This is not a joke. Starting in February, taxpayers will hand out cash bonuses to public school students in Baltimore for improving failing test scores.
We?re surprised state Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick would endorse a policy otherwise known as bribery and that Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andres Alonso would request it. Grasmick valiantly and repeatedly advocates holding students to high standards, and Alonso made a courageous decision to move to Baltimore from New York City to turn city schools into learning centers.
So this makes no sense from them ? or as school policy.
First, we can?t afford it. Didn?t the legislature just raise taxes by $1.4 billion because government is spending more than it is taking in? Where did the school system find the $900,000 in cash for this portion of a $6.3 million program that also includes money for tutoring and teacher training? Students who fail exams will receive $25 for improving their scores by 5 percent; another $35 for upping their scores another 15 percent; and $50 more for improving their scores an additional 20 percent.
Second, this program provides perverse incentives by rewarding the worst students at the expense of those who excel. Think about it. It pays to fail ? and then to improve. Why should students try to pass the test the first time? They will gain nothing except a pat on the back. And no evidence points to the fact that these “incentive” payments encourage learning outside of test questionsor that the $110 students stand to earn from improved scores is enough to motivate them.
Third, one of the most important things schools teach students is to become engaged citizens ? a big part of which includes performing duties with little or no financial reward and that sometimes mean sacrificing one?s life. This program rewards students for achievements they should accomplish as a matter of course. Should students be rewarded for not swearing or turning their homework in on time too? Not unless you want to create a generation of men and women with an outsized sense of entitlement and an inability to function in the merit-based society called the working world.
We agree with Alonso that the “intrinsic rewards” of learning “haven?t worked” to motivate many students to pass the state tests. But neither has the fear of not graduating hung over students? heads as it now does for juniors and younger students who must pass four state tests to earn a diploma. Fear is a great motivator. We should let it work before panicking and handing out cash.
Alonso should drop the cash-for-scores program and instead direct the leftover money to hiring more tutors for those students in need of help ? a proven way to improve learning and scores. Let private donors and parents reward students in the ways they see fit. The public school system must not endorse learning for money?s sake.
