Using Rewards in Elementary Classroom - Research Paper Example

Name Course Instructor Date submitted Abstract Classroom management is an essential phenomenon that needs to be understood by teachers in elementary schools who strive to ensure that high academic and discipline performances are upheld in their schools. Although it entails many aspects, reward systems are particularly important in any given institution. There are two broad categories of rewards that take varied dimensions; intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Reward systems in school settings apply to students and teachers as well. This research paper is an in-depth analysis of use of rewards in elementary schools. The paper begins by introducing the research topic and gives objectives and research questions. It will further discuss the topic with regard to all the matters involved using a literature review approach. In order to clearly understand the spectrum of the issue, a methodological research study will be discussed in terms of methodology, data analysis, results, findings and discussion of results. Recommendations will be proposed at the end of research paper and finally a conclusion summarizing main points discussed. Introduction Classroom management is a fundamental aspect in developing a successful classroom. Teachers in elementary schools need to adapt classroom management techniques that will ensure attainment of goals for both the teacher and the students. In a classroom that is properly managed, there is an interactive relationship between the teacher and the students, students are able to associate with their teachers freely without fear and reproach. High attention levels are characteristic of a class that is properly managed. Such a classroom will also have none or very few behavioral cases as the students subsequently develop a culture of discipline. An example of classroom management techniques is the rewards system that is utilized by many elementary school teachers. In any given classroom, the role of the teacher is to positively reinforce materials into the students and the results thereof are expressed in the student after the term ends. Reward system of elementary schools is designed to reward both positive and negative outcomes and it is based on several aspects such academic performance, behavior, punctuality, cleanliness among others (Bear, p. 234). Elementary schools are investing more of their resources on rewards due to the realization that rewards are fundamental and inevitable part of effective school management. Indeed, rewards have been shown to be a feature of highly performing schools and this necessitated management of many elementary schools to integrate rewards systems into their school programs. Research has been carried out on rewarding systems in the elementary school for a long time. It has been noted that rewarding in a school is one of several way of motivating the students and teachers in elementary schools. Motivation essentially refers to reasons that inspire behavior and is characterized by volition and willingness (Guay et al., p.712). Motivation can be categorized into two groups; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is basically animated by personal interest, enjoyment and pleasure. Extrinsic motivation is ruled by reinforcement contingencies. However, it is traditionally considered by educators that intrinsic motivation is far desirable and results to excellent learning as compared to extrinsic motivation (Eccles & Wigfield, p.133).This is because it is more of a natural motivation rather than external motivation. It has been observed that children tend to enter school with much of intrinsic motivation though this decreases as the children progress in their studies. The use of these rewards may either diminish or encourage motivation. Objectives The following aims and objectives should be achieved at the end of the research; To determine the extent of rewards systems in elementary schools. To identify types of rewards systems used in elementary schools. To determine effectiveness of the reward systems identified. To identify parties involved in the rewards system. To determine benefits and shortcomings of reward systems. Research questions 1. “Have teachers received formal training in use of rewards?” 2. “Which reward techniques are used in classrooms?” 3. “Are rewards effective tools in student motivation?” Rational of the topic chosen With increasing competition in the education sectors, there is increasing need to have effective classroom management in order to remain highly competitive. Elementary schools that have established reward systems are more likely to produce highly knowledgeable, educated and disciplined students who can make responsible citizens (Bear, p. 234). Researchers and academicians have explored this area with the aim of analyzing and evaluating spectrum of this issue. Use of reward systems in elementary schools provide a potentially wide area of research as the number of schools that have incorporated the system into their programs has tremendously increased over the past years. It is for this reason that I selected the research question on ‘Using reward systems in elementary schools’. Scope The paper will cover a wide range of issues involved in reward systems in elementary schools. It will begin with a literature review which will take an in-depth approach into all the matters pertaining to reward systems. The report will further describe a hypothetical study that was conducted to support the research. At the tail end, the research paper will propose some recommendations before a conclusion of the main points identified in the paper. Literature Review Management Strategy The school management should strategy on how to manage rewarding among teachers. This includes the teachers’ salary and motivation strategy. Teachers, being part of the elementary schools are also affected by rewarding systems. It has been observed that most teachers are rewarded mostly for the numbers of years they have spent teaching and the degrees they have obtained rather than on their performances in the elementary schools (Odden, p.28). As a result of this, it is believed that the salary scale purposely determine teachers compensation mainly on incomplete criteria. It is then not a surprise that the most talented teachers are leaving elementary teaching as excellence is not well rewarded. One of the greatest benefits of performance is the increase motivation on teachers. Teachers will be motivated by rewarding their productivity gains. This perspective is very important as it will have a major effect on the attitudes of the teachers will have to the children. This is based from the argument that, if the skills and motivation of the teacher determines their salaries, the quality of their teaching will significantly improve. Performance-based salary is all about motivating teachers and therefore, developing a culture that is performance-oriented (Tomlinson, p.281). In other situations, teachers may be motivated by non-financials rewards in cases where financial rewards are not used to motivate them. These may include; influence, recognition, satisfaction which is mainly from the students’ high performance, personal growth and training on new skills. It has been argued that money has a major influence on motivation. Research has shown that it is one of the many motivators (Kelley et al, p.374). Most analysts have made it clear that the fundamental goal of rewards to teachers in the elementary schools is to improve the performance of the children. As observed by Odden, there is major link between the teaching quality and students’ performance, (p.31). This clearly indicates that any method that the management will improve the quality of teaching must then increase students’ outcome. It is then beyond doubt that all inputs needed to improve the quality of teaching in elementary schools should be made available by the school management. This means introduction of strategies and objectives standards that will determine if the teachers have the skills that are required to improve students’ performance leading to the establishment of qualified teachers. This will only occur if evaluation is focused on the skills and knowledge of the teachers, resulting to teachers improving and therefore, an intrinsic reward (Edward, p.59 b). In addition, performance-based knowledge may target teachers to vital subjects and major objectives as a way of improving students’ performance. It is further argued that as a result of the above arguments, there will be a consistency in teaching standards across the elementary schools since excellent teachers will be based in the best performing, lowest disadvantaged and an area which is racially homogenous (Tomlinson, p.281). Occurrence of this, is when performance rewards establish a market where the movements between elementary schools is made easier as the true value of a teacher is created. Seemingly, poor performing teachers will be eventually be sanctioned by the market and consequently a reduced salary (Edward, p.59 a). However, some analysts have criticized motivation of teachers through performance-based rewards. Some have argued that a child performance is not under the teacher control (Holt, p.76). They argued that the teacher is not the only actor on a child education, family, principal and the school must also be acknowledged. Furthermore, they have observed that excellent teachers have been given classes that least perform and therefore, rewards awarded on performance-based systems will be as an punishment to them (Evans, p.49). Rewarding teachers erroneously has been considered as a problem when it comes to performance-based systems. It is hard to adequately evaluate an educator or a teacher basing the evaluation on the students’ performance because the performance may be as a result of the previous learning techniques taught by another teacher (Hidi, p. 157). Most critics have particularly noted that teachers are not motivated by monetary reward and therefore, will not entirely respond to financial incentives. If monetary reward is seen as a small motivator for teachers, resentment may settle in towards to the management and may lead to reduced loyalty from the employees, leading to production reduction (Ramirez, p.17). This argument is supported by the numerous surveys that have been carried and have suggested that intrinsic rewards are vital to the teachers. Some analysts believe that evaluation would undermine intrinsic rewards for a teacher. In the elementary schools, the teachers may increase their focus on the bright student as the students’ improvement will increase the teachers’ performance (Holt, p.318).The poor-performing students may be left out under performance-based rewarding systems. Critics suggest that non-monetary rewards are better motivator, for example, extra holidays. Though research has shown that teachers can be motivated through intrinsic rewards, this does not entirely mean that potential teachers should be only be motivated by monetary rewards. The potential teachers may be talented but have been employed in the private sectors due to the insufficient rewards that are available for the teachers. Not only is the performance-based rewarding criticized by analysts, but is also facing objections from the teachers’ unions (McCollum, p.24). The teachers have continually rejected merit pay. This has been mainly be contributed by the fact that accurate evaluation of the teachers may not be carried out effectively. Teaching training Analysts suggest that successful strategies should be laid to ensure that the teachers will be able to learn new skills and knowledge that are necessary for performance-based rewards. The teacher should be trained on how to handle rewarding systems in schools. This will avoid any mistakes that will make the students lack confidence with the teachers. Inclusion It is very important that the students should have a sense of belonging when it comes in rewarding. Therefore, it is vital that the elementary come up with a strategy that will ensure that the student feel that there is no discrimination as the school is applying the rewarding system. However, it is good to note that students have different motivation during the schooling stage. According to Linnenbrink & Pintrich (2002), little was known about intrinsic motivation of children in the elementary schools (p.320). However, recent research has led to more insights on developing motivation. The researchers have appear to agree to the fact that intrinsic motivation is usually high in children (Broussard & Garrison, p.110) they have discovered that first-grade learners have a positive academic expectations and self-concept for themselves. Later, intrinsic motivation declines over time as the students leave the elementary schools (Guthrie, p.335). Consequently, interests in writing and reading for pleasure have been declining with age. There are exceptions that are parallel to this thought. Guthrie (2000) observed no difference between fourth and fifth graders in terms of intrinsic motivation (p.337). Secondly, inclination to difficult tasks, which is an indicator of high motivation, tends to increase between the age of 7 and 8. Various researchers have suggested that motivation has continued to differentiate across and within schools subjects in relation to age. For instance, according to Eccles & Wigfield (2002) noted that children tend to attach value to the activities that the mostly excel in over time, explaining the reason why they tend to be more motivated in those subjects that they experience success,( p111). Children aged 6-8 typically in relation to differentiation of motivation, have no differentiation in the subjects while those between the ages of 9-12 have accurate perceptions of their weakness and strength in the area of subjects. It has been recommended that elementary schools should support students’ motivation through rewards or incentives as rewards are maintain students’ interests, creating an environment that will support the students’ goals, increase students’ choice and autonomy, use collaborative learning methods (Eisenberg, p.694). All the students should be included, therefore in the rewarding systems. What is being used? Various things are being used in the rewarding systems. They however, vary depending on the school. They range from tangible to intangible rewards. The teachers should however, be carefully when using rewards. This especially to the tangible rewards such as special privileges, grades, cash and candy may have negative effects on self reported interest and free-choice behavior as compared to those rewards that are intangible (Pintrich, p.670). Example of intangible reward is verbal feedback. However, if the rewards are unexpected they don’t usually have a dampening effect. When the rewards are based on participation in an activity in the school, regardless of whether the participating students excels or competes, the negative effects of tangible rewards is felt on free-choice behavior mostly in he elementary children as compared to college learners. Intangible rewards such as verbal rewards- performance feedback or praise, will enhance the free –choice behavior among the college students rather than the elementary children (Willingham, p.11). Extra recess is also another intangible reward that has been applied in various schools. The students may also spend more with the teachers as they are having their free time. This may motivate some students especially those who are always seeking the teachers’ attention. Feedbacks The model of reward management has several elements that includes; strategic perspective that focuses on the choice of rewards that support the goals, reward objectives that emphasizes the linkage between student behavior and reward system, rewards option that mainly affects performance and base pay, reward techniques which include both tangible and intangible rewards and reward competitiveness. In behavior modification, students may begin to behave appropriately if they are motivated verbally. For example the use of this marbles in a jar technique may encourage the student to behave appropriately. A teacher used Marbles Jar to motivate her students. She mainly applied this to teach her students on behavioral expectations at starting of the year and frequently reminded her students throughout the year. The first day in school she kept the jar and marbles close at hand. Her main objective was to use the marbles to teach the students to follow examples. She would set easy goal for the class to reach and twenty marbles in the jar would definitely earn the students free time. This would be accompanied by verbal praise. The teacher would ensure that the students would earn free time. She gradually increased the marble until there were no more and the students had already learned how to follow instruction fast and stay on the task. By the end of fortnight the marbles were not necessary. The students had learned. In case of any problem the marbles would appear (Edwards, p.127) Multiple views Some people are for the rewarding system basically as it has several advantages to the elementary schools. The children will be able to improve their performance and have a positive attitude towards education. Competition will be carried out efficiently and effectively. Children will therefore, be encouraged to read and learn. The teachers will have positive attitudes towards teaching leading to improvement of students’ performance. They are those who are against rewarding system because of its disadvantages which include: when children may view rewarding as one of the ways of discriminating poor students (McCollum, p.23), lack of rewards that march the students’ expectations. However, if the rewarding system may be applied in all discipline, the disadvantage may not be seen. This basically means, the teachers should also rewards children have outstanding performance in all area ranging from sports, behavior excellence and cleanliness. Teachers may not appreciate rewarding system as it may be seen as a way of favoring some teachers. However, rewarding in teachers should be well strategies to ensure all teachers have equal opportunities in the rewarding systems. It is however, recommendable that all teachers are involved in the rewarding systems to ensure equality (Eccles & Wigfield, p. 112) Famous writers Vernon Jones is one of the famous writers on elementary rewarding. The writer describes the need to have a motivational environment in the classroom. The writer suggests that the teacher should have expectations outlined as the students are starting the sessions. This then should be accompanied by verbal rewards. This including praising the students when they achieve what is required of them. This will motivate the students who will work hard to so that their abilities will be noticed. Ruby Pane is also another writer on elementary rewarding. She stresses the need to identify and nurture those gifted and poor students. However, this should be accompanied by equality in the program. Alfie Kohn is one of the major critics of the rewards and competition in elementary schools. He argues that rewards only destroy the students’ motivation. Research methodology Participants Respondents selected for this particular study were special and regular education teachers in elementary schools from both urban and rural settings. In particular, the study was conducted on district elementary schools that had an annual total student’s enrollment of above 10,000 students. The schools were selected randomly from all regions of the country for purposes of uniformity. An attempt was made to survey at least 1000 teachers; 500 regular and 500 special. Instruments A comprehensive survey was developed for this particular study. It was designed in accordance to recommended survey procedures and practices. The survey was subdivided into three main parts which used the open-ended question and forced-choice formats. The first part of the survey was basically a demographic study that was aimed at providing details of the participants. Questions were formulated to give information regarding age, gender, occupation, highest degree levels, years of experience, and training levels on rewards (Rawling, 342). Part II of the survey asked the participants about their use of rewards in classroom settings. Respondents were asked to identify the types of internal and external rewards they used, how students responded to them and how often they used them. In addition, respondents were asked to identify some motivation strategies they used in class and to provide some general reasons of lack of motivation in students. This was done on a 6-point Likert scale. In this section, respondents were asked to rate the extent to which use of rewards enhanced motivation and creativity in students. Part III of the survey took an in-depth approach regarding use of rewards in elementary classrooms. Respondents were asked to explain into details advantages and disadvantages they have encountered by using rewards in classrooms. The questions formulated in this section were in the open-ended format. There was enough space provided for the respondents to answer the questions. Pilot study After development of the survey, a pilot study on 16 public elementary school teachers was conducted. This study involved 8 regular and 8 special teachers. Each of these teachers received a copy of the survey, a letter describing the pilot study and a feedbacks and directions form. Purpose of directions and feedback form was to ask the respondents the time it took for them to receive it via mail box and the time taken for the survey to be completed. In addition, space was left in the form for respondents to make comments and recommendations on areas that needed improvement in the survey. Respondents of the pilot study were fully informed that the forms were completely confidential and it would be used as the basis to formulate the final survey. There was 100% response implying that all the 16 pilot study surveys were returned with relevant feedback. Following the responses, a new and final survey was developed and was ready to move to the next step (Rawling, p.345). Procedure The pilot study revealed that the most appropriate mode of conducting the survey would be mailing. Thus, mail addresses of principals in all selected schools were obtained and two copies of the survey sent to them. One was to be given to a special teacher while the other to a regular teacher. The original surveys were accompanied by two additional follow up surveys and packets of herbal tea were inserted to motivate the principals in distribution. The survey had a cover letter to encourage teachers to fill the surveys and had a website where the respondents would view the results after completion of the survey. Data analysis Surveys were assigned a serial number for easy tracking of the ones that were returned. For the purpose of data analysis, returned surveys were given different codes which were then entered into a database. To ensure accuracy, double-data entry was conducted. The SPSS software was also utilized for inferential and descriptive statistical analyses. Means, frequencies, standard deviations and percentages were represented on tables and bar graphs. Responses from open-ended questions were examined, summarized and reported (Rawling, p. 343). Results Out of 1000 surveys distributed to the schools, 400 of them were returned. In terms of percentages, the response level was 40%. The number of regular teachers who responded was 48% while special education teachers were 51%. There was a different category of teachers that came up in the survey. This was a group of teacher who either used English as a second language, had special needs and generally those who had alternative studies other than the usual special and regular modes. They comprised 1% of the respondents and were treated as rejects during data analyses. All regions were adequately represented; 21% from the southwest, 31% from the west, 25% from Midwest, 8% from the northwest and 15% from southwest. Demographics showed that the survey was basically conducted on mid-aged teachers. Average age for regular teachers was 40 years while for special teachers it was 42years. An independent parameter t was introduced to determine if there was a relationship between age and teaching mode of the teachers. This parameter revealed that special teachers were in many cases older than regular teachers. Majority of the respondents from both special and regular education groups were females with a percentage of 91.1%. Male respondents were quite few with a percentage of 9%. Chi-square test was done to determine if a relationship existed between gender and teachers mode of teaching. The test was not significant implying that there was no association between gender and teacher groups. Teaching experience in all the teaching groups averaged to 13.5 years. In addition, the respondents had a good level of education with more than half doing their masters degrees. However, special education teachers had higher education levels in comparison to regular education teachers. Findings In response to the first research question “Have teachers received formal training in use of rewards”, 70% of special education teachers and 46% of regular ones had received training in use of rewards in the classroom. They obtained this training from different channels including colleges, inservices, workshops, reading books and magazines. In the second research question “Which reward techniques are used in classrooms?” respondents were asked to identify reward techniques they used and frequency as well. All respondents revealed that they used verbal praises during most of their sessions. Social reinforcement techniques were used by 96% of the respondents. 70% of them reported to engage in special activities such as issue of audible staff. In the third research question “Are rewards effective tools in student motivation?” respondents were asked to rate using the 6-point Likert scale. The rating was from 1-srongly disagreeing to 6-strongly agree. There were varied responses in this section. 31% of regular teachers and 25% of special teachers agreed that rewards were fundamental in enhancing motivation in students. In general, regular teachers were in agreement that rewards were detrimental towards intrinsic motivation in comparison with their counterparts (Rawling, p.347). Discussion The research study has evidently revealed that many teachers have acquired adequate training in the area of rewards in classrooms. Teachers’ colleges have recognized the growing need to incorporate rewards systems into school programs and it for this reason they have introduced units in the syllabus to train teachers on how to effectively use rewards in elementary classrooms. Although many of them have received the training, it is evident that the percentage of regular teachers is much lower than that of special teachers who have undergone the training. This can be attributed to time factor. Special teachers are in school at specific time of the day unlike regular teachers who spend most of their time in the school setting. As a result, special teachers have adequate time to do extra reading on materials related to extrinsic rewards and they can even attend conferences on classroom management during free time. The number of special teachers who trained on extrinsic rewarding during in-services training was more than the regular teachers. It is more convenient for school management to send representatives from the special group of teachers during such training rather than regular ones who would be forced to skip lessons as they attend the training (Colvin and Fernandez, p.1). It is quite clear that almost all teachers use at least one form of external reward technique in the classrooms. Verbal praise is however the most common form of reward as it is considered convenient and cheap. In this kind of reward, the teacher will praise the efforts of a student who has managed to score higher in performance of an activity be it in terms of academics or otherwise. Similarly, a significantly high number of teachers use social reinforcement techniques for rewarding students (Edwards, p.59 a). This technique refers to a situation where the teacher provides a positive consequence and also increases probability of occurrence of the event in future. For instance, when a teacher makes a comment such as “thank you for rubbing the board on time and not disturbing the class” will enhance behavior of the same action in future such that students will always clear the board before the lesson begins to avoid disrupting the class (Lewis, Sugai, and Colvin, p. 119). The research also showed that both regular teachers have a tendency of using special activities as reward techniques during their lessons. In particular, these techniques were done by kindergarten and lower grade teachers since students in these grades are more attached to material things. Examples include issuing of candies to students who perform best in class or issuing of home notes to parents indicating good performance. The 6-point Likert scale showed that teachers from both groups strongly agreed that rewards are very fundamental in building student motivation. Rewarding students shapes their behavior patterns as they will work towards attaining a specific level that the teacher rewards. It was also quite evident that schools with well established reward systems have high performance rates compared to those that lacked them. The research conclusively showed that rewards are important in enhancement of motivation in students (Lewis, p.1). Recommendations Rewarding in elementary schools is both important to children and teachers. In case of children, as one is developing reward system, it is wise to keep in mind that if it involves tremendous work or activities to maintain. The teacher should keep the rewarding system simple. It should be kept within the student reach. It is also important to make sure that it is not impossible to be obtained by a large portion of the students. All the children should have an opportunity to earn a particular reward. The rewarding system should not cost an elementary school incredible financial effort as most financial support is from the community. Children should be rewarded not only on academic performance but also on their behavior. Sanctions are also necessary when need arises. Those children who have followed the rules, for example, should be given “good slips”. This will encourage good behaviors among the children. Wrist banding is also a good example of rewarding and recognizing students who have shown excellent behavior and performance (Eccles & Wigfield, p. 110). Teachers are also to be rewarded and their efforts well recognized. This is very important as motivated teachers are able to well carry out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Teachers’ efforts can recognized through extra holidays, spirit cards, whereby the teacher may write out to each other, for example. Motivation of teachers will have a positive effect on the learning environments. The teachers will create will positive attitude towards the students which will eventually improve students’ performance. All stakeholders should be involved in the rewarding system if it has to be effective. These include the parents, principal and the community. Essentially, teachers are most important when it comes to rewarding of students. This is because they are the main people who are with the children in school. The management also should ensure that strategies that will are laid down to ensure that the rewarding systems are effective and efficient. Conclusion Indeed, the paper has comprehensively covered all the research questions that were stipulated. Rewards are inevitable if the success of a school is to be attained. The rewarding system is divided into two major categories; intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Although reward systems in many schools emphasize on rewarding of students, teachers’ rewards are equally important. Teachers who are constantly rewarded are highly motivated and productive. Rewards for teachers can either in monetary terms or non-monetary terms. For instance, incentives are rewarded to teachers who have produced the best students by either giving them some money or paying vacations for them. There are countless benefits of rewarding students. To begin with, student motivation is greatly enhanced as students will strive to work hard in order to be rewarded for their good performance or behavior. Besides students’ motivation, rewards are a quick route to molding the behavior of students in a classroom. For instance, in the use of social reinforcement techniques, students will tend to improve on the performance that their teacher positively approved in the past. The research study conducted indicated that indeed, many teachers use the reward approach of class management to motivate their students. The research provided a conceptual framework to further discuss effectiveness of using reward systems in elementary classrooms. In following the proposed recommendations, elementary schools can effectively implement reward systems. Work Cited; Bear, G. School discipline and self-discipline : a practical guide to promoting prosocial student behavior. New York : Guilford Press, 2010. Broussard, S, & Garrison, M, (2004). “The relationship between classroom motivation and academic achievement in elementary school-aged children,” Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal (2004): 33(2), 106–120. 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