On November 21, 2018; nearly 350 8^th grade students participated in the 4-H It’s Your Reality financial series.  Partnering with the 8^th grade counselor at Campbell Jr. High, materials for the curriculum were distributed to the 14 classroom teachers.  Students receive lessons in Needs versus Wants, Budgeting Basics, and Financial Goal Setting.  As the culminating exercise, the students work with community partners and volunteers to keep track of an expense ledger at 19 different booths.  The students monthly salaries are pre-determined based on their school GPAs and MAP testing scores.  Following the reality store, students complete a 10 question evaluation.  

 In using data from 12 of the 14 classrooms, the following was determined:

All topics of evaluation saw positive growth in terms of level of understanding after completing the It’s Your Reality simulation.

All topics of evaluation had final level of understanding of at least “good” (the ARV was >/= 3.0).

The three topics of evaluation with the highest average response value (ARV) after the simulation were Saving for future economic goals (3.63), How my future is affected by what I do now (3.53), and How the amount of money made will influence lifestyle (3.41).

The three topics of evaluation with the lowest ARV after the simulation were Impact of student loan debt on future financial choices (3.04), How many different expenses are all tied together (3.07), and budgeting my money (3.10).