All ETDs from UAB

Advisory Committee Chair

Loucrecia Collins

Advisory Committee Members

Tonya Perry

John Dantzler

William B Rogan

Linda Searby

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

2011

Degree Name by School

Doctor of Education (EdD) School of Education

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between the use of cash incentives and performance of high school students on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Logistic regression was used with binary variables to determine predictor variables for success on the AP exam. This quantitative analysis found that while gender does not have a relationship to success, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and the use of cash incentives are related for certain groups. The use of cash incentives was the strongest predictor of success on the exam, which supports the theory of operant conditioning discussed in the literature. The results showed that minorities and low socioeconomic students still had a low success rate on the AP exam, although they had doubled the success rate of the non-incentive year. White students almost doubled the success rate of minorities when incentives were involved. All students showed an increase in performance when a cash incentive was available.

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