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D.C. Public Schools have borrowed a lot of ideas from New York City Public Schools since Mayor Adrian Fenty gained control of the system and handed the keys to Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Add one more to the list: paying students for academic achievement.
DCPS today announced its new cash incentive program, dubbed "Capital Gains", aimed at middle school students. Students enrolled in select middle schools can earn money for things like attendance, behavior, homework completion and grades. This is only a pilot program, so not every middle school will participate at first.
The program was created by economist Roland Fryer of the Innovation Lab at Harvard University. Fryer already implemented a similar program, called "Spark", in New York. Harvard will be footing the bill for half of the $2.7 million program, the other half coming from the District. Here's how the announcement describes how it will work:
Schools will track student performance on several metrics through an online database, created specifically for the program, and will reward them with cash every two weeks. Money will be deposited into student bank accounts.How much money? D.C. Wire says it's up to $100 every two weeks, and that students will get debit cards linked to accounts that will be set up in a bank.
So, paying students for achievement: sending the wrong message, or hey, anything that works?
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sending the wrong message, or hey, anything that works?
Why can't we have both?
This is only a pilot program, so not every middle school will participate at first.
Hmmm. So predominantly African-American schools? I don't understand why they don't just come out and say that it's to bridge the gap between whites and blacks.
Does anyone know the racial breakdown of the student population in DC? Or where I can find that info?
maybe i'm pessimistic, but this seems like it might promote a lot of cheating... anything it takes for someone to make a buck.
it'd be nice if the debit cards could only go towards certain purchases or a college fund or something.
Isn't the whole point of school to learn so that you could apply that knowledge to earn money later in life? i may be missing something, but thats what most of the people i know think. this will only encourage cheating. i'm a student, i would sure as hell cheat for 100 bucks a week or whatever the hell it is
What kind of message does paying kids in DC for what they're supposed to be doing send? Are they working from the same blueprint that produced the summer jobs program?
"What kind of message does paying kids in DC for what they're supposed to be doing send?"
When they're clearly not doing it, I don't know.
"Does anyone know the racial breakdown of the student population in DC? Or where I can find that info?"
Try Great Schools. I don't know if it has citywide aggregates, but it does by school.
Frankly I don't see a major problem with this program. True it's not teaching these kids that education is its own reward, but seriously, you look a 16 year old 6th grader in the face and try telling him that. Clearly a lot of these kids don't believe school can lead to money.
As for cheating, I can't say. To some extent you have to admit that even if the kids are cheating, they're at least learning the value of turning in a finished product, even if it's the result of somebody else's effort. Don't fool yourself into thinking that lesson doesn't have application to just about every field.
so. not. cool.
but whatever. if it gets kids to study, then i guess that's good.
i studied my ass off in college, because i realized was paying for my classes and i didn't want to waste the money. shouldn't that be a better solution than paying the kids to do well?
can't they come up with something a little less fungible? like tickets to the roller rink; a free pass to stay up to 9:30; free dippin' dots - ice cream of the future; a free hairstyling lesson from paula abdul; a hypercolor shirt...what? my bad. sorry - got lost in 1988-1991 for a moment.
i can't decide what upsets me about this. is it that we have to pay kids for something that once seemed like a privilege and that my parents would have killed me for not doing? is it that it seems like this takes innocence way too soon. i guess most folks go to college to make (more) money (unless you're an english major), but at least passing high school just seemed like a baseline expectation. is it that i'm jealous? i guess this ties grades to the right indicator, since better students generally make more. still something seems wrong, even aside from the (inevitable) abuse.
well, at least one thing remains constant: dippin' dots will always remain the ice cream of the future.
wonderwazz asks why this couldn't go into a college fund, and I echo that question but in a broader sense... Why not make this an opt-in program where students who want to get paid for their grades have to attend career counseling as well, or learn about personal finance? It seems like a wasted opportunity to put money in the kids' hands without using that transactional moment to sneak in a little added value.
I also wonder whether, in very specific cases, this might encourage a kid who is considering dropping out to stay in school. If they are having troubles balancing long-term and short-term tradeoffs, offering a short-term benefit may cause them to make the right decision for their long-term future...
Am I the only one who got a bonus in their allowance for a good report card? Students are expected to attend class and graduate - there's no expectation of straight A's (from society anyway), so what's wrong with rewarding students who are performing well?
i can't decide what upsets me about this.
And there you have it: it's the same mental block that prevents us from setting up the worst of the homeless in their own apartments, and delivering meals to them. It saves money. It gets them off the street. Hooray!
But it's unfair. Well, to hell with it. Sometimes life's not fair. Do what works, and if you can come up with a real objection other than "Ooh, ick!" let us know and we'll reconsider.
"Nobody gave me nothin'" is not such an objection.
yikes - sorry ibc. clearly, you need a dippin' dots-pocalypse.
i didn't mean to imply that i didn't think it should happen - in fact i mentioned that they're tying good grades to the correct indicator since better achievement = increased compensation. generally, that is. sometimes you can get your bling via amway and other pyramid schemes. no actual exertion required.
I would feel better if it was all private money.
It's bad enough that people are forced to pay for public education for other people's children.
registeringsucks, I would have hated you so hard when I was 12. My parents didn't believe in things like that.
I think we have to look at the return on investment here: DC has the choice to spend a couple thousand extra bucks to get a kid through middle and high school, which we know are key steps to becoming a productive, taxpaying member of society. Or, we spend nothing now, the kid drops out of school, and then we spend tens of thousands of dollars a year for the rest of the kid's life on our criminal justice system, welfare, prison, etc (and repeat the process all over again for their kids, too).
Why not gamble with $1.35 million of city funds to figure out if this sort of cash investment in kids' futures will pay off 10 years from now....
Now, if we could just figure out how to make the program fraud-proof!
We had an awesome system in middle/high school where local companies would donate prizes as part of a program -- at hardly any cost to the schools. If you got straight A's, you got a "gold card". If you got all A's and up to 2 B's, you got a "silver card". Every six week grading cycle, you could earn another card. The cards were redeemable for discounts or free items at local businesses. The most memorable were free Houston Astros tickets (cheap seats, with upgrades available at nominal fees) and free movie tickets at AMC. The gold card gave you 2 tickets each, and the silver card gave you half the benefits of the gold card.
I saw a lot of movies back then, and it turned me into a big Astros fan.
I would have probably still excelled because of a strict upbringing. But I had 5 black female friends who really excelled post-high school: 3 lawyers, 1 doctor, 1 engineer. Hell, the fact that I was friends with 4 females who became engineers alone is crazy.
Rewards are great, but let businesses get involved in their community and pick up the tab. Use the money for more special programs and experiences.
I don't like the idea, but all that aside...
I wonder, does this create "issues" down the line when these kids apply for college, IF they apply for college, when their grades were essentially paid for, and everyone else had to work hard for nothing (but the knowledge that they worked hard). Does this become a new wrinkle in the merit based application?
Oh wait... college applications aren't based on merits! How could I be so dumb?
But seriously, what happens when they're handed real assignments (because I believe that most of high school is a waste of time anyway), that might actually change the outcomes of their lives (theoretically), and there is no incentive to do well, because instead of getting paid, they are paying for their education?
What have they learned then?
Not really happy that DC has to foot half the bill ... I don't have kids. I can settle with tax dollars going towards the upkeep (ha ha) and salaries for public schools, but paying kids to do what their supposed to be doing in school? Not so much.
I'd pay them $100 if they'd quit using double negatives like, "I ain't seen him do nothing."
Everyone knows that sentence, constructed properly, would read "I ain't seen him do anything."
Is attendance an acheivement? Just showing up?
Anyway, ibc you have a good point, if it works, good. If it doesn't then we can complain. Cuz... who doesn't think that schools can use a little help? People respond to incentives, kids and harvard professors, too.
All this will do is marginalize stupid kids and lower their self esteem. And what's to prevent them from beating up the smart kids and stealing their $100? Shouldn't we just cut out the middleman and pay the stupid kids' parents to beat them even more? Or, barring that, just give them coupons to Chuck E. Junkpuncher's Pizza Time Grand Guignol Theater and Ballsack Whompin Pit?
Wouldn't it make sense to put that money in a savings account and give it to them upon graduation from high school?
It also comes down to getting the parents more actively involved in the child's life and motivating them to want to learn and go to school. If the child sees their parent not really caring whether or not they do well or even go to school, why should the child care?
I've seen studies on this kind of reward program, and the results show that there's some improvement as long as the incentive program is in place. However, when the incentive is removed, performance drops below what it was before the reward was added. It makes me wonder what will happen when kids in this program move to another school where they're not being paid to get good grades.
Also, what sleepcamel said.
Oh, this will play out well, I'm sure.
From the city that brought you the DMV's "New Identity For Cash" program, or for that matter OTR's famous Operation: Go on, Take The Money and Run . . . Except we're too dumb to run, how long do you think it will take before we read the following headline in WaPo?:
“DC Teachers Charged in Grades For Cash Kickback Scheme”
So, how many weeks of good attendence does it take to buy a now-legal handgun and bring it to said school to threaten a teacher who's about to give out a bad grade and derail the money train?
I'm fine with it as long as parents have to reimburse the taxpayers for the cost of the class when their kid fails.
This idea brings out people's denial- all of the sudden people start acting like education isn't about making money and paying bills. When in fact that’s all it's about. It's a competition among the young to make money when they become adults. Paying them $100 bucks every two weeks to be functional parts of society and learn about government, English, Trig, and behave during the 8 hours they have to sit in a building and not steal my car anymore. Exactly like thier job in about 10 years.
G Lover Park is right though, the corruption is going to roll on this one! If we had all decent teachers, maybe, but c'mon. I predict a lot more fur coats and Lexus's in front of my local middle school this winter.
I agree that a savings account that can be accessed after graduating would be a better idea. Team up with a bank that agrees to offer a decent rate, and you can teach a lesson about compound interest as well. Kids who participate from middle school through high school would have a decent amount to offset the cost of books in college and make that jump seem less intimidating financially.
Not really happy that DC has to foot half the bill ... I don't have kids. I can settle with tax dollars going towards the upkeep (ha ha) and salaries for public schools, but paying kids to do what their supposed to be doing in school? Not so much.
Judging by your use of "their" instead of "they're" looks like DC middle school kids aren't the only ones who need help...but I digress.
Seriously though, how is this really that bad an idea? I also agree with Krazy Kat that it might be a better idea to put the money in some kind of savings account for later use. However, I have a question: is education mandatory? I mean it. Is it mandatory? Are kids required to attend school? I don't think so. Education is there for children/families to take advantage if they so choose but children are not required by law to attend school.
What's the point? The point is since parents aren't required to send their children to public schools then whatever the kids do if/when they're there isn't based on anything except the children's own values. If they value education then they can CHOOSE to do well, if they don't then they can goof around and/or eventually drop out. However, if there is an incentive provided for them to not just attend school but to attend and succeed then where's the harm?
It's bad enough that people are forced to pay for public education for other people's children.
This is just about one of the most douchebaggious statements I've ever seen on here. Yeah and I don't want to be "forced" to pay for the incarceration of those convicted of crimes against other people. I mean, ain't nobody did nothin' to me anyway. Why should I pay for some murderer to be sent to prison? They didn't murder anyone I know.
Uhm, hello, maybe because as a citizen of this city it's in your own best interest to see that fellow citizens at least have the opportunity to better themselves.
Have similar programs been successful in other districts? I don't think you can really predict if this reward system would succeed or fail until it is put into action.
If the program is extended to high schools, it may be effective in helping out poor students make the time to study. I'm sure some of them would be willing to spend less time working after-school jobs and more time focusing on their schoolwork if there was a similar payoff. I know I'd take studying calculus over slaving away at McDonald's.
How about making housing subsidies contingent on your kids' grades? If they can't maintain a C average *POOF*, one-way ticket to Houston!
Now that's a recipe for parental involvement!
NotoriousREG, I agree with almost everything you said, except that education is not optional for children. DC has truancy laws, albeit not with great enforcement. I assume that you have to provide documentation if your child is being home schooled or some other alternative.
"douchebaggious" - Could this also apply to self righteous individuals who edit the posts of others? :) j/k Good catch, I hadn't noticed I used the possessive instead of a contraction. I will immediately contact my University to let them know that I am entitled to a refund.
Consider the money in salary saved in the firing of 98 employees at centra
Consider the 611+ million in taxpayers money for a baseball stadium
Consider that the pilot program is supported by one of the top research institutions both from an evaluation standpoint and financially
Consider that the the local portion of the budget includes monetary income to kids of families who probably can use the money
Consider that $50 million+ has been wasted in fraud in the Chief Financial Offficer's shop
....$1.35 million in taxpayers does not seem like such a bad investment in a pilot progam to improve educational outcomes in a school system with a poor graduation rate and high truancy rate
I wonder how many of those who posted to this blog NEVER received rewards for good grades or good performance at school - maybe not cash, but tangible rewards that have monetary value
Did none of you receive graduation gifts after high school or college that had monetary value ?
NO one seems concerned that DC is going to pay for HALF of some big Harvard University RESEARCH STUDY.
Of course that wasn't in the press release, but if Harvard wants to experiment on our middle schools, they should fit 100% of the bill.
They're only using 50% of the schools so that the other 50% can be "control groups." That's the NOT COOL" part.
Parents always reward kids for good behavior and doing well in school, so I'm okay with the program, but not for paying for Harvard experiments. Harvard has an endowment over 34 BILLION dollars! They can afford it.
I don't see why this project would be anything but an improvement over the normal blundering of public schools.
It's GOOD for kids to associate intellectual effort with financial reward. The concept that this could possibly be bad is probably, itself, a result of the ugliness of socialized education tending to fail to teach money=good in the first place.
DC schools squander over ten thousand dollars per year per student...triple what it would take for those students to get a better private school education. Obviously, taking some of that money and paying the kids to want to learn is an improvement over their usual, abysmal results.
It's not as good as giving any student's parents half of the school's per-student money if they pull their kid out to privately or home school him, but it's a start.