District Administration - March 2009 - (Page 24)

ADMINISTRATION & SUPERVISION Do Economic Rewards Work? The jury is still out. BY BRIAN D. WALLACE HE LOVE OF LEARNING that intrinsic desire to gain knowledge and insight into new subjects—was once its own reward. at was altered decades ago when parents started using the proverbial “stick and carrot” to motivate their children to do well in school, or even just show up. Today, educators across the country have taken hold of this approach and are implementing pay-for-performance programs to motivate students to succeed academically. e theory behind pay-for-performance programs is that “the payoﬀs in education are quite delayed and all the costs are up-front,” concentrating on academic matters now, instead of more pleasurable activities, according to Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It is not evident to [the student] that the payoﬀ is worthwhile or that the 24 March 2009 T costs are worth the beneﬁts, because the beneﬁts are 10, 20, 30 years out. So the idea of an incentive program is to correct that imbalance—to give kids an immediate, tangible reward in the short term.” And reward them, such programs are. e privately funded Learn & Earn initiative in Fulton County (Ga.) Schools launched a 15-week pilot program that paid middle and high school students struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend its after-school tutoring program. High school students in Texas who enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) classes were paid up to $500 if they got top scores on their math, science and English AP exams. And Opportunity NYC: Spark provides small monetary incentives to fourth- and seventh-graders in the New York City public schools for achievement on periodic assessments. Some incentives go beyond cash. e Wisconsin Covenant program plans to provide college placement and ﬁnancial aid to high school students in the state who maintain a B average, enroll in college preparatory classes, and partake in community service. Pizza Hut’s “Book It” program rewards readers with free pizzas based on the number of books they have read. High school students in Seattle Public Schools who spent ﬁve weeks in a Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) summer prep course received an iPod. Middle and high school students at San Jacinto (Calif.) Uniﬁed School District were able to win an iPod for excellent attendance. Students with perfect attendance for the year at Benton Central Jr.-Sr. High School in Benton Community School Corp. in Indiana even had the chance to be the lucky winDistrict Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2009

District Administration - March 2009
Contents
Editor’s Letter
News Update
Health & Fitness
Online Learning
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
The College Promise
Do Economic Rewards Work?
The SIFication of America
Disciplining Students with Disabilities
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Tech Disruptions
New Products
Product Focus
New Books
Research Center

District Administration - March 2009