National Financial Literacy Challenge November 3rd thru 26th, 2008

The President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy voted to direct the Department of the Treasury to offer again the National Financial Literacy Challenge in November 2008 from the 3rd through the 26th.

The Challenge is a voluntary personal finance test for high school students. The first National Financial Literacy Challenge was held in the spring of 2008 and the results are below in a memo from the US Treasury Department.

Below that (the first) memo is the announcement and a sign-up link for the November National Financial Literacy Challenge.

If you are not a teacher, you are encouraged to send this ICFE eNEWS on to others who may benefit. You may also follow the links to the President's Financial Literacy Commission and sign up for their free newsletter.

The Spring 2008 Challenge is Complete!

Thank you to all the teachers and students who participated in the inaugural Challenge. More than 46,000 high school students in the U.S. and at Department of Defense Schools around the world took the Challenge. The average score was 56 percent. More than 11,000 students earned certificates of recognition for scores in the top 25th percentile of all scores. Nearly 400 students earned the National Financial Literacy Award, a medal from U.S. Treasury. (Medal winners answered at least 94 percent of the questions correctly). Thirty five students earned perfect scores. Representatives of the student group with perfect scores were randomly chosen to be recognized by the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy at its June 18, 2008 meeting in Washington, D.C.

View a Memo to Interested Parties from the U.S. Treasury Department.

A revised Challenge will be offered November 3-26, 2008.

If you participated in the spring 2008 Challenge, you will automatically be notified this fall when teacher registration begins.

If you are a high school teacher who did not participate in the spring 2008 Challenge and would like to be placed on the teacher distribution list, please provide us with your email address.

Additional questions? Email FLC@do.treas.gov.

The Challenge was developed by the U.S. Treasury in consultation with four non-governmental economists and the following education organizations:
Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Junior Achievement USA, The National Council on Economic Education, and the National Endowment for Financial Education

MEMO TO INTERESTED PARTIES

Subject: National Financial Literacy Challenge Confidentiality and Disclosure

Background. The U.S. Treasury Department's National Financial Literacy Challenge, offered from April 28 through May 16, 2008, is a voluntary test of high school students' personal financial knowledge. Students must be at least 13 years of age to participate. Students attaining sufficiently high scores will receive certificates and/or other forms of recognition.

Confidentiality and Disclosure. The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USC 552a) provides safeguards against unwarranted invasions of privacy through the misuse of records by Federal agencies by restricting disclosure of personally identifiable records maintained by agencies and granting individuals increased rights of access to records maintained about them.

The Treasury Department will routinely use individual student scores to determine award winners and may disclose the name of the award winner to the participant's high school, but will not disclose individual student scores to teachers. Treasury may routinely use student scores to aggregate data for analysis and reports and will generate and use the data in a form that does not identify student scores by individual name.

Requesting Student's Score. Under the Privacy Act, any student taking the test has the right to request and receive his/her own actual test score from the National Financial Literacy Challenge. The parents of minor children (age 17 and under) may request and receive their child's score. The person requesting the information must make a written, signed request to the Treasury Department containing the following information:

1. Name of the testing instrument used: National Financial Literacy Challenge.
2. The record you are requesting (the student's name and corresponding, individual Challenge test score, as well as the teacher's name and high school name).
3. Copy of an official identification (e.g., a driver's license, school ID, or passport). If your social security number is on your ID, please block it out.
4. On the request and on fax page or envelope, state Privacy Act Request (per 5 USC 552a).
5. Your mailing address, email or fax number of where you want your score sent.
6. Additionally, if you are a parent requesting the score of your minor child (age 17 and under), please provide a copy of a document that identifies you as the parent or legal guardian (e.g., your child's birth certificate).

You may FAX your request and required information to FAX (202) 622-3895. If you prefer to send the request through the mail, you can send the written request with the required documentation, and with the envelope marked Privacy Act Request, to: Office of Disclosure Services, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20220. For full information, please visit our website at http://www.ustreas.gov/foia/how-to.html.