A student who is reprimanded for not paying attention is more likely to withdraw and stew in anger than redirect their attention to their learning.

Misbehavior may also be a healthy part of a child’s social and emotional development.

If anything, teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools.”

But researchers are increasingly coming to understand that there are limits to the effectiveness of rewards and punishments in education, and that for young people whose neurological and psychological development has been shaped by intense stress, straightforward reward systems are often especially ineffective. Play Video Economist Roland Fryer

Trying to take on the full scope of childhood can seem too sprawling a mission for any one government agency or foundation, let alone any teacher or mentor or social worker. But the chief drawback to this fragmented approach is that we can miss the common themes and patterns that persist through the stages of a child’s life.

Helping poor kids succeed is now, by definition, the central mission of American public schools and, by extension, a central responsibility of the American public.