Learning Pays Off
A program in Connecticut offering $1,000 rewards to low-income students enrolled in a special after-school learning initiative is starting to pay dividends. Students who live in public housing are offered a $1,000 stipend for doing extra work in language arts and math.
Forty percent of the 19 middle school students have improved their grades from the first to the second quarter of the school year, and 30 percent have had their marks remain the same.
"It's great to see some short-term gains for some kids, but it's probably too soon to tell whether, in fact, those gains will be sustained over the course of the entire school year and beyond," said Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Columbia University Teachers College.
This article, written by Lisa Chamoff, appeared in the April 14th, 2006 publication of The Stamford Advocate.
Published Saturday, Apr. 15, 2006