Students Turn Their Marks Into Dollars

Blanca Moreno’s parents probably wouldn’t have been able to afford the $30 cost of her graduation cap and gown. Money is so tight in her family of nine.

But hard work and good grades have helped Moreno pay for all her school expenses: Next week, she will graduate from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa with a $2,600 check she earned by receiving high marks.

Through an innovative “Dollars for Scholars” program run by Save Our Youth, a Costa Mesa community center, Moreno and 49 others have been receiving weekly allowances for good grades.

Moreno earned a total of $2,600 in weekly installments over the two years she has been with SOY, as the program is known. She and 10 others who are graduating will now receive a bonus check matching the sum of their weekly earnings. In Moreno’s case, that means an additional $2,600, making her the most successful and profitable student in the program’s three-year history.

“I’ve always tried to get good grades,” said 17-year-old Moreno, whose grade-point average is 3.75. “But this program has helped me be independent and buy things for school.”

The money students earn--weekly payments typically can range from as little as $1.25 to $36, depending on their marks and grade level--can be used for school or recreation. The program is patterned after the old family tradition of paying students for A’s and Bs, a practice some education experts criticize. But implementing it in a community program makes this program stand out, educators said.

“The approach is quite unique and novel in that the reinforcement is weekly,” said Mac Bernd, superintendent of Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which includes Estancia High. “Anything that’s going to improve students’ academic achievement, we support.”

The community center, known as SOY, approached the Newport-Mesa district in 1994 and offered to annually dole out money to 50 economically disadvantaged or underachieving students who show academic progress. The students are selected through an application process and chosen on the basis of financial need or learning potential. Annual funding for the program, which averages about $22,000, comes from a private anonymous donor, whom SOY Director Oscar Santoyo declined to name.

“Most of these kids are the ones who are falling through the cracks in our education system,” Santoyo said. “We provide an incentive for them to do better and earn money. It’s kind of like a part-time job. But rather than them using their hands, they are using their brains.”

The program is restricted to seventh- to 12th-graders who attend a Newport-Mesa Unified school. They are paid weekly and quarterly based on an earning scale that awards more to those who continually show academic progress.

For example, a seventh-grader begins the program by earning $1.50 for each A earned that week. By his senior year, an A can be worth up to $6. Ds are worth 25 cents at any grade level; there is no payment for Fs. The weekly grades reflect the student’s average scores on tests and homework.

Grades on the student’s quarterly official report cards are worth three times as much. Thus, each A on a senior’s report card can be worth $18.

But some educators question whether cash incentives are effective.

Michael Martinez, acting chairman of UC Irvine’s education department, said educational psychology research has found that children whose parents rewarded good grades with toys or money didn’t do as well academically as those whose parents simply encouraged the child’s interest in school or took time to provide help with school work.

Material rewards “can actually undermine the goal of the incentive,” Martinez said. “If a student is being paid for an activity, there is the risk that once that reward is removed, that may cause the student to enjoy the work less or do poorly.”

He added that rewards can sometimes motivate students, but “whether that success will be self-sustaining is questionable.”

Newport-Mesa school officials do not see the program as a long-term solution to poor grades, but they believe it has inspired at least some students to study harder while raising their confidence in schoolwork and building motivation.

“Probably the most positive aspect of any reward system is to move students into a state of mind where they become self-actualized learners,” Supt. Bernd said. “In order to get them there, you have to jump-start them with this kind of a program. . . . I don’t think it’s a long-term solution, but if you can create a period when students are doing well, then they are going to start to enjoy school.”

Santoyo added that the students are also taught discipline when they follow the required steps in order to receive their cash rewards from SOY.

Every week, students are responsible for getting their teachers to grade their performance and make comments on a SOY report card. The parents then also must sign the weekly evaluation before the Tuesday payday.

Participants must also abide by some strict rules: no gang membership, no drug use, no cutting school and no involvement in an unplanned pregnancy. If they violate any of the rules, they either are temporarily taken off the program or completely dropped if they show no improvement.

“This is an opportunity for these kids to empower themselves and develop structure in their lives at an early age,” Santoyo said. “They make their own money and they can spend it however they want.”

Moreno has spent most of her earnings on school memorabilia: yearbook, a letterman’s jacket and a class ring, prom pictures and tickets for the school graduation party, all of which totaled more than $1,000. (The rest of the money was spent on weekly expenses such as lunches, movies and clothes.)

“I’m proud of my school,” she said of the purchase of the yearbook and other mementos. “I want to have things to remember it [by].”

Her father, Javier Moreno, said he doesn’t need to give Blanca any money, even for lunch. She also has been working part time at a tanning salon in Costa Mesa to pay for her amenities and save up for college, he said.

“She pays for her own dental care. She buys her own clothes. I don’t give her anything,” he said. “She really helps out the family by earning her own money.”

Jose Orihuela, 16, leaped from failing many classes to receiving all A’s and one B last quarter.

“He’s made a spectacular turn-around,” Estancia High School counselor Carolyn Crockett said.

Orihuela, who moved to Costa Mesa from Texas just before high school, said he didn’t find a niche in school and had no interest in doing well before. He consistently skipped classes, befriended gang members and boasted a negative attitude.

“I wasn’t taking school seriously,” Orihuela said. “School just seemed like a place to kick back with my friends.”

Through a friend, he then joined SOY’s recreational boxing program to fill his free time. With a little coaxing and a lot of encouragement from SOY staff, he entered the scholarship program last fall.

At the beginning, Orihuela was earning only about $1.75 each week. Now, it’s not uncommon for him to collect $22 weekly for his five A’s and one B.

In more ways than one, Orihuela said SOY has been an escape that has perhaps saved his life. Last summer, he was at a friend’s house who asked him to go “riding” with some others. He declined. It turned out that his friend went on a drive-by shooting and wounded several rival gang members. They were all jailed and are still serving time.

Orihuela said SOY has helped him refocus his life. He compared a boxing match to his renewed outlook.

“You can’t fool around in the ring,” he said. “You’ve got to focus outside and inside the ring. Otherwise, you die. Just like in life, you have to fight for everything. Metaphorically. Nothing will come to you.”