App helps students stay focused on school

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - School is back in full swing, but even though it's the beginning of the school year, it can sometimes be tough to keep kids focused and motivated.

Now there's an app that might be just the trick; it rewards students for their good work with all kinds of cool prizes.

Kudzoo helps kids get excited about school by rewarding good grades and studying with gift cards and experiences. FOX 10 spoke with the creators of the app and with one Valley teacher who says this technology is having a big impact on student performance.

"The hardest thing as a teacher is to motivate the students," said Julian Swiggett.

Julian Swiggett teaches Language Arts at Granada East in Phoenix and thanks to an app called "Kudzoo" he says his students are performing better than ever.

"Just based on last year, definitely 65% of my students became more engaged in the classroom," said Swiggett.

Kudzoo rewards students for academic success. Each time a student scans a report card or takes a daily knowledge quiz, he earns "Kudzoo cash" or points redeemable for gift cards, dinner out, or even a day with a sports icon.

"One student thanked us that she was able to take her parents out to dinner for the first time, and it was kind of like no you earned this, you don't have to thank us," said Logan Cohen.

Kudzoo co-founders Logan Cohen and Trevor Wilkins want students to take their education seriously. With 100,000 users already, it seems students are doing just that.

"For students to randomly be tweeting us at 3 in the morning saying "I used to wake up for school not wanting to go, now I wake up to my Kudzoo trivia, and then I'm pumped," it's mindblowing, it's really powerful," said Trevor Wilkins.

It is a powerful tool that has Swiggett excited for the new school year.

"Once they see how easy it is to be motivated to get a reward for your grades really that's what kind of captures their attention," said Swiggett.

Kudzoo can be used by any student age 13 and up, all the way through graduate school. Just as an example, one term of all A's plus some trivia quizzes can earn students anywhere from a 10 to 50 dollar gift card. The app also gives students information about scholarships.