Token economy
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[edit] Webster's Definition
According to Webster's Dictionary, a token economy is a form of operant conditioning that is used in the behavior modification that involves rewarding desirable behaviors with tokens which can be exchanged for items or privileges and punishing undesirable behaviors by taking away tokens.
There are several educational and behavioral goals that are associated with token economies:
1) Increased ability to delay gratification
2) Increased sense of time
3) Lessened satiation
4) Increased teaching rate
5) More natural reinforcement
6) Increased selection of reinforcers
[edit] Steps to Implement a Token Economy
There are three steps in implementing a token economy in the classroom. The first step is to describe the disruptive behavior to be changed (Mayer 26). These disruptive behaviors can be in a variety of forms such as: motor behaviors, aggressive behaviors, verbal behaviors, and other inappropriate behaviors. The second step in implementing a token economy is to find a contingent stimulus that will effectively reinforce the target behaviors. These rewards can be one of three forms: social rewards, material rewards, or tokens that can be redeemed for material rewards (Mayer 27). The final step is to implement the program clearly and consistently in order for it to be successful (Mayer 27).
[edit] Determinants of Success
There are also other factors that determine the success of a token economy. First, the system should have clearly stated rules. It is important for the environment to be highly structured so students know what it expected of them and the consequences of their actions (Mayer 29). Also, while a token economy can be designed to punish undesirable behaviors, it is typically more successful when using rewards rather than punishments (Mayer 29). Typically, students' disruptive behavior increases with punishments rather than decreases. Finally, the teacher should always recognize appropriate behavior in a timely manner. The faster the feedback, the more likely the behavior will be reinforced because the student will understand the reason for being rewarded or punished (Mayer 30).
Token economies require a considerable amount of time, organization and follow-through on the part of the adults involved. Because children’s actions need to be closely monitored, token economies may be difficult to implement in the home. In a school setting, these programs are appropriate because daily routines are clearly established, adult supervision is consistent, and access to reinforcers, such as recess and free time, can be strictly controlled (Ingersoll, 1988).
[edit] Research and Evidence of Effectiveness
Homework Success is a seven-week program that offers support for parents, children, and teachers to help students with ADHD to complete their homework assignments more accurate and efficiently while also decreasing the amount of stress involved (Power). Teaching parents and teachers how to implement a token economy as a behavior management technique is just one aspect of the Homework Success program. When establishing a token economy, students, parents, and teachers are involved in setting the expectations, developing the rewards, and determining the criteria for homework success. In a clinical trial, this program relieved the level of stress in families and showed little improvement in academic performance (Power). The token economy helped to reduce the amount of behavioral problems while completing homework which lead to the decreased stress levels.
Research was also conducted at a summer program for children with ADHD to evalate the effectiveness of implementing a token economy along with stimulant medication in an athletic setting. The study observed children playing kickball and focused on their amount of attentive and disruptive behaviors during the games. Three different colored poker chips could be earned and exchanged for prizes from the corresponding prize level, with the prizes in each level increasing in size and cost (Reitman 309). There were two measures that determined when a child was displaying attentive behavior. First the children had to be in the ready position during each pitch and secondly, the children had to answer an "attention question" after the play. These scores were averaged to yield a single attention score (Reitman 309). Disruptive behavior was defined as complaining, horseplay, aggression, noncompliance, playing with inappropriate objects, and leaving his or her position on the field (Reitman 310). Children were told when they got a chip and corrective feedback was given for incorrect responses.
The results of this study showed that the token economy independently increased attentive behavior more so than mediation (Reitman 313). Furthermore, a token economy also increased sportsmanlike behavior and decreased instances of unsportsmanlike behavior (Reitman 306). This study is important because it proposes the possibility that a token economy can be an effective alternative treatment during recreational activities. Token economies would need to be slightly altered because important parameters of the organized sports may not be controllable. However, the use of a token economy would clearly make organized sports more accessible to children with behavioral problems (Reitman 318). Also, this study suggests that token economies can be effective in recreational activities in school, like recess and physical education.
[edit] Life Stories and Testimonies
- I was substitute teaching at the Newburg Elementary School for a third grade class. The teacher used a token economy and I thought it worked pretty well. The students were given carrots I think it was five at the beginning of the week, not real, but the lamenated kind and when they broke a classroom rule a carrot was taken. At the end of the week those that had all their carrots got a prize, those that had 4 got another prize and so on. The class was well disciplined and fun to teach, I thought it worked well.
- When I began teaching, I thought using tokens to reward children was unnecessary. I tried an approach where the entire classroom tried to reach a collaboratve goal (i.e. filling a jar with marbles, as rewarded for classroom effort and successes). Three years ago, after feeling as though those who exhibited positive behavior often had to suffer the consequences of those who did not, I chose to use a token system on an individual basis. My kids love it! I can use it with such flexibility. It inspires my students to read more at home, do math computation more carefully, complete homework assignments, behave quietly in the halls, and more...having the potential to earn tickets/tokens. When the students need an extra incentive, even if it's used for promoting something as simple as complete sentence-writing, it is quite the handy tool. I often struggle more with taking tickets away, but will occasionally do so. I usually give warning first and use consistency in this practice. I do agree that there is a limit of how much to reward students for following expectations and I do still want my students to be intrisically motivated, but I think my ticket/token system has been beneficial in my classroom. I will often give the opportunity to enter a lottery to win tickets, to keep the intrinsic motivation going. -Heidi Savoca, 3rd Grade Teacher
- A dear friend of mine uses this type of reinforcer at her school and she has had great success with it. They get a certain number of tickets a week and as they do things wrong, they have to give their tickets back. They eventually get to buy the things they want. She says that this gives them a sense of responsibility for not only their behavior but also so they don’t lose the tickets. Students, especially younger, really get motivated by this type of reinforcer. My family used a similar token economy situation with my brother and myself, but with money instead and we both grew up with a great appreciation for money.
- In fifth grade, I had a teacher that used tickets to reward students for good behavior as well as good scores on tests and for finishing homework. Although, at the time I loved the use of tickets because I got them fairly regularly for doing my work and doing well, and I was able to save them up to "buy" certain rewards like being the gym teacher for a day, you didn't have to go to class you got to hang out with the gym teacher all day and be their helper, but I feel now looking back that it may not have been the best system or way to earn rewards because some students did not do well on tests and some didn't finish their homework because no one was at home to help them with it. I feel in the right context token such as Heidi discusses could definitely have advantages, but it really isn't fair to reward some more then others because they have certain advantages. MJB
- My daycare provider uses tokens to help improve a 2 year old's behavior. This little girl would cry every time her mother would drop her off. Then one day I noticed she was not crying when her mother left. I found out that she gave the little girl a piece of candy if she would not cry. She did this for a week, and I believe that it is not necessary for her to give the candy to her anymore. The little girl does not even ask to get her reward any more. Nichole Jessup
- The token economy is something that can be very effective in altering the behavior or behaviors of an individual or group. I teach high school and see many of my students for only nine weeks. The largest problem would be that by the time I have identified the target students and their misbehaviors, I don't have time to come up with a plan to impliment because the quarter is almost over. The problem for the students that I do have for a longer time is that the same behavior may appear in more than one student but the same token won't work for every student. Another consideration is that the tokens that worked for elementary school are not the same tokens that will work for a high school sophomore. C. Watson
- I just read an interesting article dealing with a successful implementation of a token economy into an undergraduate psychology course at the University of Central Arkansas. Basically, students receive tokens for their participation in class. Tokens can be exchanged for extra credit in the course. The results of the procedure were pretty successful. I thought it was interesting because it was done at the college level. The article was entitled "Breaking the Silence: Using a Token Economy to Reinforce Classroom Participation." It was found in Teaching Psychology vol. 30 no. 3 in 2003. I have hesitations about implementing a token economy in middle school classes. It seems to take away from the intrinsic motivation in student participation. H. Ro
I use a token economy or a variation of it in my high school classroom. I give out "rocket tickets" to help promote healthy behaviors and take them away when I notice unacceptable behaviors. At the end of the week, students may turn in their tickets for prizes. I have been using it and modifying it for some years. There are some students whom respond more favorability then others, but one would be amazed to see how even the oldest students will remind me about the cash in when I forget about it. P. Graham
An Urbana School District employee finds token economies to be especially effective in her math class. Much of the class is spent teaching functional math skills, especially time and money. These concepts are also applied to token economies in her classroom. Students begin with an hour of time or a dollar worth of change. Each undesirable behavior causes time or money to be taken. The remainder of time or money can be redeemed for reinforcers at pre-determined intervals.
When I was in fourth and fifth grade each student earned a token a day. To earn the token we had to meet the following requirements: present on time, behaved all day(no name on board), and completed all our assignents. At the end of the year we totaled up our tokens and could trade them in for things like going to great america (the big one!!), swimming at the high school, or extra recess time. I felt it did work for the students who bought into it (most did). The only problem was for a fourth grader it is hard to comprehend consequences in october that would not be realized until June! l. gowler
I use a token economy in my Spanish classes when it is about one month away from celebrating a special cultural holiday such as Cinco de Mayo. All the students are eager to have a party in class; however, I feel that they must earn their way into the party. In order to make the coming of the celebration all the more cultural and authentic, the students are required to earn money in the form of U.S. dollars which are then converted into pesos. The students must earn a required amount of pesos in time for the party (usually $1000 or $2000 pesos, otherwise they will not be admitted. Students can earn pesos for completing homework, participating in class, being a good citizen (doing something nice and helpful for another student in class or for me), doing an extra-credit project, and for the particular grades (percentages) they receive on tests and quizzes. Each of the aforementioned ways to earn money has a certain dollar amount attached to it. For example, completing homework is worth $4 U.S. per assignment and participation in class is worth $1 U.S. Students may earn up to $3 U.S. for participation in one day so as not to hoard all the money. If students get a warning in class for misbehaving, they lose $2 U.S. The students keep track of their earnings on a chart with a column for U.S. dollars and a column for pesos. They are required to convert the currency so as to authentically learn about the currency of the different countries. On the day of the party, the students subtract the admission fee from their total earnings. The money they have left over can then be used to buy items such as "no homework", "sit wherever you want for a day", or "drop your lowest quiz score" passes. It is always so interesting to see that once this behavior management and reward system goes into effect, the students are so much more inclined to perform better in class and be more genuinely concerned with their performance in class for the students realize that if they do not earn enough pesos in time for the party they will not be able to participate. They also realize that the more money they earn, the more incentive there is for them to get rewards. That is by far one of my favorite implementations in my Spanish curriculum because of its success not only behaviorally but also academically. ~Kristy Kleckauskas
An arts teacher in the Urbana grade schools had what I thought was a very effective token economy that crossed classrooms. She had her own classroom where she taught drama and dance, and each class from the school came to her for a quarter. During that quarter, the class earned "stars" for good behavior (as a class). The stars were collected on a common space in the room, and each class was able to see the progress of their class as well as the other classes. This encouraged each class to cooperative have good behavior, and also introduced some healthy competition between the classes about who could get the most stars. Of course, the winning class got a special treat at the end of the quarter. I believe consolation treats were provided to the other classes so they weren't left out of the reward - M Cornell
I used a token economy system when I taught 7th grade. I would go to the dollar store and purchase gifts for prizes. I xeroxed my face on a dollar bill and shrunk it down to serve as the "dollar". Dollars were given for behavior as well as academic goals. I thought the system worked very well, it was a motivator for my students, and I always had a treat up my sleeve for the unexpected good behavior that warranted it. -S. Yunker
As a special educator I have come to believe that a classroom token economy is not effective past the primary grades. In the middle and high school arenas, most students have become saturated with learning for tokens, and positive reinforcement through verbal and nonverbal cues play a much more effective role in educational success. Endorsing that the student learn, not because of some extrinsic reward, but an intrinsic self satisfaction for successful outcomes assists the students to become more oriented toward the real world. Pat Johnson
I have seen token economies used to reward students for positive behavior and then the students would be able to purchase school related items from a class store, such as pencils, erasers, notebooks, pens, etc. The students really wanted to go to the store, and this was a great way for the teacher to reinforce positive behavior. It can also have drawbacks because students are not always intrinsically motivated, but I thought that most students were rewarded equally so no one was left out. E. Kilroy
I teach second grade and use a token economy system. Students earn tokens for good behavior, correct answers to questions in class, neat handwriting and other things. White tokens are worth one, red tokens are worth five and blue tokens are worth ten. Every Friday I hold an auction in which students can bid on prizes. Students have to count their tokens before the auction and this allows for extra practice for counting money (token values are like pennies, nickels and dimes). My students have really enjoyed this system and work very hard to earn tokens. Sometimes I have students pay me tokens at the end of class if they talk out of turn or break another rule. - Marcy Flessner
[edit] Links of Interest
[edit] References
- Ingersoll, B. (1988). Your hyperactive child: A parent’s guide to coping with attention deficit disorder. New York: Doubleday.
- Mayer, Richard. The Promise of Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall,2002.
- Power, Thomas J, Karaustis, James L. and Habboushe, Dina F. Homework Success for Children with ADHD: A Family-School Intervention Program. New York: The Guilford Press, 2001.
- Reitman, David, et al. "The Influence of a Token Economy and Methylphenidate on Attentive and Disruptive Behavior During Sports With ADHD-Diagnosed Children." Behavior Modification 25.2 (2001): 305-323.
