The New York Times reported this week that students at 31 New York City high schools were offered $1,000 dollars if they could get high scores on Advanced Placement exams. While the number of students scoring 5s (the highest score) on the exam went up slightly, the number of students passing the exam actually declined.

The $2 million initiative was aimed at improving the racial gap in Advanced Placement results. While the results fail to show compelling evidence that cash can actually improve test scores, New York City is not alone in offering financial incentives to students. As the New York Times reports, Texas, Ohio, and Arizona have all used financial incentives to motivate students to perform better academically. What are your thoughts on cash for scores? Please take our poll or post a comment.

This week's spotlight takes us up north to Bar Harbor, Maine, home of College of the Atlantic. I chose COA for a couple reasons: 1) not enough people have heard of it; 2) the world would be a better place if more schools were like College of the Atlantic.

With just 350 students and its seaside perch in coastal Maine, College of the Atlantic isn't for everyone. Don't expect a giant symphony hall or a 100-million-dollar athletic facility. What you can expect are small classes, interdisciplinary learning, devoted teachers, a beautiful campus, and a type of student life that earned COA a spot on Princeton Review's "green honor roll." The college is proud of its carbon-neutral campus, and all students major in Human Ecology, the relationship between humans and their environment. The curriculum is truly interdisciplinary, and students can craft their education to approach Human Ecology through the arts, sciences, and/or social sciences.

If you'd like to learn more about College of the Atlantic, read the COA profile and visit the COA website. If you're familiar with College of the Atlantic, please share your impressions in the COA discussion thread in the College Admission Forum. Prospective students and their parents would love to hear some first-hand accounts of life at COA.

Don't forget to visit the forum to recommend other great colleges for future spotlights.

photo: post406 / Flickr