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9486 in the collection
Delighted -- or Deflated -- by Dollars D.C. Students Get First Reward Checks, but Some Come Up Short
Ohanian Comment: The
Post ran a poll when they published an
earlier story on this topic. People answered a
resounding 76% "No" to the question of whether
this is a good idea. Twenty per cent said
"Yes."
Such a project comes as no surprise: it is part
of the Business Model which insists that money
rules. People who themselves are motivated by
money assume that's what drives everybody else.
I admit to being startled to learn that
"Harvard University" is printed on the check.
So now students associate Harvard with money. I
guess that's the point. Why was I surprised?
Note who the big funder is: The Broad
Foundation. With Broad's help, the Inequality
Lab is pulling this same stunt in New York
City. Wherever there's a pile of Business Model
offal, you'll find Broad.
People who care about students' school success
should read Edward Deci before they start
handing out the cash:
Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally
mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation.
Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 18, 105-115.
Deci, E. L. (1972a). Effects of contingent and
non-contingent rewards and controls on
intrinsic motivation. Organizational
Behavior and Human Performance, 8, 217-229.
Deci, E. L. (1972b). Intrinsic motivation,
extrinsic reinforcement, and inequity.
Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 22, 113-120.
Deci's groundbreaking work showed that
extrinsic rewards such as monetary payments
undermine people?s intrinsic motivation for the
rewarded activity. Since his early
investigations, more than 100 studies have been
done which support his findings. Read Alfie
Kohn for convincing updates. Kohn's classic
Punished by Rewards challenges the
widely held assumption that incentives lead to
improved quality and increased output in the
workplace and in schools. And if people think
Deci's studies are too outdated, Kohn's work is
heavily documented with up-to-date
studies.
By Bill Turque and N.C. Aizenman
The District's experimental program to pay
3,300 middle school students for good grades
and behavior is filled with valuable life
lessons about hard work, thrift and showing up
on time, its supporters say.
And on yesterday's first payday under the
"Capital Gains" plan, kids at the 15 eligible
schools cashed in. They earned a total of
$137,813 from the initiative, a joint venture
of the District and Harvard University.
Students can earn a maximum of $100 every two
weeks. The average award yesterday was $43.
Unfortunately, students at Shaw at Garnet-
Patterson got a lesson officials hadn't planned
on: Your check might not be as hefty as you
expected.
Although students received credit for reaching
achievement targets in reading, math and
science, a computer error shorted them on
attendance and behavior. Dena Iverson, a
spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Michelle A.
Rhee, said the problem appeared to be unique to
Shaw, but at least one other school, Whittier,
also reported problems. Iverson said the
students will get the money they are due in
their next check.
Shaw Principal Brian Betts did his best to make
it a teachable moment.
"Mr. Betts once had a job where he didn't get
paid for four weeks," he told teacher Brian
Diamond's sixth-grade homeroom as he
distributed the checks.
Reactions varied widely, with some students
bounding down the school steps on 10th Street
NW near U Street, waving checks at each other
and shrieking: "What d'you get? What d'you get?
"
Others sat quietly and studied the pale green
checks with "Harvard University" in boldface
across the top. Sixth-grader Kevin Sparrow-Bey,
who took in $20, said he was annoyed by the
assumption that he and his classmates have to
be paid to take school seriously.
"I can do the work," said Kevin, 11, who said
he gets B's and C's. "It don't change nothing."
Shaw teachers and administrators said the
program has had a limited impact so far: A
downward spike in tardiness is the most
noticeable change, but what it does to grades
will take longer to determine. They also said
that until yesterday, the program was pretty
much an abstraction to many students. As
awareness of the system spreads, officials
expect the payouts to grow. By next month, the
money will be electronically deposited in
individual bank accounts, they said.
Betts said that when students begin to see the
money every two weeks -- and the direct
relationship between what they are paid and
what they do in school -- the effect will be
more widespread.
"That's when the power of this program will
surface," Betts said.
Some students said yesterday that it had
already raised the level of their academic
game.
Avontae Matthews, 12, said she had worked extra
hard for her $40. "I participated in all my
classes -- even gym. . . . I raised my hand in
social studies, and I paid more attention in
math," she said.
Although in most cases the missing amounts were
small, some students had been looking forward
to a bigger payoff for their good work.
"I only got $10. I should have gotten way
more," said Tarae Graham, 13, a seventh-grader.
"Yeah, this whole thing is really messed up,"
agreed Dominique Watson, 13, who received a
check for $28.
One special education teacher tried to console
students by telling them she was still waiting
to be paid by the District for training
sessions she attended over the summer.
"So we feel the same way," she said.
Capital Gains was created by Roland G. Fryer
Jr., a Harvard University economist and
researcher for the school's American Inequality
Lab, which studies poverty and race. Fryer, who
grew up poor in Daytona Beach, Fla., and
dropped out of high school for a time to deal
drugs, is searching for ways to close the
academic achievement gap between minority and
white students.
The middle school years are especially
critical, Fryer and other researchers say,
because it is the period when achievement often
declines. Studies show that many high school
dropouts actually finalize their decision to
leave during middle school.
At a morning assembly in the Shaw school gym,
Fryer joined Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in
a kickoff ceremony, presenting a group of
students with a giant ceremonial check for
$4,538 -- representing the amount students had
earned.
"Today is about you," Fryer said to the
students, pointing to a row of television
cameras. He told them "the whole world was
watching" to see whether the program can work.
Half of the $2.7 million for the year-long
pilot program comes from the District, and half
comes from a grant to Harvard by the Broad
Foundation.
School incentive programs are not new. The
Dallas school system pays students to read
books. Many schools, including KIPP Key Academy
charter school in the District, offer fake
money that can be redeemed for small gifts at a
school store.
But Fryer says no one has used rigorous social
science methods to determine whether incentives
make a significant difference. He has launched
programs similar to Capital Gains in Chicago
and New York, where about 8,500 fourth- and
seventh-graders are receiving cash based on
standardized test scores.
His work has kindled a vigorous debate among
parents and education scholars about the
propriety of cash for grades. Fryer said such
efforts are no silver bullet for the problems
of big urban school districts. But ultimately,
he said in a recent interview, progress will
come in a series of small solutions, not one
big fix.
Asked what they planned to do with their money,
Shaw kids had every kind of answer. Jai Carson,
13, the school's star running back, said he
planned to buy shoes for his cousin.
"I know some people who dropped out of school
because they didn't have any money," he said.
Avontae, a seventh-grader, said she wasn't sure
what she wanted to buy with the money, but she
knew where she planned to spend it. "I'm going
to the mall!" she announced loudly to whoops of
approval from her girlfriends.
James Patterson, 14, an eighth-grader who did
not get a check, said watching so many of his
friends get paid made him want to try harder in
school.
"I was suspended last week. But I'm definitely
going to try to do good now, you know, like not
talking in class," he said.
Sixth-grader Emilio Molina seemed particularly
deflated as he stepped into his father's blue
Toyota Corolla. For the last several weeks, he
had been doing his homework with extra verve.
"He always does it," said his father, Carlos
Molina. "But he was so much more enthusiastic.
As soon as he'd get home, he'd be like, 'Can I
use the computer?' He was so excited to earn
that money."
So even though Emilio's $46 check was among the
highest, it came as something of a letdown to
Emilio.
"I thought it was going to be more like $100,"
he mumbled. Not that he plans to slack off at
school now. Money has its attractions, but his
true motivation is loftier, he said. "I really
want to get into a good college."
Staff writers David Betancourt and Hamil R.
Harris contributed to this report.
— Bill Turque and N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post
2008-10-18
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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