Junior Achievement
Encyclopedia
Junior Achievement or JA or JA Worldwide is a non-profit
youth organization that was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses
, Theodore Vail, and senator Winthrop M. Crane
. JA focuses on educating kids in K-12 about the free enterprise system. Junior Achievement originally began as a collection of small, after-school business clubs for students on the East Coast of the United States
, but has since grown to become known as the world's largest organization dedicated to teaching students about entrepreneurism, workforce readiness and financial literacy.
Junior Achievement's global headquarters is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado
. The organization merged its U.S. and international operations in 2004, and currently reaches 10 million youth in 123 countries.
Junior Achievement's programs focus on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and teach young people important skills to help them become economically empowered. JA students learn how to start and grow a business, how to successfully contribute in the workplace, and how to effectively manage the money they earn. Junior Achievement programs also help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.
JA programs are taught in the classroom and after school by community volunteers, who use JA curriculum and share their work-life experiences with students.
, president of American Telephone & Telegraph
; Horace A. Moses
, president of Strathmore Paper Co.
; and Senator Winthrop M. Crane
of Massachusetts. Its first program, JA Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis, and allowed teens to start and run a real business under the mentorship of a volunteer from the local business community.
In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. During the past 30 years, JA has expanded its activities and broadened its scope to include in-school and after-school students in grades K–12, and currently impacts nearly 10 million youth in 123 countries.
Students who participate in Junior Achievement programs demonstrate a significant understanding of economics and business concepts, particularly those who participate in programs at consecutive grade levels, according to independent evaluators.
Programs implemented outside the U.S. include:
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
youth organization that was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses
Horace A. Moses
Horace Augustus Moses was a prominent industrialist and profound social engineer who founded Mittineague Paper Company in West Springfield, Massachusetts, which later became Strathmore Paper Company...
, Theodore Vail, and senator Winthrop M. Crane
Winthrop M. Crane
Winthrop Murray Crane was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 40th Governor of Massachusetts between 1900 and 1903. He also served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1904 until 1913...
. JA focuses on educating kids in K-12 about the free enterprise system. Junior Achievement originally began as a collection of small, after-school business clubs for students on the East Coast of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but has since grown to become known as the world's largest organization dedicated to teaching students about entrepreneurism, workforce readiness and financial literacy.
Junior Achievement's global headquarters is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
. The organization merged its U.S. and international operations in 2004, and currently reaches 10 million youth in 123 countries.
Junior Achievement's programs focus on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and teach young people important skills to help them become economically empowered. JA students learn how to start and grow a business, how to successfully contribute in the workplace, and how to effectively manage the money they earn. Junior Achievement programs also help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.
JA programs are taught in the classroom and after school by community volunteers, who use JA curriculum and share their work-life experiences with students.
History
Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 by Theodore Newton VailTheodore Newton Vail
Theodore Newton Vail was a U.S. telephone industrialist. His philosophy of using closed systems, centralized power, and as much network control as possible, in order to maintain monopoly power, has been called Vailism...
, president of American Telephone & Telegraph
American Telephone & Telegraph
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
; Horace A. Moses
Horace A. Moses
Horace Augustus Moses was a prominent industrialist and profound social engineer who founded Mittineague Paper Company in West Springfield, Massachusetts, which later became Strathmore Paper Company...
, president of Strathmore Paper Co.
International Paper
International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:...
; and Senator Winthrop M. Crane
Winthrop M. Crane
Winthrop Murray Crane was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 40th Governor of Massachusetts between 1900 and 1903. He also served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1904 until 1913...
of Massachusetts. Its first program, JA Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis, and allowed teens to start and run a real business under the mentorship of a volunteer from the local business community.
In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. During the past 30 years, JA has expanded its activities and broadened its scope to include in-school and after-school students in grades K–12, and currently impacts nearly 10 million youth in 123 countries.
Students who participate in Junior Achievement programs demonstrate a significant understanding of economics and business concepts, particularly those who participate in programs at consecutive grade levels, according to independent evaluators.
Programs
Junior Achievement develops and maintains programs for children of all ages. The curriculum for each program is developed and maintained by a team of educational professionals. Both in-school and after-school JA programs are taught by community volunteers. Its programs are funded by businesses, foundations, individuals and special events. They are designed to be taught in the classroom by business, parent, and community volunteers.Elementary
- JA Ourselves
- JA Our Families
- JA Our Community
- JA Our City
- JA Our Region
- JA Our Nation
Middle Grades
- JA America Works
- JA Economics for Success
- JA Finance Park
- JA Global Marketplace
- JA It's My Business!
- JA's Biz Kid$
- Scope and Sequence
High School
- JA Banks in Action
- JA Business Ethics
- JA Careers with a Purpose
- JA Company Program
- JA Economics
- JA Exploring Economics
- JA Titan
- JA Personal Finance
- JA Success Skills
- JA Job Shadow
Programs implemented outside the U.S. include:
- FOME
- GLOBE
- MMBiz: My Money Business
- YE Cambridge University Exam
- Hewlett Packard Global Business Challenge
- Scope and Sequence