The Use of Extrinsic Rewards

The public library launched a program called “Reading Challenges for kids” in the summer of 2005. The intention of the program was to motivate kids to read and prompt the joys of reading. Kids who checked out the most books from mid- May to August 1st received free pizza coupons and T-shirts.

The first week of August, we determined the winners by looking at the kids’ library cards. During the award celebration party, I talked to the kids who were the “most read.” I asked them what they thought about the reading challenge. How did they feel about the accomplishment they reached? Many of them told me that they liked the reading challenge because they received pizzas and t-shirts. When I asked them which books they liked the most and least, they were unable to name one. Actually, some of them avoided answering me. Apparently, those kids felt guilty about the experience (did not actually read the books); and they did not have a sense of accomplishment even though they were the "winners."

 The facts are:

• It is an "if then" extrinsic motivation system; it does more harm than good (Pink, 2009, p. 49). (Deci, 1995, p. 54) classified it as a pay-for-performance" motivational technique. Sadly, what did we really teach the kids? The shortcut or the fastest way to get rewards.
• The program encourages cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behaviors (Pink, 2009, p. 59); kids checked out library books simply for adding up the “checked out number” on their library cards to win the competition. Did they read the books? Most likely they did not.
• I do not believe that the program increased the kids' reading motivation. When the reading challenge ended, those “most read” kids disappeared – no pizza, no reading! - "people work only to the point that triggers the reward, and no further" (Pink, 2009, p. 58)
• The rewards actually gave to the kids who checked out books rather than the kids who read the most books. This might be discouraging for the kids who really read the books they signed out. Their library cards showed that they checked out fewer books than those "most read" kids did; this implies - the extinguishing intrinsic motivation and crowding out good behavior (Pink, 2009, p. 59; Deci, 1995, p. 51).

In my opinion, the reading challenge program was a failure in term of motivating reading. The use of rewards to motivate kids to read is theoretically a good concept. However, offering extrinsic rewards to motivate children for signing out books simply will not work. The reward system should facilitate motivation and encourage children to remain enthusiastic about reading after the reward system was terminated. Here are changes that I would make to the program:

• The reading challenge program would require the “most read” kids to present or describe a staff selected book they read before they received the rewards.
• The program should focus on the joy of reading in some informative way, such as setting reading goals for each child. Goals are based on reading ability, number of books, number of pages, or number of minutes. When they meet the reading requirements, they will receive the rewards - Teachers and parents will play the important monitoring role for the reading progress.