The Seattle Times article on student motivation says learning should be its own reward.

For students who don’t see why they need to apply themselves in school, rewards can kick-start academic interests. But for students in general, experts discourage conditioning students to expect treats for school work.

So what can you do? The article gives these suggestions:

Celebrate hard work and improvement, not just grades.

Reward with special time. Acknowledge a child’s success with a family outing or activity. Recognizing a child’s effort afterward is different than offering an advance enticement, experts say.

Encourage children’s dreams. “After a certain age, the child will not ‘perform’ for parents and teachers unless they can see their own goals being met as well,” notes Anne Rambo, author of I Know My Child Can Do Better. “Your child should ideally perceive you as an ally, someone who wants to help him or her achieve goals.”

Find natural consequences. For example: Stop weeknight video-game time or friend visits until students can balance these activities with school work. Or have teens who don’t qualify for a good-student discount make up the difference with the regular insurance rate.

See how kids perceive rewards. A recent study found rewards worked more effectively for boys; teacher rewards, even more than parent rewards’, linked positively with boys’ academic goals and motivation. Girls received more rewards, but that wasn’t associated with higher motivation.