How Classroom SILC and Financial Education Help Students in Central America

Classroom SILC and financial education were developed to help children learn how to use money responsibly and develop organizational and leadership skills and empathy in a safe environment, guided by their teachers and parents. This study is the first systematic evaluation of the effects of these interventions and fills the gaps in knowledge about the impacts of classroom SILC and financial education by analyzing data collected during the final quarter of the 2023 school year from teachers, students and parents participating in three projects in three Central American countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras). The study finds that participating in classroom SILC helped most students learn to save regularly, set financial goals, increase their participation in their households' financial planning and, in school, improve their performance in Spanish and mathematics. Furthermore, teachers, parents and students concurred that participating in classroom SILC motivated students to complete the school year and return to school the following year. 

The study brief can be accessed here.