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Only semi related, but when Dolly Parton noticed that her home town had 30%+ highschool dropout rates, she created the buddy program. Pair with a friend, and if

Only semi related, but when Dolly Parton noticed that her home town had 30%+ highschool dropout rates, she created the buddy program. Pair with a friend, and if you both graduate, you both get $500. Drop out rate dropped to 6%. Yeah incentives can be gamed... But if in the process of gaming, the students achieve the outcome, does it really matter? https://dollyparton.com/imagination_library/buddy-program/1591 https://dollyparton.com/imagination_library/buddy-program/15...

anitil 4y ago
It's hard for me to understand how such a small amount could have such a meaningful impact on someone's life. I suppose that says more about me though. Edit: Dolly _personally handed them the cheque_! I could see that being more of a motivation than the cash itself Edit 2: I would highly recommend listening to "Dolly Parton's America" - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
- lewispollard 4y ago
  I would venture that most high school students have probably never had $500 in cash in their entire lives, especially those who are at risk of dropping out.
- dataflow 4y ago
  $500 to a high school student can mean a lot. Source: have been a high school student.
- calebkaiser 4y ago
  I appreciate the way you phrased this. In my experience, the nature of poverty in Appalachia is alien to many people (the numbers are so low, and the region is so isolated in many ways, there are many aspects of it that are unintuitive and jarring at first glance.) Since you seem curious about poverty in Appalachia, I thought this bit of data might be interesting: Sevierville, where Dolly Parton is from, has an average individual income of about $23,000 in 2022–which is actually a significant increase compared to just a few years ago. When you adjust for inflation and consider that high schoolers have relatively lower earning potential, the weight of $500 makes more sense. Source: https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/4767120 https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/4767120
londons_explore 4y ago
I assume the kind of people who join this program probably are far more likely to graduate even before any incentives are given. Dropouts rarely sign up for anything 'extra' voluntary at school.
- Majestic121 4y ago
  To be confirmed, but my understanding is that the general dropout rate went from 30% to 6%, not 6% only for the people which signed up for the program (for whom the dropout rate might be 0-1% for example)
- DiggyJohnson 4y ago
  Money is different.
pydry 4y ago
This is really clever.

anitil 4y ago

It's hard for me to understand how such a small amount could have such a meaningful impact on someone's life. I suppose that says more about me though. Edit: Dolly _personally handed them the cheque_! I could see that being more of a motivation than the cash itself Edit 2: I would highly recommend listening to "Dolly Parton's America" - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america

lewispollard 4y ago
I would venture that most high school students have probably never had $500 in cash in their entire lives, especially those who are at risk of dropping out.
dataflow 4y ago
$500 to a high school student can mean a lot. Source: have been a high school student.
calebkaiser 4y ago
I appreciate the way you phrased this. In my experience, the nature of poverty in Appalachia is alien to many people (the numbers are so low, and the region is so isolated in many ways, there are many aspects of it that are unintuitive and jarring at first glance.) Since you seem curious about poverty in Appalachia, I thought this bit of data might be interesting: Sevierville, where Dolly Parton is from, has an average individual income of about $23,000 in 2022–which is actually a significant increase compared to just a few years ago. When you adjust for inflation and consider that high schoolers have relatively lower earning potential, the weight of $500 makes more sense. Source: https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/4767120 https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/4767120

londons_explore 4y ago

I assume the kind of people who join this program probably are far more likely to graduate even before any incentives are given. Dropouts rarely sign up for anything 'extra' voluntary at school.

Majestic121 4y ago
To be confirmed, but my understanding is that the general dropout rate went from 30% to 6%, not 6% only for the people which signed up for the program (for whom the dropout rate might be 0-1% for example)
DiggyJohnson 4y ago
Money is different.

pydry 4y ago

This is really clever.