I base my classroom management on a token economy system that involves points and rewards. A token economy is the most-recommended form of classroom management strategy in practice today. I say that because when I research other options, I can’t find any!
I recently went to a consortium in which we were presented with a system that uses points and levels and rewards. The system seemed nice but had significant downfalls in my opinion, which is what I want to explore this post: How do you effectively blend PBIS and a token economy to maximize positive student behavior?
I have been taught and advised that in a token economy, what a student earns is to never be taken away. The prevailing idea is that they do not yet understand consequences and that by mimicking the real world, I run the risk of losing the child to defiance for the remainder of the year.
So I struggle with finding an appropriate and effective punitive system for my students. A purely positive reinforcement economy is good, but my students do not view the inability to earn points for a given time or the absence of points for a time as motivation to behave appropriately. I have thought of transforming my system to more of a banking system, with credits and debits; however, I still run into the problem of removing what was earned. How do you incorporate negative reinforcement, if any, in your economy?
My students have tried to reject the system and refuse to tally their own points, yet they look forward to the rewards, so I put the points on the board. So far, making them visible to the class has had a positive effect. The points area works as a wonderful external locus of control for them to exhibit the desired behaviors.
I also want my system to be as realistic as possible. The one presented to me used 50-100 points per 30-min. segment and had totals in the thousands for a single week. In my opinion, this is far too abstract for students to apply in the real world. (I also admit I may be a bit too conservative in my point system.)
So I’ll end with this: How do you distribute your points in your token economy, and how well do students react to it?
I am currently in my third year at my university seeking a double major in elementary and special education. I am enrolled in a Behavior Management class this semester. I do realize this information is fairly new to me, but my professor is a PBIS guru. From what I have learned, PBIS is a great way to manage your classroom. The token system seems to be working for your class, and as long as nothing is being taken away from them then it seems to be fine.
A very cool idea I saw during one of my field experiences that I would like to share was having the student earn the words SUPER. If they do something right or worth praise, they would get an S to put on the side of their desk. If by the end of the day they have the word SUPER on their desk they were given a token to put into a jar. Once the jar was filled they received a pizza party or a pick from the treasure chest.
I loved your post, and it gave me some great things to think about!
Posted by: Mariah Woods | January 23, 2012 at 11:28 PM
I am student teaching right now and I am doing the same type of thing. We have actually coins that the students can earn each day depending on their behavior. I have rules that they must follow, and for every rule they don't follow, they lose a certain amount of money. If for some reason they have a rough day and end up losing more than they can earn in one day, they must go to their bank and give me some of the money they previously earned. I found that for the most part this works, but the problem is determining what each "action" is worth.
Posted by: Jesse James | November 27, 2011 at 11:41 PM
Your point system where points or levels are taken away is not negative reinforcement. It is a response-cost level III punishment. I would not recommend going to anything in Level III to attempts to motivate EBD students.
I really like earning something tangible like poker chips in a glass jar where they can see exactly what they have earned. We also have a game we play based on behavior points called Deal or No Deal that we play on the SMARTBoard. Each number has a reinforcer behind it from the student's interest inventory. They are rewarded with a specific number of turns when they earn a specific number of chips throughout the day. This is much more positive than taking anything away. One of the issues to keep in mind is that you should vary the reinforcers often.
Posted by: Barb | November 17, 2011 at 07:47 PM
I have also been taught that students should earn points and they should not be taken away. Although I have not worked with the token economy system, I have worked with reward/point systems. I've found that making the reward individualized to each student makes them want to work harder for it. If they don't get enough points during the week then they don't get to do the activity/prize that they are trying to earn for, but they don't lose those points they can continue to work towards the reward the following week. Doing this ensures that the student won't quit trying to meet the amount of points because they think they won't be able to make it.
Posted by: Alysha | November 12, 2011 at 08:53 PM
A student of mine doesn't receive a token reinforcement but special break times. He gets to play cars, baseball, and basketball. He gets to do these fun break times with his para's if he earns them. We started noticing that he was only being good for one of his para's and was losing all of his fun break times with his other para's. So we changed it that if he wasn't good for the other para's he would loose his baseball time with his favorite para. This has seemed to be working but now he is misbehaving for that para. Also, we realized that the para he wasn't behaving for she wasn't using positive reinforcement after he was being naughty. We have had to remind her she needs to continue with the positive reinforcement even if he is misbehaving.
Posted by: Rachael | November 06, 2011 at 04:37 PM
I have seen different point systems used in different grades. One point system that I viewed in an elementary school was giving stars 2 times a days. Once after lunch for the morning and at the end of the day for the afternoon. They could never lose stars from the previous times in the day but they may not receive as many later in the day. Another point system i viewed at an elementary school level is each student had their own grid. They could earn up to 5 points for each class. They would go to the teacher at the end of class and ask how many points they got and if they did not get all 5 the teacher would tell them what to work on. After they had their entire 10x10 grid filled they would turn it in for a prize. It was something small like a pencil or 3 pieces of candy they would choose out of the prize box. Some rewards i have seen in middle school is getting a happy face or sad face for each class. IF they got all happy faces in all their class all week they would get a prize of 5-10 minutes of free time at the end of the day on friday. These all vary depending on the students. Each of these worked differently for each student and each teacher. I have also hear of in high school students getting so many points and turning it into money. Then if they wanted something such as a break rather than a study hall one day they had to write a check to the teacher to get their free time, they could only get it if they had enough money in the "account." They would earn money by staying on task, turning in homework, etc. I hope these ideas work in some way! good luck!!
Posted by: Carissa | November 01, 2011 at 03:27 PM
In one of my field experiences, the classroom teacher gave each student a laminated 5x5 square grid. For each period the students spent in that particular classroom, the students had an opportunity to earn 5 points (on time, bring materials, respect teacher, respect peers, use time wisely). At the end of each class period, the students were to grab their point sheet and present it to the teacher. The teacher would then time out to meet with each students and discuss what points they earned and why they didn't earn points if necessary. The brief one-on-one time each student got with the teacher was enough for the students to take a few seconds to consider their behavior and choices. Most of the time, I observed the students even problem solving on their own by deciding how to change their behaviors for the next class. Once the students filled their grid, they would get a small prize (a pencil, eraser, sticker, or the last 10 minutes of class to play an educational game). I expected the students to figure out that if they had bad or off-task behavior, they would only need to meet one expectation each class and would still accumulate points. However, the students worked very hard for their points and, as I mentioned, often recognized when they needed to adjust their behavior. This strategy was for students with learning disabilities, so I don't know how effective this might be for students with EBD.
Posted by: Karyssa | October 31, 2011 at 08:11 PM
I can completely see the problem you're facing. Positive rewards are known to be the best thing for students to manage behavior, build confidence, feel part of the group, etc. At the same time, however, they may not even notice when they're not getting that positive reinforcement, therefore, making no change in behavior. I do like the idea you had of making it visible to all the students, that way they can see it as a visible reminder, and it's something they can be proud of. I really like some of Janine's ideas as well, such as having the student who earns the point put it up on the poster. I also like her idea of themes to make it more fun, depending on the age group.
Posted by: Nicole | October 31, 2011 at 09:56 AM
The reward system that my classroom (LD resource room) uses is based on stars. I give 'super stars' to students in my 'star box' for their daily activities completed as well as if they worked hard. This works well for my students with LD and, when used correctly, can work very well for my students with EBD. When I see one of my students doing a great job while other students are off task, I will announce to my students:
"Johnny" is doing a great job working quietly on his worksheet, you get an extra 'super star!' Great job!
When my other students hear that, they almost immdeiately quiet down and start being on task again. It works great! The students usually get 2-4 stars per class period with me unless I have students with extremely challenging behaviors. In that case, students exhibiting/modeling positive behaviors will earn bonus stars to promote positive behavior with the other students (as stated above).
At the end of the class period, we go over what they did for activities and tell them how many stars they get for the day.
For their rewards, we have a trade in day on the last Friday of the month where they turn their stars into coupons. They can choose: to sit in the teachers chair for their class time, have gum for the time they are with me, small prizes, 5 minutes of game time, snack, 5 min of computer time, etc. The larger prizes are lunch from subway or anything else of that caliber.
The only time a student would have a star taken away would be to use the bathroom. The point of saying it costs a star to use the bathroom is to determine if the student actually has to go or if he/she is just saying it to get out of class. More often than not, the student is trying to get out of class because we give the students that are there for an hour 1 break in between to use the restroom and to get a drink of water.
This system works well so far and the students love to earn stars. The last Friday of the month can get pretty hectic but it motivates students to do well. Maybe something like this would work for your students! Good luck!
Posted by: Ashley | October 30, 2011 at 11:55 PM
While I have never observed or used a token economy system in the classroom, what you are explaining sounds beneficial to your students. Perhaps, you could push the realistic perspective a little further. Have the time each student spends in your classroom almost be as if this was their 'job'. Each student could earn one hundred 'classroom dollars' per sixty minute period. Twenty-five dollars for class participation, twenty-five dollars for turning in their assignment, twenty-five dollars for respecting their peers and staff, and twenty-five dollars for using appropriate language. You can revamp it to fit your students needs, but having four classroom expectations equaling one-hundred dollars sounds like a pretty simple solution to me.
Anyway, set aside the last ten minutes of class to have each student talk to the banker (you, the teacher). Then you can discuss how much money each student as an individual made that class period. Ask them how they think they did? Do they think they deserve all of their classroom dollars? Then every Friday you can have them shop at the classroom store. They can buy some smaller things every week or they can save up for somethings that cost a little more.
I don't know, maybe this is exactly what you're doing and I am just telling you something you already know, but I thought this way your students would have consequences of not earning classroom dollars without literally taking it away. They just aren't earning their dollars because they are not doing their 'job'.
Posted by: Ashley | October 30, 2011 at 09:32 PM
I feel a token system is a great way to reward students. I have a student who gets three breaks throughout the day that include he's favorite things such as baseball and playing cars. When he is naughty I have to take away 5 minutes but I will let him gain back those 5 minutes if be behaves throughout the rest of the lesson. The student understands when those rewards are taken away and he apologizes for what he did. I have to still go over with him that he needs to set an example for the rest of the students.
Posted by: Rachael | October 22, 2011 at 01:30 PM
Richard,
I do not teach in an EBD classroom, but in a learning resource center where the majority of students are working primarily on academic goals, so take this for what you will.
When students come to my classroom they have their own "vault" (place to keep pencils, subject folders, and their "bank statement"), and every day they have the opportunity to earn and save money for our monthly "store day."
Students earn money when I catch them following one of the 3 Rs (respectful, responsible, reliable). "Jonny, you just earned $2 for showing up to group on time with your pencil. That is being responsible." At the conclusion of every group, students total the money they received that day-usually from $5-10 for a 30 minute group-and deposit it into their "bank account" by recording it on their "bank statement."
I also do not take money away. The one trick I have up my sleeve for off-task/misbehaving students is to find other students in the group who are doing positive things, and begin reinforcing them like crazy! They tend to shape up pretty quick when they see what they are not earning.
Hope this helps, wish I could post pictures for you to see :)
LL
Posted by: Larry Linebaugh | October 17, 2011 at 06:03 PM
I believe that the best thing you are doing right now is making the points and appropriate behavior known to the class by putting it on the board. Students love to be recognized for doing good things, wether they'll admit it or not. Many students thrive off the competition of getting more points than others. I had a supervising teacher that used checkbooks as her "economic point system". It was mostly used for tests and homework completion. The students would only get a certain amount of money for how they completed (or if they even did complete) the work. Money was taken away, which is not encouraged, but the students she had understood the damage. The students earned the "money" to be able to buy certain prizes at the end of each quarter. It was a great management system for her, that was also very functional for students. It taught how to write checks, and keep a balance, and taught some money management.
Posted by: Alyssa | October 17, 2011 at 05:58 PM
This is something I've struggled with as well when teaching students with EBD. Some of the general education classes have classwide systems to gauge and manage behavior, but for the students with EBD, it becomes hard for them to succeed at the same rates as their classmates. This leads to them feeling like they can "never win", as you said before. Last year, I worked in a classroom where a student was really struggling with his behavior. We made a behavior chart for him, which gave him the option to earn one minute of choice time for every activity during the day. This was very effective at first, however, toward the end of the year, his behavior took a negative turn toward the end of the day. He often earned enough choice time for him to be satisfied if he lost a few minutes. The reward lost it's value. My best advice would be to vary the rewards before a student gets bored of it.
Posted by: Morgan | October 17, 2011 at 05:00 PM
I love using the token rewards! I to was in the habbit of taking away tokens they have already earned which resulted in dealing with behaviors. These behavior occured because the students felt that they could never "win" if what they earn is still being taken away. So I got to thinking - how would I like it if I had some of my pay check taken away due to "bad behavior" or whatever the reason may be ... I wouldn't. I created a poster that I would put gold coins up on - but would never take down. I had a total of 15 before the big reward was given (3 a day - 15 for the week). I would then break the class up into three portions mentally and keep track whether or not the class earned their token. The students could earn their token based on listening skills, working quietly, or following simple directiosn - you can obviously modify them to what your classroom may need. Surprisingly I found this worked very well - and very quick. I allowed the students to put their gold coins up because they are the ones that earned it - not me. To make it more exciting you can always think of a theme - treasure chest with gold coins; Football with touchdowns; ext.
I try not to dwell on the negative re-enforcement because I always see on my students face it's not going anywhere - they start to shut down. I always try to find the postive before the negative can occur. This way the students know you are on their side and not just always trying to find a reason to "get them in trouble"
Posted by: Janine Stanton | October 17, 2011 at 04:24 PM