2016, 2018, and 2019, the Louisiana legislature responded to the financial illiteracy plaguing Louisiana by mandating personal financial management education. Though now required, no studies to date have examined if or to what extent personal financial management is being implemented across Louisiana.

Using a quantitative, non-experimental survey approach, I gathered and analyzed baseline data about Louisiana’s statewide implementation of personal financial management mandates in K-12 classrooms. Areas examined included the extent and frequency of implementation as well as educators’ readiness and perceptions about personal financial management education. In order to address the research agenda, I constructed and disseminated a 32-question survey to multiple gatekeepers across the state. Initial survey response included 1,163 participants responding partially or fully to items on the survey. While the initial response was overall robust, exceeding a priori power analysis of 385, less than half (n = 574) completed the survey.

The majority of participants (91%; p < .001) lack knowledge regarding state legislative mandates requiring financial management education. One-half of study participants (50.3%;) indicated that they “never” address personal finance concepts with their students. Of those educators that report teaching personal finance concepts, the most common frequency reported was “yearly” (26.9%). Findings regarding educator participation in personal financial management training was manifested at a statistically significant level (p < .001) as 84.2% of participants indicated not having participated in any professional development. 56.2% of participants perceive personal financial management as “important” or “very important.” Study participant perceptions of the importance of implementation of personal finance management education programming was manifested at a statistically significant level (p < .001).

These results indicate a need to inform educators about the requirements placed through legislation. Professional development is needed to teach educators what personal financial management education is and how to incorporate it into existing curriculum. It is not too late for Louisiana to adjust to the correct course toward successful implementation. This research can help facilitate that shift toward success.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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