Businesses Teach Students That Learning Has Rewards

Nana Ama Kyerematen did something most eighth-graders don’t: She went to lunch with her teacher.

As a reward for maintaining good grades and citizenship at Lone Hill Middle School in San Dimas, Nana Ama and her English teacher had a free lunch recently at a local Sizzler restaurant.

“It tells me I’m doing great,” Nana Ama said of the treat. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to achieve what I want in life.”

That’s just the reaction Principal Marc Jackson is hoping for from the school’s 1,058 students. Under a joint program he established in September with local businesses, Lone Hill Middle School students are earning gift certificates, scholarships, mountain bikes and free restaurant lunches with their teachers for improving their grades and attendance records.

Jackson is continuing a program he started at Imperial Junior High School in 1988, his second year as assistant principal at the Ontario school.

“I went through a year so frustrated,” he said, his voice trailing off. “I led the league in suspensions. I had kids coming in with knives and guns.”

Finally, “I said to myself, ‘We’re not going to win this way.’ ” Within two months, Jackson had organized more than 50 business partnerships with Imperial. He said the program cut suspensions and referrals to his office in half, and increased attendance.

“It was forming bonds between local businesses and the school,” Jackson said.

Since the program began at Lone Hill, about 20 businesses have established partnerships. Each month, a student is named Student of the Month in each subject. The students’ awards in a particular month depend on what businesses have donated awards.

Jackson credits the program’s success to its reciprocal nature.

For example, Stanley Hardware, which manufactures hardware for home construction, will reward outstanding industrial arts students with tools and plaques. Students can also tour the San Dimas plant.

In return, the school is launching a literacy program for the plant’s Spanish-speaking employees, who make up about 40% of the nearly 200-person work force.

An English as a Second Language teacher, provided by the Bonita Unified School District, is scheduled to tutor employees at the plant twice weekly, Personnel Manager Ron Maw said. Also, the Lone Hill choir will make a guest appearance at the company’s Christmas party, Jackson said.

Another business participating is Came’s Security Alarms in San Dimas. Came’s is offering $360 in quarterly scholarships, ranging from $5 to $25, to struggling students whose efforts are often ignored. The money is unrestricted, but it is meant for school clothes and supplies, said Clara Came, vice president of the company.

Scholarships are awarded to students who make the slightest improvement in the classroom, such as raising their grades from F to D or being sent to the principal’s office fewer times, Came said.

“The valedictorian always gets the prize; it’s always the A student who gets the prize,” Came said. “Give the children who are at risk something to work for. They need to feel good about themselves, regardless of their career choice.”

Although few argue that promoting education is a bad thing, some educators say such programs can backfire unless handled with care.

Lawrence Picus, USC assistant professor of education, said the programs often encourage good behavior only for brief periods. He said long-term goals, such as sustaining good attendance and grades, should be emphasized instead.

Expensive rewards are unnecessary, Picus said: “It doesn’t have to be a substantial reward. It’s simply recognition.”

The Imperial program did not keep precise statistics, Jackson said. Linda Rice, assistant principal at Imperial, where 15 to 20 businesses have partnerships, said it is difficult to measure the program’s effectiveness statistically. But she said students who participate often undergo dramatic shifts in their attitudes toward school.

“It makes them have a different role here,” Rice said. “They start thinking, ‘Maybe I do want to come to school.’ ”

So far, 18 students at Lone Hill have been recognized for academic achievement. By year’s end, Jackson expects that number to swell into the hundreds.

Eighth-graders Josh Loose and Mindy Jackson hope to be among that number.

“You can have a certificate to show to your parents,” Josh said.

“And they can hang it up on the refrigerator for the whole family to see,” Mindy added.

Chris Ramsey, 14, said his relationship with his parents has improved since he learned that he would have a chance to receive an honor.

“I gave them a pretty hard time about my homework last year . . . I didn’t do it,” Chris said. The chance for a scholarship prompted him to raise his grades from Ds and Fs to Bs and Cs.

Nana Ama, who hopes to attend Yale and study to be an engineer or a doctor, has advice for those who want to win awards.

“If you listen and do what you’re supposed to do,” she said, “you’ll make the grade.”