YA Named Blue Star School

SPECIAL FOR THE AJT //

Yeshiva Atlanta has earned the prestigious designation of Blue Star School for its students’ performance on Working In Support of Education (W!SE) Financial Literacy Certification Test. YA students achieved a 100-percent pass rate and an average score over 80 percent.

Students passing this test become “Certified Financially Literate.” The test and certification are recognized by the Departments of Education in several states. To earn the Blue Star – given to a select number of institutions nationally – a school must achieve a 75-percent passing rate on the Certification Test and have either a majority of students on a given grade level take the test or have the students who took it achieve an average score of 80 percent or higher.

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According to YA Math Department Head Al Wolmer, there is an immediate need for this kind of education.

“Most students drop out of college not because of academic failure but because of personal debt, and the fastest growing group filing personal bankruptcy is young people ages 18 to 25,” Wolmer, who taught students taking the W!SE test, said. “The W!SE program provides our students with access to financial education and the opportunity to become certified financially literate.”

Because of YA’s participation in the program, Wolmer had access to training, educational resources, pre-tests and online practice tests. However, according to Dr. Paul Oberman, YA’s Head of School, there was more involved than training and resources.

“Al did a fabulous job of preparing our students for this test, but give credit to our students [too],” he said. “They did the work, mastered the material and did superbly well on the test.”

As
a Blue Star School, Yeshiva Atlanta will receive a banner in recognition of its students’ achievement and will be honored at W!SE’s Annual Money POWER Conference for Financial Literacy, which will take place in November.

The W!SE Program is sponsored by leading U.S. institutions, including the McGraw-Hill Companies, the Allstate Foundation, Citi Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Bloomberg, Wells Fargo Foundation and others.

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