Best Ways to Motivate Your Teen To Earn Good Grades in High School

As an educator, I would prefer that grades reflect the intrinsic value of learning rather than being work that earns a salary. However, education is also tied to the work world, which does reward with money. Young people may not develop a love for learning right away but the habit of study can develop that over time. Money for grades can motivate but must be awarded within the actual capabilities of the child. An arbitrary standard of money only for As may be too high for an individual kid so one must know what one’s child is capable of achieving.

—Guest John Stinespring

Fiendish Plan

For my 11 and 8 year olds my fiendish plan is to make an A worth an outrageous amount of money. Make the A worth the effort. They each have 6 subject areas in their report cards. I’d say making an A worth $20, a C worth $2 and a B about $8 - this will likely get their attention.

—Guest Scott Boyer

Working Together

The best motivation is to work together with your teen on self-change. Plan a mutually agreed upon date & time to sit down with your teen--don’t just pull him or her away from what they’re doing. At this time discuss 1 or 2 of your personal or professional goals with your teen & listen to your teen discuss his or her academic objectives with you. Once you decide on your goals, set specific but relevant short-term goals that will serve as stepping stones to your overall goal. In addition, set milestones & decide how you will measure the progress of your goals. Most importantly, decide how you will celebrate your successes. Create a plan to help you assess setbacks, obstacles, & possible failures. Teach your teen never to give up but to always come back with a PLAN B! Working with your teen on goals will help you bond, make the process more enjoyable & allow you to grow as an individual. Use each other for support & encouragement. You will be surprised what you can learn from one another

—IvanaPejakovic

Privileges

I have a 16-year-old in a dual enrollment high school/college program w/ a 3.5 GPA. He has always been motivated with privileges. If the grades slip, the privileges begin to disappear. It has always gone hand in hand with trust - to stay out later, to have friends over, to see certain movies, etc.

—Guest Sherry

Fairness

I don't think its fair that a student who makes F's or D's and they get it up to a C or B and they get praised and rewarded the a student who makes A's his/her whole life and are never rewarded then for making a once ever B or C and the get severely punished. That is just not fair and I am tired of seeing that in parents and schools.

—Guest Danny

Motivating your teen to earn good grade

This can be challenging. I found money motivators to be a temporary solution. But I do often talk with my son about how if he wants 'the finer things in life' one day with a good paying/satisfying job - he needs to get into college - and he can only do this with really good grades. That seems to be working right now. Also, in addition to sports, we require he do other types of extra curriculars like Science Fair that enhance learning/help him in class. This also encourages friendships/associations with the smarter kids in school. I believe that steering your child into the right peer group is a huge motivator. Peer pressure is a big influence at this age.

—chrismoy1

Ability needs to be considered

While getting A's is a great goal, not all kids can get an A in all subjects. I think it's damaging to reward the child who got 3 A's by just showing up and not reward the child who tried really hard and got C's. I think we need to make it clear that we expect assignments to be completed to the best of their ability and handed in on time. Then the grades they are capable of will happen. There should be consequences for not doing the assignments or doing a poor job. Most parents know what their kids are capable of. Don't make the standards to easy to achieve. But don't make your expectations so high that there isn't any point in trying because they'll never get there anyway. See where the child is currently at, then make the goal improvement...not the end result. ie: if they are failing a class, the first goal needs to be to pass...not an A.

—Guest Pam

Carrots and Stick

I prefer to use the carrot and stick policy. She does well she gets the predetermined reward, like - a toy or a dinner at a place of her choice etc, does poorly loses certain privileges like TV,computer time, etc. Seems to be working fine so far. Can't say for the future.

—Guest Aj

Get your kids in a good school

Get your kids in a school where the enviroment promotes them to learn for themselves. The better the school, the better the grades. If your kids don't like the school, why should they make good grades? Just makes them feel like no one cares. -Speaking from a student's perspective. Yes, money is nice, but you don't need to bribe your kid.

—Guest 17yr old

Rewards other than money

I reward with computer time. My girls love to be on you-tube looking up their favorite songs or playing video games so I reward each A with 2 hours computer or video game time, each B with 1 hour and 30 min for each C. If they get a D or an F, they lose their time altogether. It has started working recently, because they don't want to lose the other stuff they earned because of being lazy in one class!

—Guest Annette

Non-Payment

Hi - as an educator, life long student and mother of 4 - I believe that you set the best example by your own love of knowledge. I wouldn't dream of paying for good grades as they carry sufficient intrinsic rewards and make the kid look pretty good too!

—Guest Bonitaj

Works while it lasts....pros and cons

I rewarded with money for about 2 years, but when the economy turned and I couldn't afford to keep it up, her grades actually went down. She told me her incentive to keep working hard was gone when I stopped paying her! I think it's a great concept, as long as you can keep it up. I'm not sure what I can do this year to keep her motivated, although, it aggravates me because I was self-motivated. Now I tell her that her reward is A) self-esteem for good grades, B) getting into a good college C) getting a good job! It's not getting me very far and I wish I'd never started with the money in the first place. She's the one that will reap the rewards of working hard not me, she just doesn't get it yet (16 yr old).