The New York Times: A Plan to Use Cellphones to Reward Good Grades
Free cellphone airtime could be a reward for high-performing students if the city adopts the newest idea from the Education Department’s chief equality officer.
In New York City public schools, cellphones are considered contraband. But free cellphone airtime could be a reward for high-performing students if the city adopts the newest idea from the Education Department’s chief equality officer.
That official, Roland G. Fryer, a Harvard economist who is leading the city’s program to pay cash to some students who do well on standardized tests, told an undergraduate economics class at Harvard last month that his next proposal would include a plan to give cellphones to students, and reward free minutes to those who do well — an idea that is at odds with one of the city’s most contentious school policies, the ban on students having cellphones in school. The ban has been attacked by parents and politicians, who call it a draconian policy that endangers students. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who would have to approve Dr. Fryer’s proposal, has repeatedly refused to budge on the ban despite the outcries.
After the City Council overrode the mayor’s veto of legislation to allow children to carry their phones to school, City Hall officials emphatically pointed out that nothing would change and that cellphones would still be banned inside schools.
Dr. Fryer’s comments were described by several people who were present at the Harvard lecture on Oct. 10, part of his course titled “Race in America.” They did not want to be identified because, they said, Dr. Fryer had chastised his class for communicating with reporters about the lecture.
Most of Dr. Fryer’s work has been closely guarded by the Education Department, where officials have repeatedly said that it is still in the “developing stages.”
Dr. Fryer did not return telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.
“This is one of several student-motivation proposals that the department is considering,” said David Cantor, a spokesman for the city Education Department. He said that “this is a proposal that neither the mayor nor the chancellor has signed off on.”
The proposal is in line with the larger incentive program that Dr. Fryer is running, as well as with programs offering bonuses to teachers and principals based on student performance.
Last month, the city embraced a plan by a private foundation to reward students who pass Advanced Placement tests with thousands of dollars.
Under the newest proposal, the cellphones would be donated at virtually no cost to the city and students would be unable to make calls during school hours, Dr. Fryer said, according to people who attended the lecture. The free phones would have a fixed number of minutes of air time. Students who excel would be rewarded with additional minutes, Dr. Fryer told the class, the people said.
If officials approve, the first batch of free phones, flip-style models donated by Motorola, would be delivered to several hundred students this month, Dr. Fryer told the class. He said that the program, if approved, would eventually attempt to include one million students in city schools.
Dr. Fryer also told the class that celebrities, including the hip-hop artist Jay-Z, might be asked to record ring tones.
Chuck Kaiser, a spokesman for Motorola, said in an e-mail message that the company is “aware of the concept,” but that it would be premature to comment on it because “the project is under consideration and no commitments have yet been made.”
In June, when Dr. Fryer was first brought in as a close adviser to the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, he said he would be looking at ways to “rebrand academic success,” and would consider a marketing campaign aimed at children in the public schools, particularly black, Latino and low-income students. But Dr. Fryer has been tight-lipped publicly about the details.
During a speech at the Schomburg Center in Harlem on Tuesday — his first public appearance in New York this year — Dr. Fryer alluded to some frustrations with dealing with the education politics of the city, saying that he was often asked by top officials, “What is the union going to think of this?”
To that, Dr. Fryer said, he responds, “This is a personal mission between me and the 10-year-olds in Harlem.”
While Dr. Fryer’s incentive program has been criticized by some educators who say that it undercuts the idea that learning should be for its own sake, he faced a largely receptive audience on Tuesday and has been welcomed by several leading black leaders in the city.
“We need to support Dr. Fryer in his efforts because, without any reservation, he is going to do in the 21st century for education what W. E .B. DuBois did in the 20th century,” said the Rev. C. Vernon Mason, who runs a youth development program and spoke at Tuesday’s event.
When one principal asked Dr. Fryer what he planned to do to change a culture in which students’ success is mocked, he responded that he understood the urgency of the problem.
“We are talking about a movement where we get kids to succeed. We’re not talking about a slogan campaign,” he said. Then he added, “All I can say is stay tuned.”
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