Edward Rodriguez, executive director of Rewarding Achievement, also known as REACH, said the program is privately funded by the philanthropic hedge fund Pershing Square.,”New programs in New York City will offer cash-based rewards to high school students who pass Advanced Placement exams and to elementary and middle school students who perform well on periodic achievement tests.
Edward Rodriguez, executive director of Rewarding Achievement, also known as REACH, said the program is privately funded by the philanthropic hedge fund Pershing Square. REACH is a program within The Council of Urban Professionals that initiated the program involving AP exams.
"It is an opportunity to make a dent in dealing with a poor education system. It is focused on education reform as it affects minority communities," he said.
The program, Rodriguez said, was the "brainchild" of Whitney Tilson, the founder of the T2 Partners hedge fund who is a member of CUP.
REACH selected 31 schools (25 of which are public) to receive money for AP exam success, Rodriguez said. A score of five on an AP exam will be rewarded with $1,000, a four will receive $750 and a three will get $500, he said.
"What (the schools) all have in common is that they serve low-income communities with significant African-American and Latino populations. They have shown a level of success in getting kids to perform proficiently (three or higher) on AP exams," Rodriguez said.
He also said choosing schools with an "academically heterogeneous population with respect to ability" was an important consideration.
Rodriguez said REACH is not involved with the initiative at the middle schools. The middle school initiative has been taken with the goal of "narrowing ethnic and economic achievement gaps," said New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein in a press release.
"We've made strides in narrowing ethnic and economic achievement gaps," Klein said. "We are committed to testing new strategies that hold the possibility of reducing the gap, with the goal of eliminating it entirely."
Kerri Lyon, a spokeswoman for the NYC Department of Education, said the periodic assessment payments are part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Opportunity NYC program that runs cash incentives for low-income workers.
She said the program will pay a fourth grader a minimum of $5 for each periodic assessment they complete and up to $20 based on their performance. A seventh grader will receive $10 for completion and up to $40 based on performance.
Some critics have argued these cash-based rewards might negatively affect students who enjoy learning for its own sake. Rodriguez said he is well aware of this concern yet not bothered by it.
He said that while learning for the sake of learning may make sense for wealthy people, it is not reality for the poor students benefiting from the program.
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