Economist Roland Fryer's Educational Innovation Laboratory is off to the races, thanks to the Broad Foundation, experimenting with new ways of incentivizing kids to learn in three big cities (New York, Chicago, Washington). In D.C., the plan involves paying students in fifteen middle schools up to $1500 a year if they (a) attend, (b) behave and (c) get good grades. I'm a longtime believer in giving young people real-world incentives to study hard and do well in school... Paying them cold cash to do the right thing gives me pause, however...Read it here.
