It was a bit like pay day for children in 15 middle schools in the US capital who recently received their first checks for good grades, attendance and behavior.
Every two weeks, children aged 12-14 stand to make up to 100 dollars, following a precise sliding scale in which math, science and history-geography grades are as important as attendance and good behavior in class.
"I am going to buy my little cousin something for her birthday because she is turning one," said sixth grader Kenny Coffin, 11, clutching his check.
"I will put a little in my bank account and spend the rest on clothes and shoes," said seventh grader Jay Carson, 13.
Crammed into a gymnasium, teachers and students at Shaw Middle School, in a working class neighborhood of the city, listened carefully to what Mayor Adrian Fenty had to say before the first checks in the experimental program were passed out.
"Does everybody like to make money?," he asked rhetorically. "Yessssss," shouted the schoolchildren in glee.
In all, 137,813 dollars were distributed to the 15 Washington schools participating in the program, in the hope grades and behavior will improve. In a 2007 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, Washington public schools came last among 11 major US cities in math and reading skills.
Half the 2.7 million dollars funding the pilot program for one year comes from city coffers, and the rest from the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University (EdLabs) headed by economist Roland Fryer, who was present at the ceremony.
"When I was in 10th grade, I dropped out of school to work in the streets for a while. We brought this program to DC ... so you didn't have to make the same decisions," said Fryer, the creator of the program.
Children in the program live in neighborhoods with few education-based success stories to inspire and motivate school-going, Fryer said. That's what prompted his cash-for-grades idea.
Shaw Middle School principal Brian Betts said the money the students get can make a difference in low-income families. But for now, he said it was difficult to know what impact the program was having, except for school attendance, which he said has doubled since it began.
"As students earn their money and as they start to compare how much they earn, compare to their friends, I think the power of this program will increase," he added.
After the ceremony, the checks were distributed. Ninety percent of Shaw students got some money, with an average payout of 43 dollars.
But a computer glitch dampened the celebrations somewhat. Both attendance and behavior were missing in the final tallies.
"First I was disappointed and then the teacher explained to us what happened," said sixth grader Kenny, who got a check for 56 dollars, but should receive 80 dollars after the adjustments are made.
"I wasn't expecting a hundred because I wasn't here one day," he confessed, adding that he was happy, however, with his sum.
"One person only got two dollars. He was kind of disappointed because he had tried to participate more," Kenny said.
Each student has his or her own method of maximizing the prize.
"Last year, I probably might talk in the hallway, play in the hallway," said Jay Carson. "I used to sometimes show off and joke around last year and I don't do that as much as I did."
"I had to work extra harder to get good grades in science," said 13-year-old seventh grader Dominique Watson.
Jay and Dominique were disappointed with their first check.
But the next pay period they should expect fatter checks, if attendance and behavior are properly taken into account.
Copyright 2008 AFP American Edition
