Cash to Kids for Passing AP Subject Tests Flunked

In the news today (New York Post) it seems a very controversial initiative paying high-school students for passing Advanced Placement (AP) tests has apparently failed. The new program, which was targeting black and Hispanic students, didn't spur kids to make the grade, according to the Council of Urban Professionals, the organization who distributes the funds.

Here's how it was supposed to work -- 25 low-income city public schools and six parochial schools were offered private money on a sliding scale - from $500 to $1,000 - if they passed their five-point AP subject tests by scoring between three and five.

The interesting thing is that right here in New York, we have a program called Children of the City that is non-profit, and seems to be working really well to help students improve their grades. As I am on their Board, I support this charity wholeheartedly on my own educational website, http://www.roccobasile.org/.

Here is one student's success. David began volunteering in the programs at Children of the City when he was a teenager. Then he began writing and performing Rap music with values-based lyrics that reiterated the principles that he had learned when he attended the non-profit's Future Safe Program. David now provides tech support for the traders at Goldman Sachs, and he credits Children of the City with helping him learn the principles for success that helped him to rise above the effects of poverty.

The Advanced Placement test program seemed to have a good mission, as it was meant to prepare more kids for college and give them some money to spend in preparation. But the number of students passing their AP tests in the 31 schools actually dipped to 1,476 this year - down five from 2007, when there was not a cash offer. So it actually backfired! The "pass" rate fell from 35 percent in 2007 to 32 percent this year.

Apparently people behind this privately funded initiative said they saw many positive results on such as an 8 percent increase in the number of AP tests taken in total, plus a 19 percent increase in students scoring at top point levels. And in fact, the passing rates increased by more than 50 percent at nine of the 31 schools.

More than 1,100 students are collecting about $1 million. Meanwhile, our Children of the City kids are collecting much more than than.

-- Rocco Basile