Students are often given rewards by parents when they bring home a sound report card. High school students who excel in academics, sports or other activities are often given monetary incentives to attend particular colleges through scholarships. Why not pay students in primary and secondary schools for making the grade as well?
Studies have recently been conducted to determine whether monetary rewards by the school district would motivate at-risk students to achieve better in school. While the results of these studies have been mixed, the debate over the idea is unmistakable. Although some believe that any method of enticing kids to perform well in school is fair game, others see paying cash for grades as an unnecessary way to encourage students to do what they should already be achieving. Who's right? Let's take a look at both sides of the debate to see.
The Four-City Study
Harvard economist Roland Frye recently conducted a test to find out if offering students monetary rewards for performing well in school could bring up scores on standardized tests. Frye's research results were published in Time last spring. The study looked at schools in four major cities across the United States: Chicago, Dallas, Washington, and New York.
In New York, fourth through seventh-grade students were paid for their grades on tests. In Chicago, ninth-grade kids were paid for the grades on their report cards. In Washington, middle schoolers earned money based on five different metrics, including
