Recruitment & Retention

Cash-Incentive Research Update

By Katie Ash — February 21, 2008 1 min read
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It seems like lately every week there’s been something new about cash-incentive programs, and this week is no exception. Debra Viadero’s follow-up story about a three-year-old rewards program in Coshocton, Ohio reveals that their cash incentives have worked--sort of. Scores in math have improved, but reading scores have stayed the same. Test scores in science and social studies have also improved, although not significantly. Because of the mixed results, it seems like educators on both sides of this debate are using the study’s results to support their position.

Also, I was a little surprised to see that an overwhelming majority (81%) of responders to last week’s edweek.org poll did not think schools should offer cash rewards to students. Only 43 out of the poll’s total 230 responders thought schools should offer cash incentives. And just a reminder: the poll is an informal feature and not a scientifically sound survey, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Motivation Matters blog.