Study Finds Chicago Students Motivated To Perform Well On Tests When Promised Money, Trophies

Students attending low-performing schools tend to perform better on tests when promised financial or non-financial incentives for good scores, according to a study conducted by Freakonomics’ Steven D. Levitt, John A. List, Susanne Neckermann and Sally Sadoff.

Between January 2009 and January 2011, the researchers conducted randomized field experiments among 6,500 elementary and high school students in three low-performing school districts in and around Chicago. The three settings differed in terms of size, age of the students and subject being tested.