Motivation Matters
Motivation Matters covered what works, and what doesn’t work, to motivate students to do better in school. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: student motivation & engagement.
Recruitment & Retention
Incentives for Inmates
Here's a new twist on the student incentives debate: Prison officials in California are considering offering inmates special privileges if they make use of academic classes.
Recruitment & Retention
Cash-Incentive Programs: A Resource Round-Up
Over the past few days, a number of readers have pointed my attention to a variety of sources where you can find out more about cash-incentive programs. In the interest of providing as much information as I can about this topic, here's a roundup of some of the links that have been sent my way.
Recruitment & Retention
Cash Incentives: Who Should Offer Them?
I wrote a story about cash incentives for the upcoming issue of Education Week, and it's up now on edweek.org, if you'd like to take a look.
Student Achievement
Homework Question: No More Zeros?
This AP story details an innovative, and effective, program to get students to finish their homework. At Glenpool Middle School, teachers don't give out zeros for incomplete homework assignments. Instead, they send the students to a lunch study hall, where they are expected to complete the originally assigned work. If the work still isn't completed by the end of the lunch period, their parents are contacted to make arrangements for the student to finish the assignment before or after school hours.
Science
The Freedom to Tinker with 'Dangerous Things'
I came across a really good video of a talk about giving kids the freedom to explore dangerous things. Gever Tulley, who founded a summer program called the Tinkering School, which allows kids to build inventions and generally tinker with things, urges parents to let their kids play with fire, own a knife, and drive a car--among other activities--arguing that those opportunities teach kids invaluable life lessons about the way things work and allow them to explore their natural curiosity in a positive way. It reminds me of the debate I had with my Dad about whether increased safety regulations were stifling students' interest in science.
Education
The Secrets of School Success
Here's a story about a school that's doing a lot of things right. Samuel Powel School in Philadelphia has met No Child Left Behind's federal benchmarks for the past four years, and in a district where less than half of students can read on grade level by the end of third grade, 96 percent of Samuel Powel School's third graders read on grade level, says the article.
Science
The Technology to Cheat
As we are all aware, a variety of factors--including academic pressure and laziness--motivate some students to cheat. This article in The Oregonian notes that new technology brings even more ways for students to break the rules. The Internet can be used to download plagiarized research papers, cell phones can take pictures of exam questions, and graphing calculators can store information to be called up during a test, the article says.
Education
Video about Curiosity
Click here to watch an interesting video about curiosity. Although the speaker, Seth Godin, talks about a lot of things besides just education, curiosity is a huge factor in student motivation, and he speaks eloquently about why it's important. Also, about 2 minutes in, he raises an interesting point about education. "For seven, ten, fifteen years of school, you are required to not be curious," he says.
Education
Race-Conscious or Colorblind?
When should educators take race into account when running schools and when should they remain colorblind? Debra Viadero tackles this question in a recent Education Week article, "Teachers Advised to 'Get Real' on Race."
Recruitment & Retention
Ravitch on Cash Incentives
Diane Ravitch, over on her Bridging Differences blog, has written a post about cash incentives. She discusses how paying low-income students for test scores is supposed to promote equality, and why she's critical of that movement. It's a thoughtful post, and worth checking out.
Education
Choosing the Right Book
A few months ago, I wrote a post about a new study which concluded that kids weren't reading as much. As an avid reader, motivating people to read is something I'm very interested in, and so I was excited to see this article in The Oregonian, which attempts to answer some of the questions I raised in my previous post. Here's an excerpt:
College & Workforce Readiness
Personal Motivators for At-Risk Ohio Freshmen
This story in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer highlights a statewide effort in 35 Ohio school districts to help a few hundred freshman boys graduate. The program targets boys who have at least one of four factors that deem students "at-risk" for dropping out--being overage, having failed two major courses in eighth grade, having been suspended, or having been frequently absent.
Education
The Chance-For-Success Index
If you haven't seen it already, the Research Center here at EdWeek has put together a thorough evaluation of states' individual education systems called Quality Counts. Of particular note to readers of this blog may be the Chance-For-Success Index (requires Adobe reader), which evaluates students' likelihood to succeed based on each state's figures on thirteen benchmarks--including family income, level of parents' education, parents' employment, preschool enrollment, high school graduation rates, and annual income, among others. Those factors play a major role in motivating students to do well in school, and can make a big difference in student achievement.
Recruitment & Retention
Cash Incentives Continued ...
Once again, offering students cash incentives to boost test scores has been in the news a lot lately, and the idea seems to be gaining traction. According to this commentary in the Christian Science Monitor, a cash rewards system in Texas has had some positive results so far.