A new plan in New York would pay students to score well on standardized tests. What!?!? Have we learned nothing about fair play and fairness. Unfortunately, the primary measure of school performance is standardized testing schools. If students are payed to score better, than they are essentially being paid to make the school look better. That is misrepresentation to the public and is absolutely unacceptable. That’s as bad as a suspect paying off the jury… it is simply unacceptable. If we want to reward students for achievement, which is a good idea, then we should find better ways to do it. Host parties for honor students, take students out who make exceptional gains, but don’t use money to artificially inflate test scores.
I think it “might” actually be unacceptable. But the thing is it is paying to do well at school. So how much can it motivate kids to do well? I think it is just a short term incentive for them; those who learn for money will almost never learn for the sake of learning, or even, for the sake of doing well in standardized tests. This being said, I think it is a horrible idea for them to implement this, though not perhaps unacceptable, at least from the point of laws.
Absolutely, this sends the wrong message to students. If we develop an attitude of requiring short-term rewards we can never achieve anything of great merit. (Good things take time)
As you said, this practice is perfectly legal. I just don’t think it is ethical or is in the best interest of students. Really, it looks like just another attempt to artificially boost test scores without actually improving teaching.