Fiscal Fitness: Learning Why Saving Pays
By Wendy K. Kleinman, The Oklahoman
Oct. 13–Teachers at Western Village Academy in Oklahoma City are banking on a program called “Cool Cash” to teach students that good behavior and a little patience pay off.
Students earn fake money and have the chance to redeem it for real items — the more they save, the better the item they can buy. And this year, the charter school students have their eyes on some good prizes, thanks to a $1,000 grant by ING DIRECT, the nation’s largest direct bank.
As an added bonus, the students are getting a jump on learning how to be financially savvy, a skill schools must begin teaching seventh- through 12th-graders next year.
How it works Western Village students get “paid” for things like being good in class, following directions, helping fellow students and finishing tasks on time, said Janis McIntyre, the school’s literary arts specialist, who won the Planet Orange Financial Literacy Award grant.
And though the school has used Cool Cash for about five years, this is the first year the school is using savings books, much like checkbooks, she said.
It helps make the system a hands-on math lesson. Students count their money, then they count it to a “banker” to make a deposit, and then, when it’s time to go “shopping,” they have to make a withdrawal and figure out how much they have left.
In lower grades, the teacher acts as the banker; in upper grades a student who excels in math is given the banker’s responsibility, McIntyre said.
Only the kindergarten students stick to a cash-only system, holding on to the colored ones, fives, tens and twenties all the time.
Lessons learned Every other week students can cash in for toys, balls and school supplies.
Eric Young, 8, saved up his money from the start of the year to buy a $1,000 football off the Cool Cash cart Friday.
Eric, who gets about a $10 allowance of real money every week for doing chores around the house, said he’d like to save his real money until he can buy an iPod.
“This school is 93, 94 percent free and reduced lunch,” an indicator of poverty, McIntyre said. “Maybe they aren’t seeing that saving pattern at home, so we want to reinforce that here.”
Some students showed restraint at the cart Friday, realizing they could save a little longer and get a better prize. Others gave into temptation, like Alora Brooks, who spent $100 on orange sunglasses.
Students get to check out available items at the start of the year and write them in the back of their savings book so they remember what their goal is.
Before this year, items on the cart were donations like used toys and house decorations, often not very appealing to children, McIntyre said. Now the incentive is greater, with items like Bratz dolls, footballs and basketballs, a badminton set, a rubber stamp art set and yo-yos.
“The whole focus of the grant was to get the idea across that if you see something you want, to save for it,” she said. “It’s starting to be successful.”
In the future Starting in 2008-2009, students in grades seven through 12 must learn financial literacy, either in a new class or in lessons incorporated into existing courses.
The Oklahoma Department of Education is finalizing the standards for the 14 areas that House Bill 1476 requires to be taught. Those standards will be presented to the state board for approval at the beginning of 2008, Assistant State Superintendent Cindy Koss said.
The department is including teachers and bank representatives in setting and reviewing those standards, she said.
Professional development seminars for teachers will begin during a February conference for social studies teachers, she said. The district also will post instruction and assessment tools on its Web site, www.sde.state.ok.us.
Video conferencing workshops will be available to teachers who can’t make professional development opportunities, Koss said.
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