10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

Subscribe via Email

Receive the best school culture resources monthly to inspire your planning.

10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022
Incentives are everywhere in our adult lives. Buy one get one free deal at Target. The Monopoly game at McDonald’s. Free samples at Costco. Cash bonus for getting your Covid Booster. Taco Tuesday at your favorite restaurant.

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

Subscribe via Email

Receive the best school culture resources monthly to inspire your planning.

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

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These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

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10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022

About the Event

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

Register Now

About the Event

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

About the Presenter

Jordan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He has experience in Public Education as an Administrator, Science Teacher, and as a Coach. He has extensive experience with School Discipline, PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, MTSS, and Trauma-Informed Care.

Subscribe via Email

Receive the best school culture resources monthly to inspire your planning.

10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022

Incentives are everywhere in our adult lives. Buy one get one free deal at Target. The Monopoly game at McDonald’s. Free samples at Costco. Cash bonus for getting your Covid Booster. Taco Tuesday at your favorite restaurant.

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

All Reward Ideas for Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Snack Pack
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Water Bottle Stickers
Grades 6-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Sports Tickets
Grades 3-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Meet the Teacher
Grades K-8
School
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Donate $1
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
♟️Chess With the Principal
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Dress Up or Down Day
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Lunch With the Teacher
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Seating Choice
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Movie Posters
Grades 3-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Anime Themed Party
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Loudspeaker Shoutout
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Host a Virtual Party. 🎶
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher for the Day
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Stickers
Grades K-5
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Follow a Friend
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free

All Reward Ideas for Elementary School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Lunch with an Admin
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Loudspeaker Shoutout
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Tech Time
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Stuffed Animal in Class
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Picnic Lunch
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Holidays Around the World
Grades K-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Cut the Principal’s Tie
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Board Game Party
Grades 3-12
Class/House
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Seat Swap
Grades 3-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Positive Note or Call Home
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Social Media Reporter
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
School Assembly
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Student Messenger
Grades 3-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Art Contest
Grades 3-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Principal for a Day
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher Q&A
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free

All Event Ideas for Schools

💰
🎨
House Induction
💰
🎨
Fake The Funk
💰
🎨
STEM Field Day
💰
🎨
Career Day
💰
🎨
The Love Soiree
💰
🎨
Art Contest
💰
🎨
Camp Read Away
💰
🎨
Final Fridays
💰
🎨
Dance Party
💰
🎨
Blood Drive
💰
🎨
Glow Party

All Free Reward Ideas for Schools

🎉
👑
🎁
Parking Spots
🎉
👑
🎁
Vote
🎉
👑
🎁
Drop Lowest Quiz
🎉
👑
🎁
Operate Equipment.
🎉
👑
🎁
Dance Party
🎉
👑
🎁
Hat Pass
🎉
👑
🎁
Locker Choice
🎉
👑
🎁
Be a Comedian.
🎉
👑
🎁
Art Contest
🎉
👑
🎁
Tutor

All Reward Ideas for High School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Amazing Race
Grades 9-12
Class/House
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Partner Work
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher for the Day
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Be a Comedian.
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Emcee the Announcements
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Early Lunch Dismissal
Grades 9-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Operate Equipment.
Grades 9-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Wristband
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Dance Party
Grades K-12
Student
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Special Screening
Grades K-12
School
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher Q&A
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Create the Seating Chart
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Class Pet
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Video Game Rewards
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Backpack
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe

All Reward Ideas for Middle School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Gift Cards
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
School Assembly
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Partner Work
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Talk Time
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Picnic Lunch
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Sweatshirt
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Tutor
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
The A-List
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Donate $1
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Video Game Rewards
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Special Screening
Grades K-12
School
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Lunch Concert
Grades 6-8
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Silent Disco
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Get-to-Know-You Bingo
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Loudspeaker Shoutout
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free

All Student Reward & Incentive Ideas

💰
🎨
Rolling Chair Rental
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Extra Computer Games
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Passing Period Music
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Technology
Grades 6-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
💰
🎨
Brain Break
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Digital Escape Rooms
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Deluxe
💰
🎨
Toys
Grades K-8
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Hat Pass
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Lunch with an Admin
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
TikTok with the Teacher
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Silly School Leader
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Extra Reading Time
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Sweatshirt
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
💰
🎨
Video Game Rewards
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Game of Thrones
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free

All Virtual Reward Ideas for Schools

🎉
👑
🎁
Certificate of Achievement
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Brain Break
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Show & Tell
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher Q&A
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Digital Escape Rooms
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Morning Meeting Leader
Grades 3-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Classroom DJ
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Positive Note or Call Home
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Stickers
Grades K-5
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Student Spotlight Board
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Donate $1
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Podcast
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Social Media Reporter
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Host a Virtual Party. 🎶
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Extra Computer Games
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
See all Rewards

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Rewards that Rock 🎸 has 100+ rewards, incentives, and event ideas to build your school culture.
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Learn more about the author, 
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10 Incentives That High School Students Will Actually Want

10 easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some extra motivation.
By 
Jordan Pruitt
 | 
October 4, 2022

Incentives are everywhere in our adult lives. Buy one get one free deal at Target. The Monopoly game at McDonald’s. Free samples at Costco. Cash bonus for getting your Covid Booster. Taco Tuesday at your favorite restaurant.

These are fairly obvious examples of incentives that the government or industry puts into place to incentivize us to participate in something. Some are less obvious. 

You buy a house based on many factors. Some neighborhoods offer sidewalks and good schools. Some offer clubhouses and pools! These are incentives to buy a house in that area. 

Notice all of the things above are things you would likely do in some form or fashion anyway without the incentive. You gotta eat. You gotta shop. You gotta have a place to live. But those incentives inspire motivation to do so sooner and build brand loyalty.

So how does this apply to high schoolers? As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K-12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in the school. 

They still need school. 

So they are there and will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement. Notice the parallels between the situation that governments and industry saw above, they had products and services that were in need but also saw that they must incentivize in order to get peak participation. 

We need to apply this logic to schools as well. It isn’t enough that they have to be there. We need to do more to make them want to be there. 

What Are Incentives and Why Are They Important?

An incentive is anything that motivates or encourages one to do something. Sometimes it's for products and services that a company wishes to sell at a higher volume. Sometimes it’s to promote a government initiative. Sometimes it's for our own health. 

Incentives are wildly successful at accelerating programs that need a boost. Educators would like to teach rooms full of self-motivated, eagerness to learn, ready to succeed students. 

Considering how many advertisements you see with “deals”, “discounts”, or “coupons” it would appear that businesses feel like incentive programs don’t just work, they are necessary for business. 

The government offers tax breaks on things they want us to buy more of. They offer cash for programs they want to see succeed like my district offering a small cash bonus for teachers to get their covid vaccine. It would seem that the government values incentives just as much as business. 

Educators should value incentives as well. We need to reach the unreachable. We need to stimulate the unmotivated. We need to push those who do barely enough. 

We need to provide a carrot for the high achievers to go above and beyond what they thought they could do. We need to utilize incentives with our students. 

Like most educators, I was a fairly solid student. But that said, when I was young I don’t recall being much of an avid reader. Until I got to around 6th grade and my school started using Accelerated Reader to incentivize reading. 

I was all-in on earning those points. 

I went from barely reading to being on the school’s leaderboard for AR points. That minor competition had a huge impact on my life as I credit a lot of my professional accomplishments to reading. It became a habit, I read some every day now and have for years. 

Would that have happened without the incentive when I was young? Maybe, maybe not.  But those AR points gave me the motivation to create the habit early. 

Let’s take a look at some easy incentive programs you can use for high schoolers who may need some motivation. 

Incentives that Work

1. Parking

Driving is a big deal for high school students. Do you want a program to take off or disruptive behavior to improve? Tie parking to it or preferred parking to it.

2. Dress Code Break

An easy incentive for all students to earn is for you to remove a feature of the dress code for a day or a week. Consider ideas like jeans day, pajama day, hat day, or more fun themes like 80s day or cowboy day.

High School Student Incentives

3. Homework Passes

Allow students to earn tickets they can turn in to exempt them from a formative assignment. Be sure to tie an academic goal to this one.

High School Student Incentives

4. Finals Exemptions

Want effort on state tests? Exempt students from individual class exams if they meet benchmarks on your state test.

5. School News

If your school doesn’t run a morning news program, start one. This is a great way to instill project-based learning, and career exploration, and help you communicate with your school every day. It also provides a vehicle to spotlight students or to shout out good deeds.

6. Candy

Nobody gets too old to enjoy free candy!

High School Student Incentives

7. Anything but a Backpack Day

No backpacks for a day. Tell kids to be as creative as possible in how they transport their materials. 

High School Student Incentives

8. Cafe Karaoke

Had a great week at school? Put a projector up in the Cafe and let students perform for their peers. 

9. The Great Outdoors

I love taking my classes outside. They love it as well. Tie a performance objective to it and watch your students perform to earn a little sunshine. This is a great practice anyway, you and your students both need some vitamin D!

10. All-Sports Pass

Create an all-sports pass that students can use at any after-school event. Tie this to attendance or behavior.

Positive Perks

Think of incentives as perks. If you wanted to attract better employees you would add perks to the job you were posting. If you want to improve culture and motivation at your school include perks for the kids who attend your school and meet the desired goals. 

Whatever you decide to do, be clear about expectations concerning what you want students to do, when they need to do it, and what they will earn for doing so. Don't teach high school students?

We also have some great incentive ideas for middle school students and for elementary school incentives as well!

All Reward Ideas for Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Anime Themed Party
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Class Book
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Wild ‘N Out High School Edition
Grades 9-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Karaoke Night
Grades 9-12
Class/House
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Line Leader
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Podcast
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Holiday Classroom Carousel
Grades 9-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Digital Escape Rooms
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Game of Thrones
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Pen Pouch
Grades K-8
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Positive Note or Call Home
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
The Big Ticket
Grades 9-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Graduation Celebration
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Class Pet
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Toys
Grades K-8
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Dress Up or Down Day
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free

All Reward Ideas for Elementary School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Toys
Grades K-8
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Stuffed Animal in Class
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Seating Choice
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Backpack
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Pen Pouch
Grades K-8
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Loudspeaker Shoutout
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Pie a Teacher
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Family Feast
Grades K-8
Class/House
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Ice Cream Sundae Party
Grades K-12
Class/House
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Play Games
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Student Messenger
Grades 3-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Free Dress
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Class Book
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Meet the Teacher
Grades K-8
School
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Positive Note or Call Home
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free

All Event Ideas for Schools

All Free Reward Ideas for Schools

🎉
👑
🎁
Hat Pass
🎉
👑
🎁
Line Leader
🎉
👑
🎁
School Spirit Day
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
🎉
👑
🎁
Podcast
🎉
👑
🎁
House Induction
🎉
👑
🎁
Camp Read Away
🎉
👑
🎁
Seating Choice
🎉
👑
🎁
Hallway High-Five
🎉
👑
🎁
Meet the Teacher
🎉
👑
🎁
Lunch Concert
🎉
👑
🎁
Operate Equipment.

All Reward Ideas for High School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Certificate of Achievement
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Technology
Grades 6-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
The A-List
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Music Fest
Grades 9-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Holiday Classroom Carousel
Grades 9-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Graduation Celebration
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Sports Tickets
Grades 3-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Awards Show Afterparty
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Seating Choice
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Classroom DJ
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
TikTok with the Teacher
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Get-to-Know-You Bingo
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Firebird of the Month
Grades K-12
Student
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Drop Lowest Quiz
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher for the Day
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Pie a Teacher
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY

All Reward Ideas for Middle School Students

🎉
👑
🎁
Extra Computer Games
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Food-Themed Party
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Picnic Lunch
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Brain Break
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
STEM Field Day
Grades K-8
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Lunch Fast Pass
Grades 3-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Emcee the Announcements
Grades 6-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Principal for a Day
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Talk Time
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
The A-List
Grades 6-12
School
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Snacks
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Assist the Custodian.
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Ice Cream Sundae Party
Grades K-12
Class/House
Event
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Snowball Fights (& Popsicles!)
Grades K-8
Class/House
Event
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Old School Cookout
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Deluxe

All Student Reward & Incentive Ideas

💰
🎨
Free Dress
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Seat Swap
Grades 3-5
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Play Games
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Cut the Principal’s Tie
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Water Bottle Stickers
Grades 6-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Board Game Party
Grades 3-12
Class/House
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Vote
Grades 6-8
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Teacher v Student Competition
Grades 6-12
School
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Drop Lowest Quiz
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Snacks
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
Locker Choice
Grades 9-12
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Game of Thrones
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Movie Posters
Grades 3-12
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
💰
🎨
School Supplies & Merch
Grades K-12
Student
Tangible
Deluxe
💰
🎨
Show & Tell
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Free
💰
🎨
Lunch with an Admin
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY

All Virtual Reward Ideas for Schools

🎉
👑
🎁
Certificate of Achievement
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Morning Meeting Leader
Grades 3-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Positive Note or Call Home
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Social Media Reporter
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Host a Virtual Party. 🎶
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Classroom DJ
Grades K-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Stickers
Grades K-5
Student
Tangible
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Show & Tell
Grades K-8
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Talent Show. 🎤
Grades 3-12
Class/House
Event
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Podcast
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Digital Escape Rooms
Grades 6-12
Class/House
Privilege
Deluxe
🎉
👑
🎁
Teacher Q&A
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Virtual Field Trip
Grades K-12
Class/House
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Student Spotlight Board
Grades K-5
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
🎉
👑
🎁
Extra Computer Games
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Free
🎉
👑
🎁
Donate $1
Grades 3-12
Student
Privilege
Low Cost/DIY
See all Rewards

Want more ideas?

Rewards that Rock 🎸 has 100+ rewards, incentives, and event ideas to build your school culture.
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Learn more about the author, 
Jordan Pruitt
 

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