Every so often someone will propose improving education by bribing children for good grades.
Joanne Jacobs references a study that found Bribery flops. From a report of the study:
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Bettinger's study was based on a randomized experiment where students were paid for performance on periodic math, reading, writing, social studies, and science tests. These incentives increased test scores only in math, but not in any other subject. And the kids who gained the most from receiving the incentive were those already performing at higher levels, not the lowest performing students. Here's the kicker: The study was multi-year, such that some students were given incentives in one year and not in the next. Advocates of incentives argue that while students will react to the cash at first, when the incentive is taken away, they will learn "for learning's sake." Yet Bettinger found no carry over effects when the incentive was taken away, writing, "This may suggest that the existence of external motivation has a negative effect on the intrinsic desire to learn." What's worse, kids reverted back to their initial achievement level, suggesting that the incentives affected not permanent learning, but short-term effort.
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I have Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn at home. I haven't gotten around to reading it. I may need to bump it up on my stack of books to read.
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