Tattoos for Good Grades

With the current emphasis on test scores, it’s no surprise that teachers are finding more unique ways to motivate students. But even for San Francisco, Stanley Richard’s offering seems a bit extreme.

Starting a few years ago, the science teacher at City Arts and Technology High School, a charter school in San Francisco was, like his colleagues, under pressure to raise some flat scores on a number of school-wide metrics. As Paul Koh, who just ended his time as the school’s vice principal, remembered it, the teachers came together in 2008 to think of innovative but cost-effective ways to incentivize test-taking at the project-based learning school. One person offered the idea of dollar-off coupons at the corner store for good test behavior.

As you’ll see in the video below, Richards came up with the idea of getting a tattoo — of Koh, as a sumo wrestler, holding a medallion of test numbers and slaying a dragon that represents the standardized test— if students could increase their score on California’s Academic Performance Index by 50 points. The school was expected to raise it by seven points.

I produced, shot and edited the piece for The Bay Citizen, where I’m currently on staff. The Bay Citizen is an online non-profit journalism organization in San Francisco that produces the New York Times Bay Area pages.

The story was picked up by a number of news outlets. A re-edited version was broadcast on the NBC affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It was also picked up by Yahoo News. Sadly, the video of the show Odd News, which featured the piece is no longer available.

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.