Green for Grades Analysis

The topic of this research is a Harvard University Education Innovation Laboratory program known as Green For Grades, a program designed to improve academic performance and lower drop-out rates among urban city teens in Chicago. The program was developed by Roland Fryer, an African American economics professor at Harvard and is funded solely from private donations and the Education Innovation Laboratory (Vargas 1). The program targets only freshman and sophomores high school students, paying them $50 for every "A," $35 for every "B" and $20 for every "C" (Vargas 1). Over a two-year period a student with straight "A's" could earn $4,000, a move aimed at motivating higher performance in students. As Marcus Gilmer (1) writes, "Getting a check is really personal motivation. Students know if they work harder their personal checks will be bigger."

The Green For Grades program has drawn controversy from some critics who contend it is a form of bribery that borders on racism. As Roberts, Becker and Ibanga (2) assert, "The idea that poor kids can be bribed with money rather than authentically engaged with meaningful learning tasks is insulting and in some cases borders on racist." Despite this criticism, the program has proven highly successful in the eyes of teachers, parents and students. An in-built check-and-balance measure includes giving students only half the money they earn at report card