Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas Subordinate

JA Company Program provides basic economic education for high school students by allowing them to organize and operate an actual business. Students not only learn how businesses function, they also learn about the structure of the U.S. free enterprise system and the benefits it provides. Volunteer consultants from the local business community employ a variety of hands-on activities and technological supplements to challenge students to use innovative thinking. The business skills that students learn in this after-school program will prove valuable as they begin to consider higher education and career choices. Each JA Company Program kit contains a plethora of resources, including a handbook for teachers and volunteers and interactive, take-home materials for students. Materials are packaged in a self-contained kit that includes detailed activity plans for the volunteer and enough materials for 24 students. All JA programs are designed to support the skills and competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. JA programs also correlate with state standards in social studies, English, and mathematics, and to Common Core State Standards.

JA Finance Park gives middle and high school grade students an opportunity to develop personal money management skills, acquire personal finance knowledge, and prepare for the financial decisions and challenges of their adult lives. JA Finance Park introduces students to personal finance and career explorations through classroom instruction complemented by a day-long, hands-on experience in which they apply learned concepts in a life-like community. During this one-day experience, students assume randomly assigned family and income scenarios and visit businesses to gather information for their personal financial decision-making. Participating students use bank services, contribute to charities, purchase housing, transportation, furnishings, food, health care, and other expenses, make investment decisions and work to balance their personal budgets. Real-life members of the community, such as parents and local businesses, are actively involved in the JA Finance Park experience. JA Finance Park students develop knowledge of economic and personal finance concepts, understand budgets and the importance of financial planning and gathering information, become familiar with the use of financial services, utilize financial decision-making processes, and become better prepared for their future roles as consumers, investors, and workers.

Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas’ vision is to systemically re-engineer high school education to expand economic opportunity for all students through the implementation of the 3DE by Junior Achievement instructional model. 3DE makes learning more relevant, experiential, and authentic to more fully prepare today’s students for the demands of tomorrow’s economy.

Operating as a full-immersion school-within-a-school, 3DE utilizes competency-based case methodology to drive student engagement and academic performance. The model uses interdisciplinary pedagogy to create a high school experience that reflects the dynamic pace of activity and interconnectedness of life beyond the classroom walls.

By mirroring the school’s range of academic levels and socio-economic demographics, the performance of 3DE students dispels entrenched assumptions on student learning. 3DE works towards the following overarching goals:

• Initiating Systemic Transformation in Education: 3DE’s clustered "school-within-a-school" is a catalyst for transformation throughout the school campus and broader system.

• Expanding Economic Opportunity/Mobility: Engaged students graduate four-year college eligible with the skills to navigate a career towards economic mobility for themselves, their families, and their communities.