Fwd: [ARN-state] More on Test Score "Bribes"

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
> Date: Mon Jan 28, 2008  5:27:32 AM US/Pacific
> To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>,  arn2-strategy 
> <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ARN State 
> <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, CARE List <care@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [ARN-state] More on Test Score "Bribes"
> Reply-To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com
>
> GOOD GRADES PAY OFF -- LITERALLY
> USA Today -- January 28, 2008
> by Greg Toppo
>
> Teachers have long said that success is its own reward. But these days,
> some students are finding that good grades can bring them cash and 
> other
> gifts.
>
> In at least a dozen states this school year, students who bring home 
> top
> marks can expect more than just gratitude.
>
> Some examples:
>
> - Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso last week promised to give high
> school students as much as $110 each to improve their scores on state
> graduation exams.
>
> - In New York City, about 9,000 fourth- and seventh-graders in 60
> schools are eligible to win as much as $500 for improving their scores
> on English and math tests, given throughout the school year.
>
> - In suburban Atlanta, a pair of schools last week kicked off a program
> that will pay eighth- and 11th-grade students $8 an hour for a 15-week
> "Learn & Earn" after-school study program (the federal minimum wage is
> $5.85).
>
> In most cases, the efforts are funded privately through corporate or
> philanthropic donors.
>
> The most ambitious experiment began in September, when seven states —
> Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia and
> Washington — won spots in an ExxonMobil-funded program that, in most
> cases, pays students $100 for each passing grade on advanced placement
> (AP) college-prep exams.
>
> It's an effort to get low-income and minority students interested in 
> the
> courses, says Tommie Sue Anthony, president of the Arkansas Advanced
> Initiative for Math and Science.
>
> "We still have students who are not sure of the value, who are not
> willing to take the courses," Anthony says. "Probably the incentives
> will make a difference with those students."
>
> Gregg Fleisher of the National Math and Science Initiative, which runs
> the seven-state program, says the effort is modeled on a program 
> adopted
> by Dallas in the 1995-96 school year that saw AP course-taking jump
> substantially. That program is now statewide.
>
> While many educators would blanch at offering kids cash for good 
> grades,
> Fleisher and others say the idea is simple.
>
> "It's an incentive to get them to basically make the right decision and
> choose a more rigorous class," Fleisher says.
>
> An analysis of the Texas program last month by Cornell University
> economist Kirabo Jackson found that it linked to a 30% rise in the
> number of students with high SAT and ACT scores and an 8% rise in
> college-going students.
>
> Some critics say the payouts amount to little more than bribes,
> undermining kids' motivation to do high-quality work when they're not
> being paid.
>
> "It's a strategy that helps only around the edges," says Thomas Toch,
> co-director of the Education Sector, a Washington think tank.
>
> Most students in AP classes "are already internally motivated, and the
> opportunity to earn college credits for passing AP tests is a bigger
> motivator than small cash awards," Toch says.
>
> Bob Schaeffer of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a 
> watchdog
> group, is more blunt.
>
> "Bribing kids for higher test scores — or paying teachers bounties for
> their students' work — is similar to giving them steroids," he says.
> "Short-term performance might improve, but the long-term effects can be
> very damaging."
>
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-01-27-grades_N.htm
>
>
>
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