Daviess County High School recently was recognized by Working in Support of Education, a New York City-based educational nonprofit, as one of the top 100 schools in the nation for financial literacy.

Winners of the second annual “100 Best High Schools Teaching Personal Finance” were announced recently in a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange.

Renee Perkins, who teaches financial literacy courses at DCHS, said in a news release, “The W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Program invites high schools who teach a unit or course on personal finance to culminate their instruction with the Financial Literacy Certification Test. The test evaluates students’ knowledge of budgeting, money, interest, credit, banking, insurance, investing, regulatory agencies, housing and retirement planning.”

Students who pass the test become Certified Financially Literate, she said.

The program has reached more than 175,000 students in 34 states.

“My goal is to prepare students to make smart financial decisions and take responsibility for their personal economic well-being,” Perkins said. “The sensible financial decisions students make today will allow them to build wealth throughout their lifetime. In addition to the topics covered on the Financial Literacy Certification Test, our DCHS classes also emphasize learning to manage credit by paying bills on time and in full and striving to be debt-free.”

Perkins said roughly 50 students took her financial literacy and real estate classes during the 2012-13 school year. Those students were among those who complete the W!SE program that earned Daviess County High the ranking. In conjunction with the program, students were assessed with both pre- and post-tests based on the content. The high school increased its average score 13 percent, going from a 71 percent average to 84 percent. Daviess County High ranked 74th of competing schools in the nation at the end of the program.

“If educators can help students see the importance of debt-free living, students will be able to enjoy their college experiences and careers more without the constant worry about money,” Perkins said.

The Top 30 schools were ranked in order with the next 70 listed alphabetically. Daviess County High was in the 31-100 category.