A problem schools with a reward program may experience involves maintaining a uniform standard. Unless school officials establish specific guidelines, teachers within a given school may vary with regard to the type of behavior they reward, and even the kind of reward given, As a result, there may be confusion among students as to what is necessary to earn a reward. Some may feel aggravated or ignored if their classmates receive rewards easily because one teacher has a more lax criteria for rewards than another.
Once students begin to focus on getting rewards for their academic work, their focus may shift to simply getting the job done, rather than actually learning from the experience. For example, if a child gets a reward for learning to spell ten words, she'll successfully memorize the correct spellings, but have no interest in how each word could be used. Essentially, students may work to reach their incentive by the quickest way possible. Real learning will suffer as a result.
Rewards may be pleasing for the individuals who receive them, but what about their less fortunate classmates? Seeing a peer lavished with praise may lead to feelings of jealously or even a lack of self-worth. These feelings can turn into resentment for the rewarded child, and in some cases result in bullying or isolation. Teachers should also be aware that for some kids, praise and rewards are not actually welcome because others may view academic achievement in a negative light. For example, male teens sometimes perceive achievement in the classroom as unmanly.
Once a reward system is established within a school, kids are likely to expect it to continue. They may also gear their efforts strictly toward accumulating rewards. If the school abruptly ends its reward system, academic performance may suffer because many of the kids were simply trying to reach their target rewards. The incentive in this case would have functioned like a bribe, leaving a school back where it started before the reward system was launched.