Mystery motivators and the success of alternative education students

Abstract

Teachers are always looking for ways to keep their students on task with fun things that keep the students engaged. Often times, these activities will help the students not only stay on task but learn in the process. A problem throughout classrooms in today’s alternative education school ls is how educators can get their students to come to school prepared for the day and ready to learn. In a recent research study involving extrinsic motivation and behavior modification in a rural Western New York alternative education school, the question sought to be answered was "Do mystery motivators improve non-residential high school alternative education students’ ability to attend school with their work done, prepared for the school day without any behavioral issues? s?” The study took place in a 10th grade alternative education global studies classroom. Three of the nine students were used as participants in the collection of data. Due to attendance issues and behavioral problems, the data was not consistent with the literature that had been reviewed prior to the study. The significance of the results of this research study is that it is difficult to find a mystery motivator intervention that can easily be formatted to the individual needs of each student.