Cash for Grades

Throughout my education the concepts of using positive reinforcement and recognition were brought up too many times to mention.  Incentives are used everywhere in life to encourage people to not only continue what they ought to be doing, but perform above and beyond.   For adults, raises and promotions act as incentive and students who are nearing to joining the workforce see new and highly respected career opportunities as their prize.  But what about grade school students, how far does a gold star really go?  Typically, the main incentive for a young student is a good grade to bring home to mom and dad in their quarterly report card; however there could be room for something more.  

According to an article, Bribing Kids to Try on Tests by Steven Levitt of Freakonomics, some teachers utilize extra play time or computer usage as an incentive for their younger students.  This same article goes on to point out that this method is wholly ineffective on older students.  What does work?  Cash.  

The ultimate non-cash elementary school incentive.  Image Credit.

The impetus for this inquiry into cash incentive goes hand in hand with a teacher’s proverbial Sword of Damocles, standardized testing.  Teachers are rated based on the performance of the students, and often their pay raises or freezes are directly affected by the results of these exams.  An article, Do Students Show What They Know on Standardized Tests? by John List and Suzanne Neckermann of The University of Chicago, and Jeffrey Livingston of Bentley University examines if these tests truly measure what a student knows or if they learner is merely going through the motions.  The control was the standardized test, but prior to the exam a separate test was given to the student.  Immediately before the separate test the students were informed that there was a cash bonus for high performers.  The timing of this statement is crucial, as the test takers could not do more preparation, they could only try harder.  The students scored, “substantially better,” with a marked increase of .3 to .5 standard deviations.  When the students took their originally scheduled test their scores returned to the expected levels.  It is interesting to note that the largest impact was on the easier questions.  So it seems that the incentive gives the students that little extra nudge to try a little harder to correctly answer questions that were within their scope of knowledge.

As a parent to a young daughter, already it is interesting to note the effect of incentives. While potty training, initially the chocolate chip as a prize was very rewarding. Now, however, my almost two year old has already “worked the system” and knows she can sit on the potty and get a parent's full attention AND chocolate, without necessarily going to the bathroom. This leads me to believe that giving my daughter cold hard cash for grades, would not be a good long term plan to keep her motivated or keep my wallet full. I would imagine that positive encouragement and spontaneous rewards such as day trips or shopping excursions, may be more of what my wife and I will try.

Education in the Digital Age

What is within your arm’s reach right now?  If you’re reading this in the morning, perhaps a cup of coffee.  Midday? Maybe there is a soda, or indeed another cup of coffee.  Is it evening? Maybe a snack, or yes, even yet another cup of jo.  Regardless of the time of day, there is a very good chance that your cell phone is within your immediate proximity, in fact, you might even be reading this on a cell phone.  Adults may be aware of their dependence on electronics, but how much of that dependency should be passed onto children, and to that end how much technology should be allowed in the classroom?

There is no question of how important it is for young learners to know how to utilize technology for academic pursuits.  However, during school hours it is important that technology stays a tool for learning.  In a CNN article by Ivana Kottasova, it was noted that schools in Britain found that an outright ban on cell phones saw an increase in student performance.  This is not surprising as a distracted person, student or adult, is less efficient.  Kottasova discovered that low achieving students saw a much larger rise in their performance than the high performing students.  This could have to do with what the phones are being used for, or more likely it could demonstrate the ability to split one’s attention.  Cell phones are personal property, and many parents may be adamant on their children having a phone for emergency purposes on them, which is difficult to combat.  So we must analyze something that is more controllable: school computers.

School computers often have a few educational games, and from personal experience many of them certainly have their merits.  Mavis Beacon, for instance, was, and still is, a fantastic typing tutor.  The classic, Oregon Trail, is a great facsimile for the struggle that was westward expansion.  There is also a very long list of math focused programs.  The key  is balancing the digital and traditional learning.  It is truly an instance of too much of a good thing being a bad thing.

Bacon: Good; Too Much Bacon: Bad. Photo Credit

Along with all of those useful programs there is also the wide expansive series of tubes: intertubes - aka - the internet!  Schools must be sure that the computers are equipped with proper site blockers to keep students in computer based classes focused.  As a former, and current, student of the digital information age, I can attest that the internet has many more distractions than sources of genuine knowledge.  It likely has even more misinformation than true information as well.  This leads to a different idea of teaching students to discern between reliable and unreliable sources.

Adults may want to curb their children’s screen time, but that may be a lost cause at this point.  An article by Annie Murphy Paul the Washington Post states that students attend school for a total of 1000 hours in a year, a more staggering estimation is the amount of time spent absorbing different forms of digital media: 4000 hours.  Just for scale and scope, a year has 8760 hours.  It is important to note that this number is inflated due to mass consumption, i.e. viewing social media, while playing a video game, with music on in the background would for an hour would equal 3 hours of consumption, and this sort of consumption likely occurs outside of the school.  Paul argues that some of these distractions do provide unintended benefits.  She states that video games can boost one’s spatial skills, and audio will increase a learner’s language recognition and stimulate their creativity.  

However, with young learners being tied to digital devices outside of the classroom, there is clearly a need to balance the equation by ensuring that a majority of the time within the classroom is not device oriented.  Student’s will have ample time to use a connected device at home or at a local library, time in school should be more focused on socialization and learning activities.  Of course, some time should be utilized to demonstrate the usefulness of technology and learning, but this time should be well planned, and limited.

Facing Failure

Getting back up and dusting yourself off is a crucial life lesson to learn sooner rather than later.  As a father, I can proudly say that my daughter, at 21 months old, does not cry immediately when she falls down; and believe me; she’s taken some serious diggers.  Why doesn’t she cry, it is because of how my wife and I react, or actually do not react, to her failure.  While one may not regard falling down as a failure, it is the obvious failure state of walking or running.  When she was first learning to walk, she cried out mostly of frustration, but now when she falls she knows that she is not truly hurt, so she does not cry.

Why does any of this matter?  Because failure is inevitable, and how we react to it shapes the course of the life one lives. This is, of course, easier said than done.  In all honesty, I know I could handle my personal failures better.  I often dwell on what I ‘shoulda’ or what I ‘coulda’ instead of learning from the ordeal.  In an article by Beth Arky, Dr. Amanda Mintzer of the Child Mind Institute has many suggestions on acclimating children to failure.  One of the most relevant suggestions, for me especially, is creating teachable moments from failure scenarios.  This ensures that something is learned from the failure, and that is the key, ensuring that conditions that bring about failure are avoided in the future.  The key to establishing these good habits is providing a proper model.

Children are very good at emulating not simply what they see, but also what they perceive.  When a child’s role model is faced with failure a child will learn from their reaction.  More importantly, when a child is faced with adversity, it is important for parents to handle that set back appropriately.  In an NPR article by Tara Haelle, Kyla Haimovitz and Carol Dweck, professors of psychology at Stanford claim that young learners may correlate their intelligence as a static trait if they are ill prepared to handle failure.  This counters the entire idea of education, if everyone’s intelligence was static there would be no advancement, which is a wholly disheartening idea.  Teachers and parents will be on the front line of failure.  Teachers will often be the ones to deliver the bad news to students, but both parties will have to ensure that the student does not get discouraged or jaded.

Teachers need to prepare students for potential failure, but how?  Not in grades, as grades are already a stressor for many students that may be facing immense pressure from parents.  Prior to assessing for a grade though, in class projects and in homework, there should be activities that push the students to their current knowledge limits.  In the realm of mathematics this can be done through encouraging the students to complete proofs of future concepts with the tools they already possess.  Some students may be able to do this, and some will not, as many of these theorems made a name of many great mathematicians.  An exercise like this is almost welcoming failure, just for the student to realize that they are in the same company as other mathematicians of the past who could not develop the theories.

A student who does not face challenging material early on in their education career will be in for a shock later on when they finally face failure.  However, those who are prepared for the occasional stumble will be able to get up, dust themselves off, and not repeat the same mistakes.

Non-Political Politics

This year, being a multiple of 4, is a presidential election year.  One cannot take a breath without being reminded of this, it feels as if we have been constantly bombarded by adverts and opinions since the new year.  While only those of age can vote, the impressionable individuals who cannot yet vote will have their political stance sculpted long before they can vote.

The quadrennial bloom of paper and wood.

Much of their point of view will be formed from a combination of the students own experience, philosophy, and the ideas of the student’s closest relations.  Parent’s assuredly play a big role, as they are a primary role model for a developing their young, but they are not the only part of the equation.  In fact, parents that try too hard to instill their political views may see their child swing to the opposite side of the spectrum out of rebellion.  Youngsters will also look to other role models for political opinion, such as celebrities, mentors, friends, and athletes; it is wholly possible for a teacher to fit this bill.

Educators as political role models can be a contentious topic.  Should teachers, who are employed by the public, be permitted to give their opinion on these topics?  Short answer: no, long answer: if a student cares to know a teacher’s political leaning it should be relatively obvious.  This long answer stems from  the idea of a teacher being genuine.  If a teacher has a facade, students will have less respect.  This concept is emphasized in “The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract” by Sizer and Sizer.  

One option of what a teacher can do during times of political unrest is facilitate conversation.  Students will eventually be players in the democratic process, so it is important that they are able to hear and respect both sides of an issue.  These conversations do not need to be linked to the current political environment, instead they can be on any relevant topic that has multiple solutions; for example, chewing gum in class.  In an NPR interview with University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Diana E. Hess and Paula McAvoy the dean and program director of UW-Madison’s Center for Ethics and Education this topic is discussed at length.  The crux of their argument is that schools, “Are and ought to be political places - but not partisan ones.”  Their idea suggests that students should be learning how to handle political conversations.  School is such a unique place in the sense that it is compulsory, so if students do not like the tone of a conversation or what is being discussed they cannot simply walk away without repercussion (this of course is assuming appropriate civil discussion).  

A school is an educational establishment, a place where the culmination of humanity's knowledge is bestowed upon the next generation.  This is not the place for simple opinion, this is where known and proven concepts should be taught.  A human cannot be expected to truly hide their ingrained biases when so much of their duty relies on their character, but it is a teacher’s duty to ensure that their opinion and feeling remain in check.

Keeping the Over-Achievers Over-Achieving

Standardized tests and their repercussions are something that everyone has been affected by. Regardless of whether or not you are in school now, were home-schooled, or have children in the system, not one person is immune to it and it is one of the most publicized topics surrounding education.

In New York state, the results of these tests are published and the information is analyzed, correlated, and organized into the Regents Report Card.

Public School Teachers, brought to you by Apple Inc? - http://data.nysed.gov/

In this collection of information one can find performance levels broken down into many sub-categories: gender, race, socioeconomic status, and cultural background.  Disturbingly though, the only grade given is, “proficient.”  So much time, effort, and emphasis is placed upon these exams, and the only recorded information is demographics and a pass/fail grade.

In an article on NPR’s education blog, “Getting Restless at the Head of the Class,” by Anya Kamenetz, a simple question is explored: “How many students score above grade level on standardized tests each year?"  With all of the data on standardized test results being so obtainable, it is shocking to find that the answer to this question is not so easily attainable.

Many of these exams are known as high-stakes tests.  The collective success, or failure of a school’s student body will determine a variety of very influential decisions for teachers and students.  Teacher’s jobs, school funding and ranking, and student’s educational futures hang in the balance when it comes to these high-stakes tests.

If all of these consequences can occur from failures, one would assume that there is another side of the coin.  What happens with students and programs that exceed the expectations?  According to the Johns Hopkins study that sparked this conversation, 15 to 45 percent of students are beginning school performing at the next grade level.  What does it mean for these students?  Are they wasting a year learning things they already know?  

Of course, some schools have accelerated or advanced programs for those that can be labeled as gifted or overachieving, but perhaps there are other ways of going further to ensure that these students do not become complacent, or even worse - bored, with education.  

Some possibilities include academic promotion, that would see a student skipping a grade level.  However, there are dangers of promoting a student to a higher grade level.  For example, social skills are learned over time, and social maturity does not correlate directly with academic ability.  On top of that, some students may have ability in certain areas, but not in others.  

This may suggest that there should be trials of mixed classrooms based on ability, rather than age.  For instance, students could be blended not with complete disregard of age, but with more emphasis placed on their ability in certain subjects.  That way students are studying with academic peers rather than age-based peers.

Of course, none of this is to suggest that school and learning is only for the gifted.  Learning is for everyone, but complacency and boredom are real problems that schools face in their students.  If shaking up traditional school structures can keep students interested, and prevent academic stagnation, perhaps steps should be taken to ensure this group remain captivated.  

Grit: The Tough Side of Conscientiousness

Never giving up!  Never backing down! Never saying die!  Many of these quips can be attributed not only to 1980s pop-culture, but also the mindset of those who possess what, MacArthur grant recipient and University of Pennsylvania professor, Angela Duckworth, calls grit.  

What is grit?  Do I have grit?  Is my grit because I am not flossing as much as dentist would like?  I took a web quiz to see the level of my own grit.  As a stay at home father and full time student I imagine I would have a decent amount of grit to stick to and accomplish the tasks that stand in my path!

Nope.

Yikes, what does this mean, 30th percentile, not what I was hoping.  Maybe we should better define grit I can find out why I scored so low.  From an NPR article Angela discussed two halfs of the grit equation, perseverance and, “an abiding interest and passion for a singular pursuit.”  

Perseverance is what keeps someone going regardless of adversity and difficulty.  The second part is the interesting morsel though.  A singular pursuit, I cannot remember the last time I had the opportunity to focus on a singular pursuit.  This takes some analysis though, how broad sweeping can this pursuit be, a single goal, a collection or culmination of goals?  

One of my current goals is to complete my undergraduate degree; however, this goal is multifaceted.  If I take one course per semester I may have a better time focusing on this singular pursuit, but this is inefficient not only for myself but for my family.  With that, I must divvy up my time, allocating certain days for certain assignments, but I cannot stop my brain from thinking about not only my other assignments, but my non-academic responsibilities as well.

This quiz is likely a rough gauge, as it is merely an online quiz.  With questions like, “New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones,” it is very difficult not to answer this affirmatively.  It almost feels like it would be a luxury to only have to focus on one task without others springing up!  If I did solely focus on my most important task during the day, raising my daughter, then there would be a very messy house with many chores left over for my wife to do!  

When it comes to the time for my school work though, I feel that Duckworth’s idea of grit is essential.  Even more so with the type of course structure, or seemingly at times lack thereof, that I am faced with!  It is on me to meet deadlines, and for some classes it is even on me to glean the appropriate information without a teacher’s assistance.

NPR went on to interview a critic of Angela’s, Marcus Credé, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University, and his biggest criticism of her findings reside in the fact that grit is simply a new label for conscientiousness.  Conscientiousness is one of the 5 personality dimensions, the others being: extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and intellect.  In the case of these, “Big 5,” conscientiousness, according to Psychology Today, “influences whether people set and keep long-range goals, deliberate over choices or behave impulsively, and take seriously obligations to others.”

He goes on to state that educators should not try to influence the personality traits of the students.  The way he says it though is worthy of a direct quote from his interview with NPR: “I think as a parent I would feel uncomfortable if my daughter came home and said, 'My school is changing my personality,' “  This is where his argument loses its wheels.

Personality development at a young age is ongoing, there is not a moment when a seemingly benign occurrence could leave a lasting mark on a child’s development or personality.  When a parent introduces a child to public schooling, they are making a choice that will undoubtedly and assuredly lead to changes in that child’s personality.  A choice will always have an outcome, and if it wasn’t the school changing Credé’s daughter’s personality it would be her homeschooling changing her personality.  

As for the argument that grit is a mere rephrasing of conscientiousness, that may be true.  However grit is certainly an easier term to wrap one’s head around than conscientiousness.  When approached by a young student, would it be wise to assure them that their goals are achievable, and that they need to be more conscientious, or they need to be more gritty.  One word instills a feeling of thoughtfulness, while the other gives an aura of toughness.  

When faced with a task that requires thought, thoughtfulness might be the most redundant advice one could hear.  It seems wise to ensure a young learner, or a seasoned professional that their goals can be achieved by clenching their teeth, lowering their head, and powering through.