Could you imagine earning points, badges and levels for good grades in school instead of just a boring letter or number? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus seems to think that this method could improve kids performance in school, as the FarmVille creator has recently given some financial oomph to Grockit, VentureBeat reports. This new San Francisco-based startup, which applies addictive social game mechanics to school work, has partnered with a high-profile charter school network known as KIPP to bring gamified SAT and ACT test preparations to three of its schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

VentureBeat reports that, because the Grockit platform is secure, it's a fine fit for the KIPP network, not to mention that Grockit can provide personalized instruction based on users' strengths and weaknesses. VentureBeat predicts that, if successful, the partnership could create a massive, online SAT/ACT preparation game for KIPP students nationwide.

And according to Grockit CEO Roy Gilber, the company is working on creating high school course programs, a place that some would argue is crying for change. Whether social game mechanics will improve students' interest and performance in school is something we won't see the results of for some time, but we gotta' try something, right?