DC Schools Give Kids Money to Improve Grades

Schools pay students for good behavior, grades

By Michael Roston, Newser User

Posted Oct 22, 2008 6:45 PM CDT

(Newser) – Schools in Washington, DC, hope to expand children's minds by filling their wallets. Students who get good grades, attend class, and behave earn points that will net them paychecks of up to $1,500 each year, NPR reports. "Every child has a switch, and it's our job as educators to find it," said one principal of the "Capital Gains" program, the brainchild of a Harvard economist.

A critic called the program racist and said it communicates to the black community, "You can't institute the right values in your kids, so basically we're just going to pay you off." But parents, who can opt out of the payments, are willing to try. "If that's what they think is going to work, I guess they have to try different things," one skeptical parent said. The economist who designed the program said it's too early to predict success. "Let's just let the data speak."

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Davon Holmes, second from right, raises his hand to answer a question during his Spanish class at the KIPP DC KEY Academy in Washington, Friday, May 30, 2008. Students at KIPP are rewarded on Fridays... (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Students at the KIPP DC KEY Academy in Washington, which rewards students with weekly paychecks, on May 30, 2008. The D.C. schools are trying a broader 'pay to behave' program. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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If the bad students, if they was acting up before this, then after it's done [the program], they're going to act the same. - Daamantae Brown, an 8th grader at Shaw-Garnet-Patterson Middle School in Washington, DC

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DC Schools Give Kids Money to Improve Grades