Hats Add Up to Motivation

Richmond High School, in the Bay Area of California, has a few strikes against it. Seventy-five percent of the student body is classified as “socioeconomically disadvantaged”; 54 percent are “English learners.” Standardized test scores tend to be poor.

In October 2009, the school became known for something else: as the site of a vicious gang rape that generated a national furor. When the media moved on, what happened? The students who remained at Richmond High, and the community at large, felt ashamed of the school. The place felt bleak.

But the story doesn’t stop there. It gets better, in fact, and craft plays a role. One day in 2011, a student admired a whimsical knitted fish hat his math teacher was wearing. Where can I buy one of those, he asked. “You can’t buy these hats,” Lisa Holmes replied. “These hats can only be handmade.” No sooner were the words out of Holmes' mouth, though, than inspiration struck. “If you do well on the math proficiency exam,” she continued, “I’ll knit you a fish hat myself.” The student perked up, intrigued, and began to apply himself more diligently to his math studies.

Other students heard about the arrangement and asked if they could score hats if they did well on the test. Holmes leaned on her knitting group to make more hats, rewarding students who scored either proficient or advanced on the standardized math test. A new motivation – and a new tradition – was born.

Tomorrow marks the second annual Pro-FISH-iency hat ceremony at Richmond High School. Math scores and pride are on the rise, and the students have the hats to prove it.