A Prospective Policy Evaluation of the Michigan Merit Award Program.

In 1999 Michigan implemented the Michigan Merit Award program, a program to motivate high school students to take their studies more seriously. The program offers 1-year college scholarships to students who meet or exceed state standards on Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests in reading, mathematics, science, and writing. This paper discusses the Michigan program and similar state programs. Section 1 documents the lack of engagement of American high school students and compares the time they devote to schoolwork with the time their foreign counterparts spend on schoolwork. Section 2 assesses the social costs of student disengagement and lack of effort. Section 3 analyzes the structure of the Michigan Merit Award program and shows how it attacks the problem of motivating students to become more engaged in their studies. Section 4 provides evidence on the likely effects of the programs by reviewing studies of other moderate-stakes external-examination systems in other states and several Canadian provinces. Appended are detailed and official descriptions of the Michigan Merit Award program and information on the design and validity of the MEAP, which is used to measure academic achievement in the state. (Contains 31 references.) (WFA)