Our Programs
Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts is dedicated to educating students in
entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.
Our programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs that 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.
Survey results prove that JA, at all levels, is preparing students to develop successful financial management habits, empowering them to explore the potential of becoming an entrepreneur, and providing them the skills necessary to succeed in a global economy.
K–5 Programs
JA’s K–5 programs are the foundation of its curricula. Seven sequential themes, each with five hands-on activities, as well as an after-school and capstone experience, work to change students’ lives by helping them understand business and economics.
Elementary Common Core Standards | Social Studies Standards | JA Programs Correlated to MA State Standards
JA Ourselves®
Introduces personal economics and the choices consumers make to meet their needs and wants. Students learn about the role of money in society and gain practical information about earning, saving and sharing money. Requires five volunteer led sessions. Recommended for kindergarten. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Our Families®
Introduces the concepts of families, neighborhoods, money, and needs and wants. Students explore the ways in which businesses provide goods, services and jobs for families. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grade 1. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Our Community®
Introduces work readiness and early elementary grades social studies learning objectives, including how citizens benefit from and contribute to a community’s success. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grade 2. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Our City®
Introduces the choices people have with money. Students learn about the importance of economic exchange in a city and how entrepreneurs promote a healthy economy. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grade 3. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Our Region®
Introduces the intersection of entrepreneurship and upper elementary grades social studies learning objectives. Students are provided with a practical approach to starting a business. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grade 4. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Our Nation®
Provides students with practical information about the U.S. free market system and how it serves as an economic engine for businesses and careers. Students examine the need for entrepreneurial and innovative thinking to meet the requirements of high-growth, high-demand careers in a global business economy. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Includes an optional sixth session supplement. Recommended for grade 5.
JA Our Nation® (Remote Classroom)
Offers educators and volunteers the opportunity to share JA Our Nation in a virtual remote classroom, or use in a classroom, with the ability to adapt materials to a variety of instructional approaches. Recommended for grade 5.
JA More than Money®
Teaches students about money management, goods and services, and global markets. Students learn a practical approach to starting a business and making smart decisions about managing money. Requires five volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grades 3–5.
JA More than Money® (Remote Classroom)
Offers educators and volunteers the opportunity to share JA More than Money in a virtual remote classroom, or use in a classroom, with the ability to adapt materials to a variety of instructional approaches. Recommended for grades 3–5.
Middle School Programs
JA’s middle school programs for students in grades 6–8 include economics and business curricula and a capstone experience. The dynamic interaction between the volunteer and students promotes active learning and brings theory to life.
Middle Grades Common Core Standards | JA Programs Correlated to MA State Standards | Social Studies Standards
JA Economics for Success® (Kit Based)
Provides practical information about personal finance and emphasizes the importance of identifying education and career goals based on a student’s skills, interests and values. Recommended for grades 6–8.
JA Economics for Success® (Remote Classroom)
Offers educators and volunteers the opportunity to share JA Economics for Success in a virtual remote classroom, or use in a classroom, with the ability to adapt materials to a variety of instructional approaches. Recommended for grades 6–8.
JA Economics for Success® (Blended)
Provides practical information about personal finance and emphasizes the importance of identifying education and career goals based on a student’s skills, interests, and values. The 10 modular sessions can be presented in any order, with at least six sessions required. Requires volunteer engagement. Recommended for grades 6–8.
JA Global Marketplace®
Demonstrates why and how countries buy and sell from each other. Students examine the interconnection between producers and consumers in the global marketplace and the effect of free enterprise in an economic system. Two implementation options are offered: Basic Advanced. For both options, the first six sessions are volunteer led while the last one can be teacher led. Recommended for grades 6–8. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA It’s My Future®
Offers students practical information to help prepare them for the working world. Students develop the personal-branding and job-hunting skills needed to earn a job. Requires six volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grades 6–8. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA It’s My Business!®
Encourages middle school students to turn their ideas into a business. The program introduces design thinking as a problem-solving process and provides students an authentic entrepreneurial experience that builds toward a pitch competition. Requires six volunteer-led sessions. Includes 15-minute optional extension activities for use in after-school implementation. Recommended for grades 6–8. Includes a remote classroom option.
High School Programs
JA’s high school programs for students in grades 9–12 include economic and business curricula, an after-school student-led enterprise, and a one-day workplace capstone experience. The dynamic interaction between JA volunteers and students promotes active learning and brings theory to life.
High School Common Core Standards | Social Studies Standards | JA Programs Correlated to MA State Standards
JA It’s My Job® (Soft Skills)
Teaches students the value of professional communication and soft skills, making them more employable across multiple career clusters. Recommended for grades 6–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Career Success® (Kit Based)
Equips students with the tools and skills required to get and keep a job in high-growth career industries. Requires seven volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Career Success® (Blended)
Provides high school students with a unique real-world introduction to the workplace, focusing on soft skills, career development topics and self-guided projects. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Personal Finance® 2.0
Introduces high school students to the interrelationship between today’s financial decisions and future financial freedom, as well as the impact of relationships in financial decision making. Requires five volunteer-led sessions, with three optional sessions and three modular student self-guided sessions. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA All About Cars®
Introduces students to the essential costs related to buying and operating a first car and offers tips on being a smart consumer when purchasing a vehicle. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Finance Park® Entry Level (Site Based, Mobile or Virtual)
Builds a foundation on which students can make intelligent lifelong financial decisions, including ones related to income, expenses, saving and credit. The program culminates in a hands-on budgeting simulation at a facility, mobile unit or virtual site. Requires a minimum of 13 teacher-led sessions. Recommended for grades 7–12.
JA Finance Park® Entry Level Self-Guided (Site Based, Mobile or Virtual)
Offers students the opportunity to explore JA Finance Park curriculum in a self-guided format, via remote learning or in the classroom. Can be used as a standalone or supplement to the JA Finance Park curriculum. The program culminates in a hands-on budgeting simulation at a facility, mobile unit or virtual site. Recommended for grades 7–12.
JA Finance Park® Advanced (Site Based, Mobile or Virtual)
Gives high school students a more personal focus. Students select their career and define their future lifestyle and financial goals. The advanced simulation allows students to see the long-term impact of their education, savings and credit decisions. Recommended for grades 9–12.
JA Company Program®
Empowers high school students to fill a need or solve a problem in their community and teaches them practical skills required to conceptualize, capitalize and manage their own business venture. Throughout the process of building their own company, students collaborate, make crucial business decisions, communicate with multiple stakeholders and develop entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. Recommended for grades 6–12.
JA Company Program® (Pop Up)
Teaches middle and high school students how to plan, launch and operate their own business venture within a structured, guided experience. Throughout the start-up process, students collaborate, make crucial business decisions, practice communication skills and develop entrepreneurial knowledge and skills within a streamlined, teacher-led experience. Recommended for grades 6–12.
JA Economics®
Connects students to the economic principles that influence their daily lives as well as their future. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Entrepreneurial Mindset®
Introduces high school students to the basics of starting a business, including developing entrepreneurial abilities, identifying a business opportunity, creating a business plan, economics and the stages of business growth. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Introduction to Business and Technology 1®
Introduces students to the basic skills necessary to succeed in business. Themes include personal skills like teamwork, innovation, decision making and ethics. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Introduction to Business and Technology 2®
Introduces students to the basic skills necessary to succeed in business. Themes include personal skills like innovation, management functions and accounting. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Marketing Principles 1®
Introduces students to marketing and some basic marketing techniques. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Marketing Principles 2®
Teaches students about marketing in the world around them and potential careers in the field. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Excellence through Ethics®
Teaches students about the importance of ethics in the workplace and in everyday life. Recommended for grades 6–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Be Entrepreneurial® Creative Problem Solving
Introduces students to the concept and application of design thinking, an innovative process for problem solving used by entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) to brainstorm customer-centric ideas. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Be Entrepreneurial® Rapid Business Planning
Teaches students about the foundations of lean business planning using Lean Canvas, a streamlined, one-page business plan template. Emphasizes rapid business planning to test and refine the approach in continuous improvement cycles. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Be Entrepreneurial® Think Like an Entrepreneur
Teaches students to develop a mindset that enables opportunity identification, innovation, value creation and problem solving. They learn the entrepreneurial principles, strategies and skills through the experiences of others and apply them to their own lives. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Be Entrepreneurial® Social Innovation Challenge
A national competition in which high school students are invited to submit their innovative ideas for improving and making an impact on their community. The student teams with the top ideas are eligible to participate in an exclusive, virtual workshop experience during which innovation experts and entrepreneurs provide additional guidance and resources for transforming students’ ideas into reality. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA High School Heroes™
Provides leadership development opportunities to high school students who deliver JA programs in elementary schools. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Job Shadow® (Kit Based)
Prepares students to be entrepreneurial thinkers in their approach to work. Students acquire and apply the skills needed in demanding and ever-changing workplaces. Requires two in-class sessions prior to the visit, a 4- to 5-hour site visit, and one in-class session after the visit. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Job Shadow® (Blended)
Helps students design an individualized career path. Supports blended as well as self-guided activities by providing a design-thinking structure for career exploration. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Take Stock in Your Future®
Introduces high school students to the stock market, trading, and investment strategy. This program includes two components: a classroom curriculum and, for many participants, the JA Stock Market Challenge® competition event. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
Learn & Earn™ powered by Junior Achievement
An app for students to learn about financial literacy, work and career readiness, entrepreneurship and other real-world concepts anytime, anywhere, in a fun and engaging gaming experience. Recommended for grades 9–12.
JA Digital Career Book™
Provides middle and high school students with a unique opportunity to engage in detailed career exploration, with a focus on opportunities in their own community and regional area. Recommended for grades 6–12.
JA Connect™ Learning Pathways
JA’s first self-guided student experience, featuring a flexible, modular repository of activities related to work and career readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Recommended for grades 6–12.
JA Financial Capability Videos
Short videos covering an array of financial topics that will be made available for students, teachers, volunteers and JA area offices via JA’s digital platform, JA Connect™ Learning Pathways. Recommended for grades 6–12.
JA National Student Leadership Summit™
A national pinnacle event that brings JA student companies together for three days of high-impact experiences. Students demonstrate their business acumen, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking in a competitive environment showcasing their companies to business leaders. In addition to the competition, JA Company Program students can participate in virtual webinars led by national experts in innovation, entrepreneurship and business. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Business Communications®
Teaches the communication skills necessary to succeed in business, including communicating up, down and across organizations; talking about performance; and writing in a business setting. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Financial Capability 1®
Teaches students financial capabilities from a business perspective, focusing on banking, economics, business planning and risk management. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Financial Capability 2®
Teaches students financial capabilities from a business perspective, focusing on employee benefits, ethics, business investment and international business operations. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Financial Literacy®
Equips students with foundational personal finance skills such as how to: earn and save money; manage money and bank accounts, investments and credit; assess risks and use insurance; and address financial problems like identity theft and debt. Recommended for grades 9–12. Includes a remote classroom option.
Experiential Programs
JA’s experiential programs are for students of all ages and allow for career professionals to provide valuable insight into their experiences. This allows for vibrant conversations and discoveries for students curious about their options for the future.
JA Career Exploration Fair®
An event for students to learn about a range of career options across multiple career clusters. Includes a remote classroom option.
JA Career Speakers Series®
A program in which a volunteer guest speaker visits the classroom and shares information about his or her career, work and education experience. Includes a remote classroom option.