New York offers cash incentives for students who pass tests
Categories: Teens & tweens, Playground bureau, Education
If students are expected to treat school as their work, it stands to reason that they then be compensated for a job well done. In academics, good work is reflected by good grades or test scores and in New York, kids are getting paid up to a thousand dollars for doing well on Advanced Placement tests.
While it hasn't yet been proven that reimbursing for grades can actual increases test scores, one of the results of the program being funded by private donations, corporations, and foundations is that more kids are taking the tests. In fact, the number students taking the AP test in New York rose slightly this past year, but the number who passed fell but still, it's a start.
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, a Washington research group that works on closing the racial achievement explains why the program is worth a try. "There's some part of all of us that gets a little queasy at this sort of buying stuff," she said. "That said, the problem of under-performance, especially among poor and minority kids, is so serious and has been with us for so long that I'm not begrudging anybody who has good will here from trying something so we can hopefully learn something from it. Frankly, rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents, so this isn't so different."
If cash motivates students to study and do better, I'm all for it. I offered my sons iPods for being on the honor roll for the entire year last school year and having to buy one in June was a great day for him and for me!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mihir 9-02-2008 @ 10:40AM
"Frankly, rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents, so this isn't so different"
huh? i aced my way through high school. 10 years later, my brother repeated it. we never got a dime. we got praise and encouragement, and that's exactly what we needed.
cash will only motivate in the short term. once the cash is gone, so is the motivation.
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Baron 9-02-2008 @ 11:06AM
At first glance, I really didn't think this was a good idea, but then I started thinking of all the people (there are literally millions) who do "good deeds" only because people see that they are doing something good. In other words, their motivation isn't really based on doing something good, it is because they really are good. I know many of you are swearing, right now, that you do good things out of the kindness of your heart, but how many of you have worked on some kind of gala, benefit, new letter, publication, etc. that was basically a "thank you" for all those people that did good work. Now, open up any social magazine and take a look at all the photos of people that are dressed up to have a good time because they did some good work. If you give money to an organization, you generally get a reward of some type. If you drive a "green" car, it looks different than the rest. You don't just recycle or buy green, but you also tell all your friends you do that, and, at the very least, you ask your friends what are they going to do with that empty water bottle (the passive aggressive approach).
BUT, with all that said, in the end, what really does end up mattering is if good work/results are accomplished, regardless of the motivation behind it. If there wasn't some "reward" for doing good, a lot of it wouldn't get done. If it takes something like this to motivate people, then so be it. Hopefully, they will start doing it on their own, but probably not. I know it was hard for me to take AP classes when I could have opted out which would have given me easy classes, higher grades and more free time.
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Kristi 9-03-2008 @ 12:01PM
Perhaps they should re-label it "automatic scholarship money" for high test scores. Almost noone would object to someone with a high AP test score receiving $1k scholarship for college. It's the assumption that the cash is used for cars, clothes, and video games that annoys people.
I took 3 AP classes back in high school (the only 3 my school offered), and scored 2-5's and 1-4 on them. I would have loved a little extra $...might have saved me having to slave my study time away at a minimum wage job to pay for books & laundry.
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