People have different opinions regarding whether rewards should be given to students with notable academic performance or to students whose grades have improved noticeably. In my opinion, rewards should be given to students with significant grade improvement.
On the one hand, students will be highly motivated to achieve high grades if rewards are given for excellent academic performance. Students will try to do their best in every aspect in order to be the best. There will also be a healthy competition among the high-achieving students for the first position. For example, if there are two students who almost perform equally in academics, they will have a good competition among themselves in order to get the excellent performance award, which will in turn increase their knowledge and skills.
On the other hand, there are many other reasons which can be considered for giving a reward for significant improvement. Firstly, in my opinion, all students will
be motivated to study and increase their academic performance rather than only the high-achieving students. Secondly, every student will be constantly trying to improve their performance and achieve good grades. And finally, students will find it easier to achieve this award unlike the excellent academic performance award. For example, the students who are generally average or low-achieving will feel it is impossible to achieve the excellent award because of the competition from the high-achieving students. But with a significant improvement award, all students will have an equal opportunity to achieve.
In conclusion, I believe it is better to give rewards for students with significant improvement in grades rather than for students with excellent academic performance.