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Nevertheless, how can we trust him? It shouldn’t be up to Fryer to evaluate the results of his own experiment. This fact that he is allowed to do so violates standard academic practices. That this administration is letting him get away with this shows a disregard for value of objectivity. Bring on the spinmeisters!

Moreover, he is engaging in large-scale experiments on vulnerable, low-income students. Half the middle school students in DC are involved in this “experiment.”

Given the predominantly negative evidence on the results of such studies, which suggest that these sort of monetary incentives lead to a long-term decline in intrinsic motivation, this should not have been allowed Both Rhee and Klein should be ashamed of themselves.

I tend to agree with Robert’s ideas- if we are going to give these kids and their parents any sort of money, it should go into an account like a 529, only to be used for higher education. What better way for them to see that there will be a payoff? These kids need to see that education is an investment they make in themselves, and getting money to use for higher education, whether it’s a 4 year college, a 2 year or a trade school, will show them that value of continuing to invest in themselves. As poor as my students are, many of them seem to have iPods and cell phones- do they need more gadgets and sneakers?

No one will argue that in the short-term, incentives work. Any teacher who has ever promised extra recess for 20 minutes of silent reading will attest to that. But if the kids don’t see education as a means to an end the gains are ephemeral and the long term payoff (sorry, but even a little boost on a standardized reading test doesn’t impress me) will be nil.

To Robert – I believe the Chicago program does something along the lines of what you propose. Half the money is earned immediately. Half is earned only when students obtain their diploma (though it doesn’t have to be used for college). The idea is to provide both an immediate reward and a long-term incentive. I think the whole point is to see whether this type of program will make the value of an education REAL to kids who might not see that in their immediate family/community. And it also levels the playing field when you consider that middle class families provide these kind of rewards all the time. As for anecdotes, my friend is AP at a school that is participating in the New York program and one interesting thing she told me is that the program really boosted parent involvement in the school (which has always been a serious challenge for them). She said about half the kids are saving most of their money for college and many parents who had never set up college accounts for their kids are now matching the rewards the kids earn on the tests. I thought that was pretty cool.

Really great post/article really informative.