Merit Pay
Incentives Can Make Or Break Students
Incentives Can Make Or Break Students
Ethical Issues Come With Gains on Tests
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The inducements range from prepaid cellphones to MP3 players to gift certificates. But most of them are cash: $10 for New York City seventh-graders who complete a periodic test; $50 for Chicago high school freshmen who ace their courses; as much as $110 to Baltimore students for improved scores on the Maryland High School Assessments.
Desperate for ways to ratchet up test scores and close the achievement gap separating white and minority students, school officials from Tucson to Boston are paying kids who put up good numbers.
