The use of "pay for performance" – linking a financial reward to measurable goals – works in business. But can it also motivate underachieving students? Though cash may at first seem a perverse incentive for education, one study of such a practice shows some promising results.
Texas pays $500 to students in low-income, largely minority school districts who pass an exam for an Advanced Placement course. Known as the Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP), the practice has been around for more than a decade and has spread to a few other states.
What are the results so far?
Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0122/p08s01-comv.html