ATTENDANCE-BASED INCENTIVE PROGRAMS: A HUNG GAME, OR FAIR PLAY?

During the latter part of the 20th century, elementary and secondary schooling was encouraged by sticks more than carrots, with penalties for students - and sometimes for families - who were truant or opted out. In many cases, students do not attend school not because they don't want to, nor because their families don't want them attending; often students do not attend school due to a logistical barrier, making the opportunity cost of attending prohibitive. As policies and attitudes towards truancy and low academic performance evolve, formalized education incentive programs are becoming more common across the globe in all educational settings. The majority of programs run in the U.S. focus on incentives for academic performance, rather than student behavior in academic programs and settings, and primarily focus on mainstream student populations. Many examples of international incentive programs focus more on targeted student behaviors and are primarily directed towards marginalized and disenfranchised populations. This particular study takes a localized view to a global question by looking at a Washington, DC-area public charter school geared toward alternative education programs for young adults. Using a mixed-methods approach to analyze the incentive program currently in place at the research site, this study attempts to address the following questions: are particular characteristics commonly associated with students who qualify for incentive receipt; do students report that the incentive program acts as a motivator for their attendance; and, according to students themselves, what does motivate attendance?