In 1995, Texas philanthropist Peter O'Donnell started an incentive program aimed at improving the quality of Dallas public schools. Unlike most school reforms, this one was aimed at raising the bar for the highest achieving students in the school by awarding $100 rewards to all students who passed an Advanced Placement test, and $150 teacher bonuses for every student that passed. (A teacher could thereby earn a $3000 bonus if 20 students passed the test.) The results were staggering: over the next five years, the number of Dallas students passing the AP test jumped from 130 to 754 and the passing rate among minority pupils in Dallas is now "10 times higher than the national average for [minority] juniors and seniors." Yet, rather than praising these terrific gains, criticism abounds. The ill-named "FairTest" outfit belittles the effort as "a curious direction, to throw more resources at those who don't need extra help." Another critic lamented that she once worked with a troubled high school student who became interested in Russian history, started to improve academically, worked up the courage to take the AP exam, but did not pass. "It would've been devastating to him if he knew other kids were getting money . . . and I wonder if he would've had the confidence to take the class if monetary rewards were given." We think the facts speak for themselves, but obviously for some, nothing is more suspect than success.
"Texas students, teachers get cash for passing exams," Houston Chronicle, December 15, 2003