Extra Bonus: Kids’ Ideas

Many parents offer cash or other incentives to entice their offspring to earn better grades. That same strategy is bringing more than $5 million in rewards to Ventura County schools from Gov. Gray Davis’s public school accountability program.

The bonuses were determined by students’ performance on the Stanford 9 exam, a standardized test of reading, math and writing and other skills given each spring. Schools that met or exceeded state-imposed targets for improving test scores last year will receive $63 per student.

We congratulate the 114 winning schools and recognize the effort that went into raising those scores.

For example, teachers at Isbell Middle School in Santa Paula put in extra effort to tutor students before and after school, with heavy emphasis on math and reading. The biggest reward, of course, is a school full of students who now have better skills for future studies and for the rest of their lives--but the school’s reward of $65,789 is a nice bonus.

Several area schools met their score-improvement targets but will not receive cash rewards because state education officials had determined that too many parents at those schools excused their children from taking the Stanford 9. The state requires that 95% of elementary and middle school students and 90% of high school students sit for the annual exam to be eligible for rewards. In future years we hope this program will serve as extra incentive for schools to give those kids--primarily those learning English as a second language--the extra help they need to catch up with their peers.

The Governor’s Performance Award money, which is expected to arrive this week, comes with few restrictions except that it is intended for school-wide use. In some schools, the money will buy computers, science equipment or video production gear that will benefit the whole student body.

We think those are better ideas than one being considered at Thousand Oaks High School, which earned $150,257--the largest amount of any school in Ventura County. Principal Jo-Ann Yoos told The Times she is considering spending some of it on a carnival.

“We’ve been thinking about acknowledging the kids while they are still here,” Yoos said. “Since they can’t be acknowledged individually, they have to know it was their work that got us the money.”

We agree that the students whose hard work helped earn the money should be acknowledged. But we suspect even they would agree that blowing the loot on a one-time event isn’t as good an idea as spending it on something the school really needs.

We believe that asking the students for their suggestions and truly listening to what they say would be the best kind of acknowledgment.

Who would know better than current students what the school needs most, which improvements would mean the most to future students?