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Luke Gregory

Professor Thomas

UWRT 1103-005

18 April 2018

After the first draft I wrote I was completely and utterly lost, but at the small group

meeting, I actually realized what I was supposed to do. I am a visual learner and by

seeing other people’s work really helped me understand how to do this thesis. Thank

you Mrs. Thomas for giving me more ideas to explore and not to just stick with one, and

also thanks for the story about Hendrick. I have never had any confidence in my writing,

but I was starting to finally get it while writing this.

Do Incentives Really Improve Grades?

Have your parents ever given you money or rewarded you for getting good

grades on your report card? If so, did the incentives push you harder to get good grades

just for the rewards? Or did you actually retain the information you learned? There are

several different opinions about the topic, and most of them go back to the concept of

parenting. If you had a child in school, would you give them rewards for getting good

grades? Paying a student or receiving incentives for getting good grades has not been

proven to be the number 1 answer to rise student achievements across the nation, but it

can be a stepping stone to get to the answer. Many scholars have opinions regarding

the incentives and many different studies have been conducted that have shown

different results. By relating students receiving incentives to even adults getting raises

can help shed some light on the consequences and benefits of rewarding students.

Some people say that giving students incentives helps to benefit their grades, while
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others disagree and believe that it builds bad habits and beliefs.

I personally have first have first hand experience with this concept of rewarding

people for performing a task correctly and efficiently. My dad is a manager for ATT in

my hometown and he has about thirty or so people under him, and when I asked him if

he rewards his employees he responded in a way I honestly did not expect. He said that

he used to give out a lot of rewards years ago, such as extra vacation days or even

money prizes, but now he rarely gives them out. A few years ago, 12 people retired at

once so ATT had to hire new workers fast, so they hired a group of young guys from my

hometown. It was a whole new experience for my dad, he stated to me, “my new

workers honestly believe that the world revolves around them, so when I gave a certain

employee a reward for doing his job very well, the others were expecting the same

reward.” Since then, my dad and the entire company as a whole, has fired countless

workers because of their poor work ethic and lack of dedication. This showed me a

potential negative of rewarding people, that people will expect a reward of some sort

after every task done, and they will lose their work ethic, because they want everything

handed to them instead of working for it. My dad recently has been told to be very

selective in picking who receives a bonus, and also to look at the more strenuous and

stressful areas of the workplace for potential bonuses.

A article written by Anne Fisher, a writer from fortune.com, titled “Why

Performance Bonuses and Merit Raises Don’t Work”, talks about a study done by Willis

Tower Watson, an insurance company headquartered in London. The study goes in

depth of the negatives of receiving bonuses with data from Senior Managers of 150

different companies. Fisher states that “the traditional annual raise has become so
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ingrained in U.S. companies that every employee over age 30 has ‘grown up’ with it and

expects it” (Fisher). This quote shows the pitfalls of the newer generation of workers,

they expect to be rewarded just because other people do. The article also mentions how

the managers of some companies deal with the unhappy employees who do not receive

raises. The study by Willis Tower Watson found that 26 percent of the companies in the

study paid out raises to employees who did not reach the minimum requirement and a

fifth believe that raises indeed help an employee's work ethic and drive up performance.

Not to mention that the study also found that less incentives are being handed out, also

that managers are being told to leave some salaries the same and give raises to more

important and critical areas of the company. This study perfectly explains what my dad

is going through with the new generation of workers getting jobs. It makes sense now

that he comes home from work on some days very stressed and just wants to sleep.

Although, I definitely understand the coming home and wanting to sleep part.

That brings up the question, is paying students really a bad thing? According to

Beth Kobliner from the Huffington Post it can go either way. In her article titled “Should

You Pay for an ‘A’? Part 3: The Experts Weigh In”, she quotes a study done by Roland

Fryer, who graduated Penn State with a PhD in economics and is a economics

professor at Harvard, in which he studied 40,000 students from underperforming urban

schools from five major US cities. The study found out that the average GPA of a 9th

grader in New York increased only by a tenth and their state test scores did not improve

as well. That brings up a new question, do the students “know” how to learn? Fryer

asked New York students how they were going to improve their test scores and they

answered by reading the questions more carefully, taking their time on the test, and re-
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reading their answer choices. Nothing about studying more, or reading the textbook

again, or even asking their teacher for help. This statement shows that the students

were only trying to improve for the paycheck they would receive, but even when trying

to just receive the money, their scores did not improve. This can possibly bring up a

whole other topic about the teachers in these underperforming schools. Students must

first be taught the correct way to perform in school and that comes from the teachers

(Kobliner). You may ask, is there anything in the study that legitimately worked? In the

same study as before, Fryer found that “paying for specific habits” has positive results.

He found that paying a student for reading a book or even mastering different math

concepts works to bring up test scores. In Houston he paid students and parents for

every weekly math objective was mastered. Although it was only 2 dollars per objective

the idea worked. Fryer witnessed the students master 125 percent more objectives than

students who were not paid to do so. And when he raised the price to six dollars,

instead of averaging two mastered objectives a week, the number jumped to an

average of six per week. Fryer also paid the teacher and parents for every parent

teacher conference taken place during the study and the number of conferences rose

87 percent. By not just focusing on the students, by spreading the range of the study to

teachers and parents helped to benefit the student.

Has there been a clear answer recently that shows if giving students incentives

works? In October, 2017 Education Week posted an article written by Arianna Prothero

answering the question. Education Week is an award-winning, independent news

organization that has covered k-12 since 1981. This fascination with trying to find ways

to improve students grades started with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and many
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experts have been trying to find another solution other than the act. In the article,

Prothero gives many experts’ own sayings about the issue. Lucrecia Santibañez, an

associate professor at Claremont Graduate University’s School of Educational Studies

says that, “This is something that every incentive paper starts with: the research is

mixed,” as quoted by Prothero, and also that good planning and design can be the

deciding factor of a study about incentives. I agree because, there are so many opinions

and different results from studies, but there is no real clear answer. It mostly boils down

to the parenting of the student and the teaching habits of the teacher. An associate

professor of economics at Bentley University, Jeffrey Livingston states that the

programs that have positive outcomes on the students are the ones that rewards things

that they feel like they can control. Otherwise explained as rewarding the inputs instead

of the outputs. Livingston also states that “students don’t necessarily know how to

improve their test scores, so even if they’re motivated to try harder, that doesn’t mean

they can actually do better” (Prothero). By first establishing a firm learning foundation,

such as good study habits, reading books about the topic, or even doing practice tests,

and then rewarding those efforts, Livingston states, tends to have a higher success rate

in a study. What do the schools do with the incentives or the money they receive from

these studies? Some schools don’t simply pay students for their grades, they give out

fun and more special incentives. Just a few to mention are a school system in central

Missouri gives out a hundred dollars if a student has perfect attendance at the summer

school program there. This helps with “leveling out the playing field” from

underperforming students to very intelligent ones. Another is Shelby County in

Tennessee gives out Memphis Grizzlies tickets out to the kids that have good
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attendance throughout the school year. What do you want so badly as a sixteen year

old? Raytown School district in Kansas City gave away two cars to students who were

put in a raffle for having good attendance. The superintendent of the school system

Allan Markley states in an interview, “The key to making incentives work is getting inside

your students’ heads and figuring out what they really want, A lot of kids are working to

support their family, a lot of them are homeless. What can we do to entice kids to come

to school? They are dealing with a lot and coming to school may not be their number

one priority” (Prothero). My hometown of Burlington, North Carolina, surprisingly does

this as well, but it is only done by one school. They target the underprivileged students

that get good grades at the end of the year and then they are entered into a drawing to

win a new car. By not just handing out cold hard cash to students, but rather prizes that

make memories instead of filling the bank account. While asking my professor for help

on this paper, she told me a story that one of her friends passed down to her. At

Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR competitor, gives out similar prizes to the three

school systems. She informed me that some prizes include getting to take home a

convertible car home for the weekend and enjoying having that luxury. By tapping into

the minds of the employees, the management team has to assume that the people

working there most likely enjoy cars, so why not give them a car they don’t have for a

weekend. These types of rewards can be more beneficial than paying people to do

something.

TIME magazine put out an article written by Amanda Ripley that outlines another

study conducted by Roland Fryer (yes once again) and in this particular study, Fryer

paid out 6.3 million dollars to 18,000 different students in 4 major cities in the US for
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different achievements such as paying students for their grades to even not getting into

fights at school. In the city that was focused on paying students for getting good grades,

Fryer found that the students did significantly better on their standardized tests at the

end of the year and he even said, “it was as if those kids had spent three extra months

in school, compared with their peers who did not get paid” (Ripley). These students

were paid year round under the program so they had constant rewards coming

in. Select people who reviewed his study agreed that it seems that paying students has

a positive impact on their academic achievements. Ripley then says something that

really resonated with me, “money is not enough (it never is), but for some kids, it may

be part of the solution, in the end, we all want our children to grow into self-motivated

adults, is it possible that at least for some kids, the road is paved not with stickers but

with $20 bills” (Ripley). This quote is very meaningful because, it tells us that students

are all different. While the study shows the results, Fryer agrees that “kids should learn

for the love of learning, but they're not, so what shall we do” (Ripley). Fryer is a front

runner of this whole argument with rewarding students and he also has some real world

experience. And due to that, he runs an Education Lab at Harvard with a budget of

about six million dollars a year and is always looking for a solution to fix the education

problem the US has.

An outline of the Study:In four cities, 18,000 kids earned a total of $6.3 million to do the right thing. Some incentives

work better than others

DALLAS

WHAT STUDENTS WERE PAID FOR: Reading

GRADES PARTICIPATING: Second-graders

HOW MUCH

$2 per book
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AVERAGE STUDENT EARNED: $13.81

STUDY SIZE*: 1,780 from 22 schools

RESULTS: VERY POSITIVE Paying kids to read dramatically boosted

reading-comprehension scores

CHICAGO

WHAT STUDENTS WERE PAID FOR:Grades

GRADES PARTICIPATING: Ninth-graders

HOW MUCH: $50 for A's, $35 for B's, $20 for C's

AVERAGE STUDENT EARNED: $695.61

STUDY SIZE*

4,396 from 20 schools

RESULTS: MIXED Kids cut fewer classes and got slightly better grades. Standardized-test scores did not change

WASHINGTON

WHAT STUDENTS WERE PAID FOR: Various[1]

GRADES PARTICIPATING: Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders

HOW MUCH: Up to $100 every two weeks

AVERAGE STUDENT EARNED: $532.85

STUDY SIZE*: 3,495 from 17 schools

RESULTS: POSITIVE Rewarding five different actions, including attendance and behavior, seemed to improve

reading skills

NEW YORK CITY

WHAT STUDENTS WERE PAID FOR: Test scores

GRADES PARTICIPATING: Fourth- and seventh-graders

HOW MUCH: $25 (fourth-graders) to $50 (seventh-graders) per test

AVERAGE STUDENT EARNED:$139.43 (fourth-graders), $231.55 (seventh-graders)

STUDY SIZE*: 8,320 from 63 schools

RESULTS: NO EFFECT Paying kids for higher test scores did not lead to more learning or better grades--or any

other measurable change

I conducted a survey and sent it to my classmates and the information I received

was surprising to me. I conducted the survey in class on March 21, 2017 using Google
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Drive. One of the questions I asked them was “have you ever been pad by your parents

for getting good grades” and it was a complete fifty fifty split. That was shocking to me

because, myself and a vast majority of my friends were paid for getting good grades on

our report cards. I came from a little above average middle class home with two working

parents, but I never expected anything in return of me getting good grades. Looking

back at my childhood years I can see just a little glimpse of the only working for the

money viewpoint. The next question I asked them was, “do you think it is necessary for

kids to receive incentives for receiving good grades and why.” I was waiting to hear

back from this question so I can see all of their viewpoints and some of them were very

thoughtful. One of my classmates said “up to a point, I think when kids are younger,

they might need that extra incentive to get good grades, but when they are older, they

should be able to understand the importance of good grades without getting a tangible

reward.” This was a great response and a few others were very similar. This response

helped to reinforce what other expert’s also said. At a certain point in someone’s life,

they will have to learn to take care of themselves and not rely on others to always be

there to help. My classmates are gonna be some tough parents because over 80

percent said they are not going to pay or reward their children in the future.

There is so much more information and studies to conduct about how to properly

fix America’s education problem. Paying and giving students incentives can possibly be

the fix everyone has been looking for but only time will tell. I am very curious as to what

is going to happen to all of the programs that are all over the country that are promoting

higher test scores for a reward. Will kids retain the knowledge they will eventually learn

and has this recent idea ruined the future workers of America? There are so many
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different findings that there are no certain answers if they work or not. Society needs to

change the view that everyone gets some kind of reward out of their heads. I believe

that the whole situation of kids underperforming starts at home. If you have supportive

parents that always push you to be your best, but not being too overbearing, then you

have a better chance of doing better in school than another kid whose parents don’t

look into their school work. All a person needs is just some motivation in life to boost

their self confidence. Everyone deserves an equal chance in life and I hope to see

America rise up in the education standings in the world in my lifetime. I could see myself

possibly conducting my own research about the topic.

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Works Cited

Fisher, Anne. “Why Performance Bonuses and Merit Raises Don't Work.” Why Performance

Bonuses and Merit Raises Don't Work, Fortune.com, 24 Feb. 2016,

fortune.com/2016/02/24/salary-bonuses-merit-raises-effectiveness/.

GreatSchools Staff | October 30, 2017 Print article. “Cash for Good Grades? Some Schools

Give It a Try.” Cash for Good Grades? Some Schools Give It a Try, Greatschools.org,

30 Oct. 2017, www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/cash-for-grades/.

Kobliner, Beth. “Should You Pay for an 'A'? Part 3: The Experts Weigh In.” Should You Pay for

an ‘A’? Part 3: The Experts Weigh In, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Dec. 2012,

www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-kobliner/paying-for-grades_b_1975557.html.

Prothero, Arianna. “Does Paying Kids to Do Well in School Actually Work?” Does Paying Kids

to Do Well in School Actually Work?, Education Week, 30 Oct. 2017,

www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/does-paying-kids-to-do-well.html?qs=paying for

grades.

Ripley, Amanda. “Is Cash The Answer?(The Well; Cover; Education; Paying Kids)(Paying

Students Cash for Being Good at School)(Cover Story).” Time, vol. 175, no. 15,

2010, p. 40.