Promises of Money Meant to Heighten Student Motivation

Does motivating students to study harder with the promise of cash sound like innovation—or bribery?

That’s a question educators and researchers have been debating, amid concerns that money-for-achievement programs actually decrease students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and send mixed messages about studying.

But the idea is catching on, with new cash-incentive programs planning to give money to students this school year in the Baltimore school district and some schools in an Atlanta suburb. Last school year, the 1.1 million-student New York City school system began a program to evaluate the effect of paying students for academic performance, joining a growing list of...