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The reality is that a large number of students are not achieving within our current educational environment as evidenced by low test scores and high drop out rates. Educational innovators are exploring alternative strategies (i.e. incentive programs) in an effort to reach these disengaged students, to motivate them to work hard and achieve. Research shows that rewards program (in a variety of forms) positively impact student performance.

- Margaret Raymond study, "Paying for A's: An Early Exploration of Student Reward and Incentive Programs in Charter Schools," Center for Research on Education Outcomes of Stanford University releases April 2008:

The results highlight that reward programs produced consistent and positive results across grades on state achievement tests in reading, adding 4 percentile points to the average student's performance each year the student participated in the rewards program.

- Kenya study, "Incentives to Learn" by Michael Kremer (Harvard University, Brookings Institution, and National Bureau of Economic Research), Edward Miguel (University of California, Berkeley, and NBER), and Rebecca Thornton (University of Michigan) published in January 2008 "We find evidence for positive program impacts on academic performance: girls who were eligible for scholarships in program schools had significantly higher test scores than comparison school girls."

- Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP) evaluation conducted by C. Kirabo Jackson of Cornell University, "A Little Now for a Lot Later; A Look at a Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program" published December 2007 and in Education Next Hoover Institute, Stanford University Fall 2008

o Results included increases in number of minorities passing tests, increases in scores, and increases in college attendance.

o The program increased the number of minority students passing AP exams in math and science from 10 in 1995 to 377 in 2006. Comparing college-entrance exam scores at schools before the program and three years afterward, Jackson found an average of 33 percent increase in the number of students scoring above 1100 on the SAT or 24 on the ACT, and an 8 percent increase in the number of students who matriculate in college in Texas.

o AP course enrollment increased for all AP courses even if rewards were only given for certain subjects.

- Ohio Eric Bettinger, researcher from Case Western Reserve University evaluated Ohio Coshocton Kid Bucks program and reported robust test score gains in math. Findings were released in February 2008.

With a solid foundation of research to support the effectiveness of rewards program, it seems we would want to encourage more exploration and research in the hopes of making change. Roland Fryer, captures the essence of such innovation, "If we aim to establish true equality of opportunity in education, we must be willing to take risks and explore innovative strategies. The 'same old' strategies have failed generations of students. There have been pockets of progress and beacons of hope, but not systematic changes in how we educate urban youth. Transformative thinking, along with a tough-minded, rigorous approach to designing and evaluating innovative education reforms, is essential if we want to truly improve."

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