TracFone Wireless and the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University (EdLabs) announced the Oklahoma City Public Schools debut of The Million. It's an incentive program that rewards sixth and seventh graders with free cell phones in exchange for academic achievement.
Designed in partnership with Dr. Roland Fryer, Founder & Principal Investigator at EdLabs, the Oklahoma City Public Schools Million will allow Dr. Fryer to continue his work testing how students respond to incentives.
Though TracFone intends to roll out The Million on a national level, one of the world's first branded corporate social responsibility platforms, the Oklahoma City Public Schools pilot took a key first step.Fifteen hundred randomly chosen students embarked on a nine-month experiment. All will receive minutes and texts provided by TracFone via devices provided by Samsung, with additional support from local business leaders. Students will continue to receive these rewards by reading books via the esteemed Accelerated Reader program.
"The goal," Pollak said, "is that The Million ultimately results in a meaningful increase in high-school graduation as well as college enrollment and completion. We also intend to see a pronounced increase in reading."
The Oklahoma City Public Schools Million program will kick-off with an October 8 press conference at Roosevelt Middle School.
The Million originally debuted in New York City in 2008, which was the result of collaboration between EdLabs, The New York City Department of Education, and Droga5, the acclaimed creative agency.
Great article and so impressed with Tracfone - such a wonderful thing to give back to those students working hard for their education. I'm actually a long-time user of the Tracfone service and it is just wonderful. It offers great savings, coverage, and high quality phones. Definitely worth giving a shot. So pleased with Tracfone and the excellent students doing so well!