Teachers Calculate Benefits of School Incentive Program
Problems and confusion surface as pilot program in 61 schools begins
By Philip Clark
November 12th, 2007
Roland Fryer, Jr., has gained national notoriety for using complex economic models to examine problems like the black/white test-score gap, the impact of “acting white” and affirmative action. Now, while he retains his academic post at Harvard, Fryer is trying to bring some of his theories to bear as the chief equality officer for the Department of Education (DOE).
Drawing on the power of quantitative analysis, he aims to break down complex problems and arrive at solutions that can have a real-world impact. Fryer first tried his ideas at P.S. 70, where students received pizza or field trips for doing well in class. The exact results of the study were not available for release, and DOE spokeswoman Debra Wexler called the study “statistically irrelevant,” since only one school was involved.
Fryer began a larger program in 61 schools this September, using cash rather pizza as an incentive. The study targets fourth- and seventh-grade students, and uses performance-based pay on a series of 10 Math and English exams spread out through the year. Fourth-graders receive $5 for completing the exam, with a maximum of $25 for a top grade, while seventh-graders receive between $10 and $50.
“These kinds of incentives,” said Fryer at an Oct. 30 presentation at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, “are about making education tangible.”
New York’s program is modeled on a program Fryer developed in Dallas entitled “Earning-by-Learning,” where students receive $2 per book read, with a cap at 20 books per child per semester. Final analyses are not available for the program, but preliminary data shows students reading an average of 23 books per semester. Though students are reading above the cap, whether students are continuing to read for the sake of reading is unclear.
Cash is still the only incentive offered at one New York City school participating in the program. The coordinator in charge of the program at this school, who introduced the idea to the seventh-grade classes, said that “students are very excited” and have set up their free personal bank accounts to deposit their earnings.
The rounds of tests were supposed to begin with the new school year in September but were delayed at some schools. That has resulted in a test-scheduling pileup at several.
A teacher administering the tests to seventh-graders who took their first round at the beginning of November said that in order to take the 10 tests, students would “be taking a test every three weeks.”
The tests are all online, which would normally streamline the testing process, but this school lacked a centralized computer lab where classes could take the tests.
When asked about the tests, a seventh-grade English language arts teacher confessed being totally unaware of the program.
At this school, the incentives were simply seen as reward for taking the exam.
“Students understand it’s serious now,” said the coordinator.
But when asked whether the connection between working harder in class and receiving greater incentives were being made, the coordinator replied, “No, I don’t think it is.”
pclark@coro.org
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