Some mornings, getting your child out the door is the day’s hardest job. If that is your house, you are not alone. Now DC plans to reward better attendance with game tickets and team gear. A prize gives a child a reason to come. To us, the bigger question is what keeps her coming once the prizes stop.
Parents have questions about DC’s new attendance rewards. Here are plain answers.
Common questions
Is DC paying kids to go to school?
Do attendance rewards work?
Will rewards hurt my child’s love of school?
DC will reward better attendance with game tickets and gift cards. A prize gives a child a reason to come. What keeps her there is the harder question.
What is DC doing?
On September 29, 2026, DC’s state education office announced a new pilot. The office is called OSSE. Its partners are Rang, a rewards app, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Monumental is a DC sports and events company. Its teams include the Capitals, the Wizards and the Mystics. State Superintendent Antoinette Mitchell called the pilot “an additional tool to recognize progress.”
Here is how it works. Each night, school attendance records flow into the Rang app. Rewards go to students whose attendance improves. Rang looks at each student’s past attendance. Students pick their rewards in the app. Choices include tickets to games and events, team gear, experiences and e-gift cards. Every student in a chosen school is eligible. This program pays no cash. DC also plans a pilot that would pay some high schoolers $50 a week. WJLA reported that the rewards program is separate from the cash pilot.
Schools apply by October 31, 2026. OSSE names the chosen schools in December. The pilot starts in January 2027. Up to 10,000 students in about 15 schools will take part. The need is real. By OSSE’s count, 39.5% of DC students were chronically absent in 2024-25. Among high schoolers, it was 57.6%.
Improving student attendance requires a comprehensive approach that addresses barriers and recognizes progress. Schools are working hard to address barriers to regular attendance. This public-private partnership is an additional tool to recognize progress, reinforce positive attendance habits, and build on the important work in schools already underway.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Do rewards make a child want to go to school?
Rewards do some real good. Eisenberger, Pierce and Cameron (1999) argued rewards help with tasks that start dull. They argued praise and surprise rewards do not lower a person’s own drive. For a child who drifted away, a ticket is a fair reason to return.
But a ticket is an outside reason. Self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000) names three needs behind a person’s own drive. She needs some say in what she does. She needs to feel good at the work. She needs to feel she belongs. In our view, a ticket stands in for those needs rather than building them. Deci, Koestner and Ryan (1999) reviewed experiments on tangible rewards, like prizes. Rewards tied to a task tended to lower people’s own wish to do it. One review of game-style rewards in learning found real gains (Sailer and Homner, 2020). In our reading of this research, the gains lean on the outside reason. In our reading, they also fade as the newness wears off.
Researchers still argue about how far these findings reach. And none of the studies we draw on tested an attendance app like Rang. So DC’s results are still unknown. OSSE’s own release treats the rewards as a first layer. It calls Rang a “Tier 1” tool, meant for every student. It says the pilot frees staff for “more intensive, relationship-driven support” for students with greater needs. Our page Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation, Honestly walks through the three needs.
Key takeaways
- Rewards, not cash: DC’s pilot gives tickets, team gear and gift cards for better attendance.
- A starter, not a substitute: To us, a reward is a reason to come, not a reason to stay.
- No results yet: The pilot starts January 2027, and Rang’s track record comes from Rang.
What should I do if my child’s school joins?
Let the rewards help. A night at a game is a fine thing to earn. But do not let a ticket be the whole plan.
Ask the school three questions. Who checks in when a student keeps missing days? What happens when the rewards end? How will the school know if the pilot worked?
Then ask your child why mornings feel hard, and listen. When a child avoids school, we look at more than the avoiding. Her focus, her confidence, the work underneath. To us, a child who feels capable has her own reason to go. So help her collect real “I did it” moments. Our page Why Motivation Disappears in a Struggling Learner shows how. DC’s pilot starts in January. If someone measures its results, they will tell us more.
The solution to attendance isn’t one thing. There’s not a silver bullet.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
You know your child, and she is capable of wanting to learn. We push back on the idea that a prize alone makes a child care. To us, a prize gets things started. Real wins, and people who notice them, keep a child going. Our free Confidence Account download shows how to build confidence from small, real wins.
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References
- Office of the State Superintendent of Education (September 29, 2026): OSSE, Rang Rewards, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Announce New Partnership to Reward Improved Student Attendance in DC Schools
- WJLA (ABC7/7News): Report on DC’s $50 stipend pilot and chronic absenteeism
- Rang (company website): Rang for schools
- Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999), Psychological Bulletin 125(6):627-668: A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation
- Eisenberger, R., Pierce, W. D., & Cameron, J. (1999), Psychological Bulletin 125(6):677-691: Effects of reward on intrinsic motivation--negative, neutral and positive: comment on Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999)
- Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020), Educational Psychology Review 32:77-112: The Gamification of Learning: a Meta-analysis
- Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000), Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being, American Psychologist 55(1):68-78
