NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee's effort to teach financial literacy skills to young people has gotten it a top grade among the states.
According to the state treasurer's office, the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., recently ranked every state on its efforts to provide financial literacy education to high school students.
Tennessee was one of only seven states that received a grade of A. The center says 60% of states got grades of C or less, with 44% having failing grades of D or F. The states getting an A are Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
Those getting a B are Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia.
Those getting a C are Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.
Those getting a D are Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Those getting an F are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Washington.
The center is a partnership among financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to promote financial literacy.
The center praised Tennessee for a number of its initiatives, including the incorporation of personal finance topics into the state's instructional guidelines for grades K-12 and the requirement that students be given assessment tests on financial literacy.
