A Parent's Perspective: Someone Else Believes in My Child
For families, the program can also provide something that cannot easily be purchased with the rewards themselves: another adult cheering for their children.
USA TODAY's reporting on the initiative highlighted parents describing the motivation their children received from knowing Alselwi would recognize their academic effort. One parent described the experience as feeling like having another member of the “village” supporting her child.
That idea is important because children's development does not happen in isolation.
Parents play a central role.
Teachers matter.
Friends matter.
Coaches, mentors, relatives and neighbors can matter too.
Sometimes, a child may respond differently when encouragement comes from someone outside the immediate family.
A parent can say, “I'm proud of you,” every day.
But hearing a neighborhood business owner say, “I saw your grades. You worked hard. I'm proud of you too,” can create a different kind of social reinforcement.
It tells the child that academic effort is visible beyond the walls of home and school.
The Program Is Also About Improvement, Not Perfection
One of the most compelling aspects of the initiative is its emphasis on progress.
Alselwi has spoken about rewarding students who improve even when their grades are not yet excellent. NBC News reported that students with lower grades could receive rewards when they showed improvement, while the program also recognized achievements such as perfect attendance or being named student of the month.
That philosophy can be particularly meaningful for children who have already decided that they are “bad at school.”
A student who receives a 55 on a test may look at a classmate earning a 95 and conclude that the gap is impossible to overcome.
But if the goal becomes moving from 55 to 65, then 65 to 75, and eventually higher, improvement becomes measurable.
The student does not have to become the best student in the classroom overnight.
The next step becomes the goal.
Alselwi has said that he has seen dramatic improvements among some students. His GoFundMe description says he has seen students move from averages around 60% into the 80s and 90s. Those figures are his own account rather than an independently verified evaluation of the program, but they help explain why he believes the idea can motivate children.
The distinction is important.
The Grades for Grabs program has attracted enormous attention, but that does not mean every reported academic improvement can be scientifically attributed to the rewards.
Children's grades can change for many reasons.
A new teacher might make a difference.
A parent might become more involved.
A student may mature.
A difficult subject may finally begin to make sense.
Extra tutoring or better study habits may help.
The reward may be one piece of a much larger picture.
Do Cash Rewards Actually Improve Academic Performance?
This is where the story becomes more complicated—and more interesting.
Research on financial incentives in education has produced mixed results.
A 2010 National Bureau of Economic Research study by economist Roland Fryer examined financial incentives through randomized trials involving more than 250 urban schools. The study found that incentives tied to specific educational inputs could improve achievement, while incentives tied directly to academic outputs were generally not effective in the settings examined.
A later published version of that research, in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, similarly reported that financial incentives tied directly to outcomes such as grades or assessments did not produce statistically significant effects across the cities studied.
Other research has found more positive results.
A 2020 review of 21 studies found that student-level financial incentives had a significant positive effect on overall achievement and mathematics performance, although the effects differed by subject and the evidence about whether improvements continued after incentives ended was mixed. The review also noted that programs combining financial incentives with other academic supports tended to produce stronger effects than incentives alone.
More recent evidence also points toward nuance.
A 2024 meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials involving more than 20,000 higher-education students found that performance-based financial incentives increased the number of credits students earned, produced a modest improvement in GPA and improved exam scores when incentives were tied to a specific subject.
In other words, there is no simple scientific answer that says:
“Paying children for grades always works.”
Nor is the evidence strong enough to say:
“Rewards never work.”
The effects depend on how incentives are designed, what behavior they reward, who receives them and what other forms of support students have.
That makes Grades for Grabs an interesting real-world example rather than proof of a universal educational formula.
Why Recognition May Matter as Much as the Money
There is another element of Alselwi's program that is easy to overlook.
The cash is highly visible.
A $100 bill makes for an attention-grabbing video.
But the interaction itself may be just as important.
A student walks into the store.
Someone looks at the report card.
Someone congratulates them.
They are asked about their grades.