By BOB GRIFFIN
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed $450-per-student grants from the state for K-6 students who demonstrate proficiency in reading or improve their reading proficiency. When Gov. Dunleavy announced that proposal in press conference, the question was asked if there was any evidence that incentives have worked anywhere else. The answer is yes.
Florida has used focused incentive grants since 2003, to encourage students to take AP courses by paying bonuses for students who pass an AP exam. After implementing that policy, Florida saw more than 1000% increase in low-income students enrolled in AP courses.
Florida was ranked 3rd in the nation in 2022 for the percentage of students who graduated high school with a 3 or higher on an AP test — despite being ranked 45th in the nation in K-12 funding adequacy by a recent Rutgers University Study.
Yes. With the one of the least funded education system in the US, Florida is producing some of the highest quality high school graduates in the nation, according to Rutgers.
For comparison, Alaska was ranked the second-most funded K-12 system in the US by the same Rutgers study and was 44th in the US in the percentage of students graduating with at least one AP test of 3 or higher.
Only 11.9% of Alaska students achieved an AP test of 3 or higher compared to 28.8% in Florida.
It doesn’t take a degree in economics to understand that people and organizations respond to incentives. When we incentivize things we want, we get more of more of what we want.
In the latest NAEP results, Alaska was ranked, 49th in the US for 4th grade reading scores for low-income students and 50th for upper/middle-income students. It’s a very clear that we need to incentivize improvements in early childhood literacy.
If we simply add money, with no strings attached to a well-funded K-12 system that has produced disappointing results for decades, we shouldn’t be surprised when we get a more expensive version of the same disappointing results.
Bob Griffin is on the board of Alaska Policy Forum and serves on the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development, but writes this in his own capacity.
Why on earth would we ‘incentivize’ // ‘reward’ kids for excellence when we can just continue to throw precious taxpayer dollars away on failed initiatives? Better yet, let’s just print more money and allocate it towards the standard failed system, and continue to expect better results // outcomes while doing the same thing year after year after year?!?!
Just in case ASD and Teachers missed this part, With one of the least funded education system in the US, Florida is producing some of the highest quality high school graduates in the nation, More proof more money won’t fix stupid