|
|
9486 in the collection
D.C. students respond to cash awards, Harvard study shows
The information released about this study raises more questions than answers and, as one reader points out, reads like a PR statement. For more background information, check out "Roland Fryer" in a search on this site.
And for more current information check out GF Brandeburg's blog.
Reader Comment: I read the 4,328 word Time article twice and found that with one exception, no numbers used to describe the purported success of the program -- no percentages, no statistics, no dollar amounts.
Numbers WERE used to describe the study design, but not the results.
Fascinating. Try to think of one other news report of a statistical study of any kind where this is the case. Also, releases of survey results are typically accompanied by links to the data so people can check and interpret for themselves. No such link is here. In this case so far, all the interpretation is done by a journalist who provides practically no data. The one instance in which a number was used to describe an outcome is here:
"…according to Fryer's results, kids [in DC] with a history of serious behavioral problems saw the biggest gains in test scores overall. Their reading scores shot up 0.4 standard deviations, which is roughly the equivalent of five additional months of schooling."
Interestingly, this finding was prefaced two paragraphs earlier by a caveat on sample size: "Because of the small size of the school system, the Washington sample was less well balanced than those in the other cities."
In other words, we can’t be confident about the one piece of positive (or any) data presented.
This looks less like an explanation of a serious educational study, and more like the rollout a public relations campaign.
Reader Comment: I find this really hard to believe as my child is in a school with Capital Gains. The kids never get the reports on what they are getting paid for, no one even talks about it anymore. The checks just get deposited. To the kids who need the most help, they don't really seem to care if they get $32 as opposed to $80. My child says that everyone thinks it's a total joke, even the kids who initially (last year) were on their best behavior for the first couple of months have fallen in the "I guess if I get a little money, that's good enough" mode. Several parents at our school requested to know the methodology, rubric, etc. behind this "study" and have not been given anything. The "evaluation" of the study consisted of a teacher asking the kids if they liked capital gains or not, and would they want to do it again. Not surprisingly, all the kids said yes. That study is completely bogus and without any real numbers to justify it.
By Bill Turque
Paying District middle-schoolers as much as $100 a month for good grades, behavior and attendance led to higher reading test scores for Hispanics, boys and students with behavior problems, according to the early results of a Harvard University study.
The overall effect of the cash awards on the 3,000 students in 15 D.C. middle schools was less significant, however, and the study's author acknowledged that the relatively small sample makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions about the initiative.
The initial results of the study, released Thursday, are unlikely to quell the long debate about financial rewards for students. Critics deride the idea as tantamount to bribery and point to a body of research that suggests such incentives can erode children's intrinsic motivation. The study's author, Harvard economist Roland Fryer, said there was no evidence that the money led to the waning of student motivation or interest in learning. And although the program is "no silver bullet," the results justify continued study, he said.
"We have a set of promising results, and we need more," Fryer said.
But Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said Friday that she was pleased with the results, which cover the 2008-09 academic year. She added that she was "shocked" at the gains on DC-CAS standardized tests achieved by Hispanics and other subgroups, which were the equivalent of as much as five additional months of school.
Compared with the cost of other kinds of supports for at-risk children, such as smaller class sizes and Head Start, she said, the outcomes were impressive. The total District outlay for the Capital Gains program that year came to $1.2 million, including average payments of about $530 to the students who participated.
"I definitely think it was a good investment for us," said Rhee, who cited the importance of finding ways to keep students engaged in their middle-school years.
The future of the program, which is continuing at least through this school year, is uncertain. Rhee said she expects to get a "quick and dirty" assessment of this year's student achievement soon. If the second-year results are similar, she said, she will push to continue the initiative despite the system's tight budget.
The Capital Gains program is part of a four-city, $6.3 million study led by Fryer to assess whether financial incentives can spur academic achievement in urban classrooms. Second-graders in Dallas received $2 for reading a book. Chicago high school freshmen were paid every five weeks for earning good grades in five core courses. Fourth- and seventh-graders in New York City earned cash payments for performance on tests.
The results, first reported in Time magazine, are mixed. Students who were asked to perform tangible tasks, such as the Dallas second-graders, showed significant test score growth. In Chicago and New York, where student payments depended solely on test scores, there was little increase.
"To my surprise, incentive programs that rewarded process seemed to be more effective than those that rewarded outcomes," said Fryer, who leads the Educational Innovation Laboratory at Harvard.
The District experiment was a hybrid, with schools required to use attendance and behavior as criteria but free to select other measures such as grades, homework completion and adherence to uniform policy. Cash payments were based on a $2-per-point system, with one point awarded daily for each goal met. The average two-week take for a student was about $40. Among the schools participating are Hart, Kelly Miller, Shaw at Garnet-Patterson, Stuart-Hobson, Brightwood, Burroughs and Emery.
Fryer said the District results were striking for several reasons. Girls, who usually respond more readily to educational interventions, were outperformed by boys. And although the sample group was small -- just more than 500 students -- Hispanics showed growth. The group that achieved the biggest test score gains was students who had been suspended the previous school year (2007-08) for disciplinary reasons.
As to why these student groups performed the way they did, Fryer can't say.
"What experiments are good at doing is cleanly estimating the causal impact of programs on student achievement," he said. "Experiments don't give clean reasons why."
Overall, the awards showed only a "marginally significant" effect on standardized reading test scores. Effects on math test scores were not statistically significant.
Fryer's study outlined several issues with the design of the District experiment that qualify some of the results. The relatively small size of the D.C. system -- with just 35 schools that have middle school grades -- limits the statistical reliability of the data. The New York study, by comparison, involved 63 schools.
He also said the "balance" of the sample was not ideal. Seventeen schools were originally selected to receive the cash incentives, and 17 were designated to serve as an experimental control group.
But two of the seventeen "incentive" schools dropped out. Neither Fryer nor District officials could name the schools Friday or explain why they chose not to participate. The remaining schools that received cash awards were larger, more predominantly African American and less likely to be pre-K through eighth grade.
Some District parents remain skeptical of Capital Gains' overall value.
"I was not a fan to begin with, and nothing has really convinced me that it is worth the money," said Mary Melchior, a parent activist at Langdon, a pre-K-8 school in Northeast. Melchior, the mother of second grade triplets, said she would pull them out of the school if the program is still in place when they enter middle school.
"We want to inspire our kids to enjoy reading," she said, "and to love knowledge for itself."
— Bill Turque
Washington Post
2010-04-10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040905180.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
|
