Thanks to a comment by Valorie in my most recent article about Arizona’s new plan to pay high school students to stay in school, I also discovered that New York is offering students money.
Low-income families in New York may earn big bucks for keeping their children in school and out of trouble. Mayor Bloomberg assures that he is not using public funds and that the program is completely operated on private money.
Students can earn money for keeping up their grades and completing math and reading homework. However, the money does not stop there. Even parents can cash in on this plan.
Below I have listed a few ways that low income New York families can earn extra money through the school.
· High school students who earn eleven class credits a year will receive $600 for their family.
· Students who graduate from high school will receive $400.
· Each family member who receives annual health checkups will receive $200.
· Parents can earn $25 for participating in parent teacher conferences.
This program will be on trial run for two years and involve about nine thousand students. The students come from forty different schools. If the program proves to be successful, it will likely spread to more communities and include many more schools.
As stated before, I think that programs like this will work. Money talks and gets results. I think that money is the best incentive that a student could hope for earning (other than free days out of school).
However, my concern still exists. How are the students chosen? What are the qualifications? Is this fair to the hard working students who do not qualify? I realize that not all students receive free or reduced lunches or waiver of fees. However, I feel that this program falls into a different category because the students are being rewarded for their efforts. I can not see how it would work for me to be selective about which students I decide to reward in my classroom if they are all turning out equal results.