Manual scores big CSAP win by paying kids
Thursday, March 13, 2008Written by: Alan Gottlieb
I just posted the article below on the Education News Colorado website. The story describes the overwhelming success of Manual High School’s decision to pay its students for taking the CSAP. It raises yet again the question of whether it’s sound educational practice to pay kids to attend school, to take tests, or to get good grades. The concept is gaining currency in various places around the country. As I’ve written here before, this practice, which seems a lot like bribery, makes me queasy. But I have abiding respect for Rob Stein and his staff, and the results, attendance-wise, speak for themselves.
Here’’s the article:
The resurrected Manual High School just finished its 2008 round of state testing, and, fueled by money, 100 percent of the school’s students showed up for the three days of intensive seat-time.
Inner-city schools typically struggle with attendance, particularly during the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) season. But the Manual staff decided to offer kids cash rewards for showing up — up to $50 per kid for perfect attendance and diligent effort.
The money, along with an infusion of school spirit, a later start-time and some temping breakfasts, did the trick, according to Principal Rob Stein.
Stein said Manual teachers urged students to do their best, not just for the money, but to show the community that Manual has been truly reborn.
“We told the kids ‘this school was closed down for poor performance. This is a chance to show the community things are different now. Manual is back.”
Manual reopened last fall after being closed down for a year. The school opened with an entirely new staff, new leadership, and 160 ninth-graders. The school will add a 10th grade this fall.
It took concerted effort to get all kids to school for the three days. Over the past couple of weeks, teachers collected every student’s cell phone number. Kids who didn’t show up by 8:30 (testing started at 9) received a call from a friend or teacher. Other teachers and Stein drove around the neighborhood collecting strays.
School spirit and a desire to impress the community may have played a role, but money was undoubtedly a major factor. The staff promised students $5 for each of the nine tests they took, and completed with what teachers perceived as focus and effort.
Stein figures the payout could top $7,000, which will come from a fund established by a Manual alumni booster club called Friends of Manual. “We way blew our budget, but that’s OK,” he said Thursday afternoon, at the conclusion of the final day of testing. “But I don’t thing we can build an expectation that we can scale up and do this every year.”
The school will dish out more money in the fall, when the test results are in. Kids will receive as-yet undetermined additional sums for “beating the odds,” with their scores, or scoring proficient or higher.
In school reform circles, debate has raged over the past year over the propriety of paying kids to take tests or get good grades. It’s a question of whether instilling intrinsic motivation is ultimately more effective than extrinsic motivation — sometime known as bribery.
“Of course as educators we need to build intrinsic motivation,” Stein said. “This might be a BS rationalization, but there is nothing intrinsically motivating about the CSAP. And if there is no intrinsic motivation, then it’s a dirty task you’re asking them to do. So pay them.”
After all, Stein said, teachers get extra pay for staying after school to supervise detention. And after watching things play out this week, the evidence that extrinsic motivation works is stronger than the theory that intrinsic motivation is superior, he said.
