Methods & Evaluation - Measuring Impacts

Below are presented key articles on measuring impacts and effectiveness of financial education programmes, alphabetically by author/institution:

A | C | D | F | J | L | N | O | R | T | W

C

• U.S. Consumer Bankers Association (2004), Survey of Bank-Sponsored Financial Literacy Programs, April 2004
  This report presents the methodology and results of the Consumer Bankers Association survey on the efforts made by banks to increase financial literacy among consumer populations through the development and sponsorship of educational resources on personal banking.

D

• U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (2003), Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide , National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, December 2003.
  This Guide seeks to provide educational practitioners with user-friendly tools to distinguish practices supported by rigorous evidence from those that are not. If practitioners have the tools to identify evidence-based interventions, they may be able to spark major improvements in their schools and, collectively, in American education.

F

• Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (2007), A Literature Review on the Effectiveness of Financial Education, Working Paper No. 07-03, June 15, 2007.

• FSA (2005), Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study, prepared for the Financial Services Authority by Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol, June 2005.

• FSA (2005), Advice and the best way of delivering it

J

• Katy Jacob et al. (2000), Tools for Survival: an analysis of financial literacy programs for lower income families, Woodstock Institute, January 2000.

L

• Angela C. Lyons, et al. (2006), Are We Making the Grade? A National Overview of Financial Education and Program Evaluation, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2006.
  This article provides an overview of the current state of financial education and program evaluation. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected from financial professionals and educators nationwide, this study provides insight into what can be done to build national evaluation capacity and conduct more effective program evaluations.

N

• National Council of La Raza (2004), Financial Education in Latino Communities: Analysis of Programmes, Products and Results/Effects, December 2004.
  This study evaluates the effectiveness of financial education programs by looking at new ways to evaluate behavioral changes. It was published in 2004 by the National Council of La Raza, a private, nonprofit, non-partisan organisation established in 1968 in the U.S. to help reduce poverty and discrimination and help improving the lives of Hispanic Americans.

• NFER (2002), Evaluation of the Community Development Programme in Financial Literacy and Basic Skills, Summary Report, August 2002.
  As part of a programme developed by the Basic Skills Agency (BSA), 15 community projects, designed to tackle problems of basic skills and financial literacy among socially excluded adults, were developed in partnership with three organisations, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB), Credit Unions (CUs) and local education authorities (LEAs) - referred to as ‘strands’ in this report. NFER based its evaluation of the projects primarily on interviews with managers, tutors and learners. An overall picture of the experience and achievements of the strands is followed by a more detailed evaluation of each one.

O

• Alison O’Connell (2006), Measuring the effectiveness of financial education: What’s being done? What should be done?, presentation from the former Director of the UK Pensions Policy Unit at the Inaugural New Zealand Symposium on Financial Literacy, Wellington,1 December 2006.

R

• NZ Retirement Commission (2007), Measuring the effectiveness of financial education, by Alison O’Connell, April 2007.
  This paper is a review of what is being done around the world to measure the effectiveness of many different types of financial education. It takes a broad sweep through academic and policy-related literature in selected countries: New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and US. It summarises the findings of some frequently cited evaluations and some newer studies. It also shows the difficulties of evaluation and begins to develop a framework for doing better evaluation.

• RMIT University (2007), Saver Plus–encouraging savings and increasing financial capabilities among low-income families, June 2007.
  To ensure the Australian program Saver Plus is achieving its core objective of helping participants develop a savings habit, ANZ and community partners have commissioned RMIT University, based in Melbourne, Australia, to evaluate the program. Evaluations completed to date relate to the two phases of the Saver Plus pilot and include the following reports .

• RMIT University (2006), Youth Financial Literacy Trial Evaluation, April 2006.
  In 2005 ANZ supported a trial of youth financial literacy materials at Peter Lalor Secondary College in Melbourne's north. The materials were adapted from MoneyMinded. ANZ also supported RMIT University to evaluate the trial.

• RMIT University (2005), Improving Techniques for Evaluating Financial Literacy and Inclusion Programs
  In Australia, a number of initiatives are being developed that aim to increase the levels of financial capabilities within the community. With the growing number of programs in this area, it is important that reliable and valid evaluation techniques are used to ensure the effectiveness of the programs. This project will refine evaluation techniques using evaluation data from two Australian programs developed by The ANZ Banking Group and delivered through a number of community organisations.

• Russell, R., Brooks, R. and Nair, A. (2005-2006), Evaluation of MoneyMinded: an Adult Financial Education program.
  An important element of MoneyMinded is to understand the program's reach and impact. ANZ has commissioned RMIT to conduct evaluations of the program, including: Evaluation of the MoneyMinded Trial (June 2005) and Evaluation of MoneyMinded's Reach and Impact  (October 2006).

T

• John Tippet and Ron Kluvers (2007), A Practical Evaluation of an Adult Financial Literacy Programme, International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol.3 No.2, Pp. 442 - 455, June 2007.
  This paper reports on an evaluation of the Australian program Money Minded, which is an adult financial literacy programme developed by the ANZ Bank. The evaluation reported in this paper is unique because it is concerned with an evaluation of a financial literacy programme from the point of view of prospective facilitators, not end-users, of the programme. It was undertaken with staff of five not-for-profit organisations.

W

• Woodstock Institute (2002), Evaluating Your Financial Literacy Program: A Practical Guide, by Katy Jacob, October 2002.
  This reports gives tools to evaluate financial literacy programs and figure out how well they are working. If participants can increase their awareness and comprehension of financial concepts they will be able to change their financial behavior for the better.