Kids Score 40 Percent Higher When They Get Paid For Grades

A large number of schools participating in a pay-for-grades program have seen test scores in reading and math go up by almost 40 percentage points. The Sparks program will pay seventh-graders up to $500 and fourth-graders as much as $250 for good performance on 10 assessment tests. About two-thirds of the 59 schools in the program improved their scores by margins above the citywide average. "It's an ego booster in terms of self-worth. When they get the checks, there's that competitiveness -- 'Oh, I'm going to get more money than you next time' -- so it's something that excites them," said Rose Marie Mills, principal at MS 343 in Mott Haven. Critics, who are unaware that most college students don't become liberal arts majors, argue that paying kids corrupts the notion of learning for education's sake alone.

Comments

Net-worth != Self-worth

[johncadengo]

From the article:

"It's an ego booster in terms of self-worth," said Rose Marie Mills, principal at MS 343 in Mott Haven, where nearly 90 percent of students qualify for federal poverty aid.

It is sad to see that in America we have tied self-worth to monetary possession. Worse, that the most impoverished feel the least worthy.

Re:Overjustification effect

[pejyel]

Mod parent +6, Insightful Seriously, there needs to be a way to mod extra-posts above the +5, Funny or the +5, Clever-thought-rated-insightful-for-lack-of-a-better-moderation

Re:Education's sake?

[Random BedHead Ed]

At the risk of getting -1 Offtpic by being a little too meta ... Flamebait? Really? Who are these mods who throw Flamebait and Troll around at perfectly decent Slashdotters? I don't see any Flamebaiting in the parent comment. Overratedness maybe, but not Flamebaiting. Whichever mod threw a Flamebat at Vancorps, fess up and explain yourself, or may you be subject to the merciless judgment of meta-moderation!