What it does
The mission of junior achievement is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Through a network of dedicated classroom mentors from the business community, junior achievement works with students and teachers in grades k-12 to implement curricula focusing on seven key content areas: business, economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, workplace readiness, citizenship, and ethics.
The junior achievement elementary school programs include six sequential themes for kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Volunteers present five activities to students, introducing them to the basic concepts of business and economics and how education is relevant to the workplace. The sequential activities build on studies from each preceding grade and prepare students for secondary school and lifelong learning. All elementary school programs are correlated to the alabama course of study for social studies, language arts and math.
The middle school programs for students in grades 6, 7, and 8 build on concepts the students learned in junior achievement's elementary school programs. Volunteers present six activities that help teens make difficult decisions about how to best prepare for their educational and professional future and provide a global and historical perspective to concepts related to entrepreneurship and economics. The junior achievement middle school programs are also correlated to the alabama course of study for social studies, language arts, math and career tech.
Junior achievement's high school programs help students make informed, intelligent decisions about their future and foster skills that will be highly useful in the business world. With a wide range of different programs, the volunteers bring real-life business experience and guidance into the classroom at a time that represents an essential crossroads for young people. Also correlated to the alabama course of study, these programs reinforce the value of workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy and serve as supplements to standard social studies curricula.