In Some Schools, Learning Is Not Enough of Its Own Reward (1/2)

Some American schools pay teachers more if their students improve on tests. Now, there is a growing movement to pay the students -- in some cases, even just for coming to class.

Students at one school in New Mexico can earn up to three hundred dollars a year for good attendance. A program in New York City pays up to five hundred dollars for good attendance and high test scores.

In Baltimore, Maryland, high scores on state graduation tests can be worth more than one hundred dollars. And a New Jersey school system plans to pay students fifty dollars a week to attend after-school tutoring programs. Schools that pay students can be found in more than one-fourth of the fifty states. Other schools pay students with food or other rewards.

Robert Schaefer is public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an activist group. He says paying may improve performance in the short term, but students develop false expectations for the future. He sees a lack of long-term planning in these programs because of pressure on schools to raise test scores.

参考译文：

美国的一些学校,如果学生考试成绩有所上升，就会给这些学生的老师加工资。现在，付钱给学生的行为逐渐增加，有时甚至只是为着让他们来上课。

在新墨西哥州的一所学校，出勤率高的学生一年能有近300美元的收入。纽约的一项项目为那些高出勤率和高分数的学生支付高达500美元。

在巴尔的摩和马里兰州，高分通过国家毕业考试就可以获得超过100美元（的奖励）。一个新泽西学校的系统计划一周支付学生50美元来鼓励参加放学后的辅导计划。可以发现在五十个州中,那些用钱来奖励学生的学校超过了四分之一。其它学校会用食物或其它奖品来奖励学生。

罗伯特Schaefer是一个激进组织国家公平和公开测试中心的公众教育主任。他说，短期来看用钱来奖励能改善状况，但是学生会对未来抱有错误的期待。他认为这些计划缺乏长期规划，因为学校要承受提高考试成绩的压力。

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