Re: NY Times editorial in FAVOR of paying kids for tests?

[aburke5054@aol.com]

The link is to the Washington Post.  Money talks, so why not try 
getting it to talk to urban kids to do better in school?  It's all for 
the kids anyhow, right?

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Bernstein <kber@earthlink.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 2:38 am
Subject: [arn-l] NY Times editorial in FAVOR of paying kids for tests?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402430.html

here's the text:

Performance Pay
Baltimore students will get cash to learn.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008; A18

THERE ARE a lot of good reasons children should want to do well in 
school. Joy
in learning, going to college, getting a better job, living a richer 
life are
tops. Those arguments, though, haven't worked with many -- in 
particular poorer
-- children. Too often they see education as irrelevant, even a waste 
of time.
Would cash change their minds and their habits? That notion is behind a 
proposal
making headlines in Maryland, and, despite all the raised eyebrows, 
it's worth
trying.

Baltimore city schools have gotten permission from the state to spend 
nearly $1
million to pay students (up to $110 per student per subject) who attend 
tutoring
sessions and show progress. The program targets students who have 
failed the
high school assessments that, starting with the class of 2009, will be 
needed
for a diploma. The financial incentives are but one component of a $6.3 
million
initiative that is, as the Baltimore Sun reported, a mixed bag of 
traditional
and nontraditional ideas being advanced by new schools chief Andres 
Alonso. The
plan, a first for Maryland and among a handful nationwide, has caused 
an uproar
with critics who see the money as little more than bribes that are 
unlikely to
have any lasting effect on student behavior. They could be right, but 
it's clear
that the traditional methods simply have not worked with some students 
from
low-income families. Besides, it strikes us as a bit hypocritical for 
people who
see nothing wrong with rewarding their children's school performance 
with
dinners out, trips abroad and even new cars to pick apart a program 
that
attempts to deal with the real word of urban education.

The reality of Baltimore city schools is that more than 5,000 students 
have
already failed at least one of the graduation exams. Reality is the 
nation's
third-worst graduation rate, an appalling 34 percent. Reality is many 
students
not being able to get extra help in school because they have to hold 
down a job
or take care of younger siblings. Mr. Alonso is bringing new ideas and 
energy to
this long-troubled system. He comes from New York City, which is 
piloting a
program that gives financial incentives to fourth- and seventh-graders. 
Both New
York and Baltimore will evaluate their programs, and those outcomes -- 
not any
philosophical discomfort -- should determine whether there is merit in 
the pay
plans.

Kenneth J. Bernstein






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