Token Economies.
Please review the following website and read about the steps involved in setting up a token economy using the LRBI Checklist:
http://www.olemiss.k12.in.us/intervention/Token.pdf
Next read the following link about the Poyer Purple Paw tokens and respond to the questions listed at that link. http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/10/poyner-purple-paw-tokens.html
You can post your response either here or on the link above.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
--Dr. M
Please review the following website and read about the steps involved in setting up a token economy using the LRBI Checklist:
http://www.olemiss.k12.in.us/intervention/Token.pdf
Next read the following link about the Poyer Purple Paw tokens and respond to the questions listed at that link. http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/10/poyner-purple-paw-tokens.html
You can post your response either here or on the link above.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
--Dr. M
The Poyner Purple Program is basically a token economy that tries to reinforce behaviors such as caring for others, being respectful and responsible, and being trustworthy. The program came about because the Waterloo School District decided to emit a changing behavior to a new system of behavior modification. This system tries to use positive reinforcement to elicit certain behaviors that are seen to be good for students and for a learning environment. As previously stated, Poyner is specifically trying to elicit the behavioral classes of caring, respectful, responsible, and trustworthy behavior. Some target behaviors may include things like raising a hand before answering a question, not calling the teachers names, not calling other students names, turning homework in on time, helping other students with schoolwork, taking the blame if something bad happens (if they were responsible for it), not telling lies, etc., etc. This system is based on reinforcement – if the students emit the behaviors outlined, they get a purple token (that they are supposed to want to get). This is positive because the token is added for the behavior that’s being reinforced. The tokens specifically are “purple paws” – I assume them to be made of construction paper and have something like “Good job” or something similar written on it. After a student has 10 of the “paws”, they trade them in for a golden ticket (which I assume looks similar to Willy Wonka’s golden tickets). These are the good tickets; they can trade them in for prizes such as ice cream, extra recess, popcorn, lunch with the principal, etc. The pros are that the behaviors that the students are being asked to emit are fairly easy to do, so the opportunity to earn these purple paws seems to be rather easy as well. Another pro is that some of the end prizes are things that kids would really enjoy – ice cream, extra recess. There are several cons though. One con is that some of the other prizes are pretty cheesy…who really wants to have lunch with the principal? Other prize is helping the custodian. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be excited as a kid to help clean stuff up! Another con is that the kids have to build up purple paws than build up golden tickets….it is a lot of building up before the actual prize. Many kids may think it’s too difficult and not even try to emit the desired behaviors. Finally, these behaviors are things that we want our children to be intrinsically motivated to do because they are part of the basis for a good society, so making these behaviors contingent on an extrinsic motivator may be a bad idea. The delivery system is the teachers or other adults in charge handing out the purple paws. A pro with the delivery system is that the adults can catch more kids, not just the ones that they regularly see, and that can reinforce the behavior more often. A con would be that the kids only emit the behaviors the adults want when the adults are around to reinforce them with the purple paws. The tokens are taken home with the child until they are traded in for either golden tickets (which are also taken home) or prizes. A pro is that the child can be encouraged and reinforced when the parent notices all the tickets the child has. A con is that friends may emit giving behaviors to other friends – giving away the tickets to the kids that haven’t really done the work necessary. It’s hard for the adults to keep track of who has how many. Honestly, my computer isn’t letting me emit a reading behavior for the k12 site (which elicits a frustrated response from me!!!) so I’m guessing here – but I’m going to say the back-up reinforcers are the golden tickets. I assume they were chosen in order to make the ultimate prizes that the kids want a little harder to get, so that the kids don’t get satiated and stop doing the behaviors that they adults are trying to reinforce. I think that some of the reinforcers may be effective – like I said earlier, ice cream, extra recess, and popcorn are pretty awesome prizes to most kids. However, some prizes are cheesy and probably aren’t really reinforcing to the kids, like lunch with the principal. Extra computer time may not be very reinforcing either, since most kids have computers at home and emit on-the-computer behavior there quite often. The students gain access to the reinforcers by having enough golden tickets, which they got for having enough purple paws, which they got through emitting the desired behavior outlined above (or, they just got it through their friends). One way to know that they system is effective is to measure the amounts of desirable behaviors – has the amount gone up or gone down? Another way is to measure how many purple paws, golden tickets, and prizes are given out, and to how many different students? I’m not sure how effectively the administrators are teaching anyone about the system, but it seems that the kids are pretty knowledgeable about it. The parents maybe not so much, especially since many parents don’t read the newsletters, and kids may not be telling their parents about it either. The other teachers are probably pretty knowledgeable about the program as well, since the newsletter makes it sound like a lot of purple paws are being given out. I doubt that everyone has buy-in with this system, which, of course, will make it less effective. I personally don’t buy-in to it that much, just because there’s so many ways to game the system and because when I was a kid, I would’ve thought the whole thing was stupid. I imagine many children emit the same thought. One problem that may exist here is that children can trade tokens and prizes with other children, which kindof defeats the whole point of the positive reinforcement. If they’re getting the prizes without doing the work, then their behavior won’t change. Other problem is that I’m afraid they’ve made the purple paws too easy to get but the “cool” prizes too hard. Also, some of the prizes aren’t really that reinforcing. I question whether this is the best token economy they could have come up. I also question how they’re measuring, or if they are measuring, the changes that they want to see. I question how they know what the behaviors they want to see changed are quantified. If they don’t have a specific goal in mind, how do they know that they are modifying the right behaviors? Those are the questions and additional information that I’d like to see about the program. I’m not sure it’s explained very well in this newsletter.
What is this program?
This program is called Poyner Panter on T.R.R.C. Basically it is a way to positively reinforce children that are being Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring (T.R.R.C). The good behavior elicits a “token” which is a purple slip of paper. When the child earns 10, they can emit the behavior of trading for one golden ticket which can be traded for a prize.
How did it come about?
The Waterloo schools are trying to implement a Positive Behavior Intervention System. Therefore, this elicits changing some things for more pleasurable behaviors.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The functional behaviors they are trying to elicit are good behaviors, with the outcome being a pleasurable response- reward. Topographically, the actions that are rewarded can be rewarded with different prizes, but all pleasurable.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Some target behaviors for each subtopic could be—
1) Trustworthy- Telling the teacher the correct number of answers the child got correct grading his own paper during class.
2) Respectful-Letting another child take the swing when two get there at the same time on the playground at recess.
3) Responsible- Remembering to do homework and bringing it to class finished and on time.
4) Caring- Making sure someone is okay when a child trips/or helping another student if they dropped their books out of their backpack.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
This is a system based on reinforcement because it is meant to increase the frequency.
Is it positive or negative?
This system is based on positive reinforcement. This is because it is an addition of a pleasurable thing.
What are the tokens used in this program?
The tokens used in this program are pieces of paper that elicit a pleasurable response. For each good action, the child gets a purple paw ticket. After 10, the child gets a golden ticket.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Some pro’s using this system could be—
1) Eliciting good behavior
2) Pleasurable responses from the children (thinking it’s fun)
3) Be a good way to “spend” the tokens
Some cons could be—
1) May cause unpleasurable competition
2) Could become a distraction
3) Children could steal each other’s tickets.
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is immediate reinforcement (purple paw tickets). These are conditioned to be positively reinforced however, because they add up to even more reinforcing rewards. The antecedents are explained as basically anywhere at school.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
Some pro’s could be that—
1) Different lengths of time for positive reinforcement
2) The kids could be reinforced right away and know why
Cons—
1) Could be a distraction
2) Could stir up aversive behaviors from other kids around
How are the tokens banked?
They are traded in for a variety of positive reinforcers- such as ice cream, extra recess, eating lunch with the principal, etc.
What are the pro's and con's?
Pros—
1) Pleasant tangible things to work towards
2) Help with saving skills (saving tickets)
Cons—
1) Hard to price them
2) Could be more expensive
What are the back up reinforcers?
Things such as ice cream, extra recess, eating lunch with the principal, etc.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
They are pleasurable things that kids probably like. They are to elicit pleasurable responses.
Are they effective reinforcers?
This could be shown with a graph to see which are the most popular and elicit the most popular.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
After emitting positive behaviors to gain tickets.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
They could ask the kids if they find it pleasurable. They could observe to see how the system is working. They could also measure the tickets given out, and for what target behaviors. They could emit the behavior of drawing a graph and seeing how frequent either positive or negative behaviors are (before and after)
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
It isn’t really as in depth as it could be for the students. It depends on how they are telling them in person, because the kids aren’t going to really read the paper to be honest.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
Not very well so far. They haven’t explained what types of behaviors qualify, and how they are going to emit implementing the system. They don’t go in depth about the pleasurable responses that could occur. They should have probably told the parents before they started the system instead of just having their kids come home with tickets that they have no idea about.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
It doesn’t sound very organized, so the teachers could have different views on what target behaviors are to be rewarded, and when exactly is appropriate.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
Yes. I personally think the system is an okay idea. The teachers are the ones that may find it the most aversive. It could cause a huge distraction and unnecessary complications. The parents could find it pleasurable because the child’s behavior could be trained to be more pleasurable. Everyone has different thoughts, it depends on the system rules.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
1) They are a complex system- this could be complex and be a lot of work to establish
2) Deciding the backup reinforcer (prize) prices
3) Behavior becomes extinct
4) Token hoarding- children could buy a ton of prizes in one day, you would need to set rules
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
1) How many tickets do you need for certain prizes?
2) What if an aversive behavior occurs because of these tickets?
3) Is there a set amount someone can get?
4) Is there a time limit between each ticket?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
You may want to know more about the exact behaviors that elicit a reward. Some teachers could reward differently , which could lead to an aversive response for the children, thinking “well, if she did that and got a token- I did the same, and I didn’t get one”.
1) There needs to be token values
2) There need to be reinforce values.
These are important to know, because otherwise it could be too unclear for the target behaviors.
This program is a token economy set up by Poyer Elementary to reinforce good behaviors of students with tickets that they can later exchange for prizes. “Good” behaviors are defined as being respectful, trustworthy, etc.
The program came about because the Waterloo School District wanted to increase good behaviors in students and they chose to use a token economy system and reinforcement to elicit that increase.
The administration created the program to elicit behaviors that are seen as trustworthy, caring, and respectful. This would include things like raising their hand before speaking, playing well with others, helping a friend, using manners, etc.
This system is based on reinforcement. If a student emits a desired behavior, they are rewarded (reinforced) with a ticket that they can later use to obtain a prize.
As I mentioned before, the system is based on reinforcement and more specifically it is positive reinforcement. The behavior emitted is the adding of a ticket in order to increase the specific good behavior that the child is doing.
The tokens used in this system are tickets. These tickets can later be used to “purchase” various prizes.
A pro of this system is that hopefully the desired behaviors of the students will increase. Cons of this system could be that the children ignore the tickets because they don’t want the prize, the students might expect something every time they do something trustworthy or respectful and end up doing it for the wrong reasons, and the problem might arise that the children lose the tickets and can’t get reinforced for their good behaviors.
The delivery system is handled by teachers and administration. They choose who they give the tickets to and for what behavior. This is good because the children typically will respect administration, but it could be bad because the children might only do the good behaviors around those adults and not all the time.
The tokens are “banked” by collecting 10 purple paws, which are then traded in for a golden ticket that can be used to purchase a prize. I think it would be much easier to eliminate the paws and just have a card that they get punched each time they do something good. As a student, it might be hard to keep track of 10 paws and if they don’t have their name on it, it might get stolen by other students.
The only way to really see the progress is to stop using the program and see if a change has occurred in the amount of students’ “good” behaviors.
In the paper, the administration didn’t really address how they were teaching the students or other faculty about the system, but in my opinion, they didn’t educate the parents very well. The paper wasn’t very in depth and it didn’t really say if the parents were supposed to continue this technique at home or strictly leave it at school or explain anything like that.
I think it’s possible that everyone may not have a buy in the system, myself included. I think that as soon as the teachers walk away and aren’t watching, the students aren’t going to emit those desired behaviors because they are no longer intrinsically motivated and will only want the prizes.
The problem with this token economy could be that it is complex. There are so many steps to getting a prize when one set of tickets, whether it be purple paws or golden tickets, could be eliminated. The prizes also may not actually be reinforcing. I personally wouldn’t have wanted lunch with the principle or to help the janitor clean.
I would want to know how well this is actually working. I also think it would be interesting to hear from the students if they think the prizes are really that reinforcing and if they only do the behaviors when they know they are going to get a ticket.
What is this program?
This program s administered by Poyner Elemenary school to implement good behavior in not just the classroom, but all school settings such as recess, lunch and in the hallways. If students are seen showing any of the positive behavior in the T.R.R.C. they receive a purple ticket, and then when they have reached a goal of 10 they can trade them in to receive something positive such as extra recess time, or lunch with the principle
How did it come about?
This program came about after the Waterloo School District decided to emit a Positive Behavior Intervention Program. The goal is for students to focus on 4 main things, T.R.R.C which is Trustworthy, Respectful, Repsonsible, and Caring. The Waterloo School district thought that this would increase good behavior.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
Some of the functional behaviors that are being elicited are good behaviors such as being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. Emitting these good behaviors will then elicit a pleasurable response, and will then be awarded with different rewards.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Some of the specific target behaviors are ones I have already mentioned:
Trustworthy- EX: When you ask to go the restroom you actually do, and no go and for example meet a friend in the hallway
Respectful- EX: Don’t interrupt during class, and raise your hand and wait to be called on
Responsible- EX: Doing assignments and homework on time
Caring- EX: Helping another kid out if they are being bullied
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system would be an example of positive reinforcement, because the students are being rewarded for good and positive behavior. If they emit good behavior, they receive a reward.
What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens that are used in this program are “Tickets.” If you show good behavior in any type of school setting the student will receive a purple ticket. Once the student emits 10 good behaviors, and receives 10 tickets they will then get a golden ticket. This ticket will then be used for a reward or some type of price.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Some of the pros to using these tickets may be: Students will then feel better about themselves or feel good about themselves if they receive a ticket, the students may think this is fun, and the students can learn responsibility by taking care of the tickets they receive
Some of the cons to using tokens could be: the students may lose the tickets, or students may take it too far and students may steal other peoples tokens.
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is administered by teachers and other administration in the school. Once they see a student emitting a good behavior they are able to give them a ticket.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
One of the pros to this may be that child tend to have good behavior or should have good behavior around administration and teaches, and this will make sure that they respect their administration, but one of the cons for this could be that the students may ONLY have good behavior with administration is around, but then when they are in an atmosphere will say just other children, they may not show any of the TRRC characteristics.
How are the tokens banked? What are the pro's and con's?
Once a student receives 10 of his or her purple tokens, they can “bank” them in for a GOLDEN ticket, which means they will receive a reward or price. The tokens can be saved, like in a bank, and used whenever the students want.
One of the things that I think is good about the tokens being banked is that the kids need to first receive 10 tickets, if the students only needed one to receive a price, then satiation could occur, but having 10 before you can receive a golden ticket can help with a student learn responsibility and possible how to work with money, or even count (if they are in the younger grades). Yet, one of the cons to this could be that the student may have a hard time keeping track of their tickets, or maybe other students would unfortunately steal their tickets.
What are the back up reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
I would say that the backup reinforcers are the rewards the children receive after turning in all their tickets. These would be things such as the ice cream, extra recess, and eating with the principle. These were chosen because they are all desired things for children.
Are they effective reinforcers? How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
I would say these are effective reinforcers because they are all things that are usually desired by children.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? There are a couple things that the teachers and administration could do to see if this program is effective. For one, they could just ask the children. Also, they could have all the children write down some type of reward that they would be interested in receiving, and then the children could vote on them. This would make sure majority of the children like the positive rewards they are receiving, which will act as a positive reinforcement.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I did not see much about how exactly administraters are teaching the students about the program. I do not think the children are reading this news letter, so hopefully their parents are informing them about the program as well. This could even be a program that can be administered in the household as well.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
I also does not say how much the administaters are teaching the parents, but I think this news letter is a good start. I think another way the school could inform the parents is maybe have a PTA or parent meeting where they can come and listen about the program in depth, and learn how to possibly work this into home environment too.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
Although the teachers all know what the target behaviors for the kids are they all may see them a little differently. I think the parents need to have a meeting to really understand what the desired behaviors entail. You could have a teacher that is pretty lenient and reward kids with every little thing they do, but you could also have another teacher that is extremely strict and sees things differently.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
Yes, I think some of the teachers and administration may have some problems with the program because it may take away time for other things that need to be done in the classroom. Also, teachers may think it is a hassle, or may forget to reward certain behaviors.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
1. Satiation could potentially be a problem. A student could be sick of getting the same rewards over and over
2. I think they need to decide if there is a set amount of tickets the children can get
3. Children could turn very competitive and some of the children could steal the tickets from others.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
1. Are all teachers participating in this? And has everyone been “trained?”
2. If there a certain amount of tickets you can get, or is there a certain time limit?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I think that the school needs to inform the parents about the program in more depth. The news letter was helpful, but I think it does not justify what the school district is trying to do. It think it is a good idea, but the administration needs to make sure that everyone is participating, and participating I the right way.
Poyer Panthers on T.R.R.C. is an example of a token economy. When a student emits a behavior that is demonstrating trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, or caring they are given a purple paw ticket as positive reinforcement. These behaviors may be observed on the playground, classroom, cafeteria, etc. Once the student receives 10 purple paw tickets, they will receive one golden ticket. With the golden ticket, the student can emit the behavior of trading the ticket for a prize.
The program was created because the Waterloo School District had a district-wide initiative being a PBIS District – Positive Behavior Interventions System. The students are trying to elicit the behaviors of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility and caring. I believe a few of the specific target behaviors that the teachers would want the students to emit would be sharing, taking turns, giving compliments, manners, and listening. These are a few of the common behaviors that are introduced and taught during elementary school. As a consequence to these desirable behaviors, they are typically positively reinforced. This system is based on reinforcement. By emitting a desirable behavior, they are positively reinforced with a paw print. The tokens in this program are purple paw prints. A few pro’s with using these coins is that is introduces responsibility for oneself. The child will have to emit the behavior of keeping track of their “paw” and not losing it. Another pro would be that they can physically see the reward. Collecting enough paws will lead to a golden ticket, which is an even greater prize once it is traded. A few cons that go along with these tokens include the fact that they kids could lose them. It could also lead to others kids wanting to steal other kid’s tokens. It may also lead to kids behaving well for the wrong reasons. When a kid knows that they will receive a prize after emitting a desirable behavior, they will always except to be positively reinforced as opposed to just wanting to behave well. Once there are ten tokens, the students can trade them for one golden ticket for a greater prize. Back up reinforcers include Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time and helping the custodian. I would assume that these backup reinforcers were chosen by the teachers and other workers at the school. They chose what they did because it includes a wide variety so students would be able to pick something that was desirable to them. At the elementary age, I believe that these reinforcers would be effective for performing desirable behaviors. Students gain access to the reinforcers by behaving well, having a teacher witness is, receiving paw tokens and eventually gaining a golden ticket. A few outcome measures that may be used to test the effectiveness of this program would include the amount of prizes being given away and if they good behavior continues or not. The administrators are somewhat “glorifying” good behavior by adding a reward in the mix. Once the students grow up they will continue expecting to be praised for their good behavior, when in reality you should just want to be a good person. Based on the newsletter, it gives a parent’s an idea about the program, but doesn’t give details on what qualifies as desirable behavior and what is aversive behavior. It also may not be the way parents want their children to be rewarded. I’m guessing the administrators have given teachers training and knowledge about the system. Some problems with token economies that may apply to this situation is unequal pricing of backup reinforcers, misuse of tokens, token hoarding, desirable behavior deteriorates after program.
A few questions I would have for the administrators is; How do you decide which student gets which prize? (Not all students will receive an “equal” prize). How will you get students to continue emitting desirable behavior once the paw token program fades away? How will you reinforce every good behavior that is emitted? I would want to know where the funding is coming for this program and if the entire school approves of this program.
What is this program?
The program is a basic token economy where students can exchange tickets for enjoyable items.
How did it come about?
The school district decided on a district wide plan for all schools to implement. They want the students to emit a positive behavior intervention system and they want students to be trustworthy, responsible, respectful and caring.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
they would like students to emit the behaviors of being respectful, trustworthy, responsible and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Showing up on time and with all their supplies and homework. Being kind to the other children and respecting their property and the school. Sharing, helping each other, saying please and thank you, telling the truth.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
Reinforcement
Is it positive or negative?
positive because they are adding the tickets which lead to enjoyable items.
What are the tokens used in this program?
purple tickets which can be changed into gold tickets.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Students could lose them or replicate them. Giving out lots of little pieces of paper could make the school messy and is bed for the environment. It could end up being expensive for the school district.
What is the delivery system?
Facility member catching students doing one or more of the four asked behaviors and stopping them where ever they are and handing them out.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
there are only so many facility and cant catch students all the time. Catching and stopping students could lead to problems like being late or maybe the students would lose focus on school work and more on getting the tokens.
How are the tokens banked?
Students first receive purple tickets and after 10 they can get a golden ticket when they can then exchange for different pleasurable items.
What are the pro's and con's?
Students could 'horde' purple or golden tickets as mentioned in the article and not have to behave well until they run out.
What are the back up reinforcers?
Ice creme, lunch with principal and teachers, toys and games.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
i am assuming they were chosen by a board of people who work for the district and came up with the idea. This may have consisted of teachers, principals, the superintendent and members of the school board.
Are they effective reinforcers?
i believe some of them are. Children like ice creme and so enjoy lunch with facility. Getting to help the janitor seems more like a punishment to me.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
students gain access to the reinforcers by emitting one or more of the desired behaviors and being caught by a members of the facility.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
They could administer a survey asking how pleased the children are at the reinforcers and the avliabilty of tickets and the amount needed for prizes. they could also track a few children and see how they are reacting to the program.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I don't see how the children are being educated as it was not stated in the newsletter. I assume the teachers went over the system and what types of behaviors they are looking for with the children.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system
I don't think a simply article in a newsletter is very effective at teaching the parents about the system. the newsletter asks the parents to encouraging them but they parents them selves receive little information about the program.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system? Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
i assume all the teachers and facility are taught about the system to the best of the administrators knowledge. There is a possibility that some would not buy into the system especially those who know a lot about token economies or behavior modification.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
the behaviors are not well defined and there can be a lot of deviation about what is considered part of the program and what behaviors are rewarded. there can be token hording by some of the students. If the prizes or the system is not evaluated often then behavior deterioration might occur.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would like to know what they would do in the event of any of the above problems occurred.
What is this program?
The program is trying to elicit children to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring towards others and emit in positive behaviors. Once a child has been caught emitting a positive behavior they will be rewarded with a purple paw ticket to recieve a prize for their good behaviors.
How did it come about?
This program came about because the Waterloo School District a district-wide initiative being a PBIS District.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The behaviors the Waterloo School District is t ryin to elicit in children are the pillars of being respectful, trustworthy, responsible and caring, and being more positive towards others.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Some specific target behaviors the school may want children to emit in would be sharing their school items (pens, pencils, erasers) or emitting in positive behaviors by complimenting others (I like your shirt etc.) saying please and thank you to their peers and teachers, playing nicely at recess, or even showing up on time to class with a positive attitude (smiling and prepared)
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
This program is based on reinforcement because a reward is being added for every positive behavior they emit and therefore they will recieve a prize or item for emitting so many behaviors.
Is it positive or negative?
This would be a positive reinforcement because the tickets and prizes and eliciting the children to act in a positive behavior.
What are the tokens used in this program?
Purple panther paws and after recieving 10 of them, they turn into a golden ticket.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Some pro's for having purple paws considering the age group of this program (children) would be they are more like stickers or "fun" reinforcement. The pro's of using these tokens would be reieving items and prizes the more positive behaviors and tokens they acheive. Some con's of these tokens may be that children might only elicit positive behaviors when they know they are being watched by higher authority. Other con's could be that teachers may be biased towards students recieving a lot of tickets and therefore reward students already recieving tickets with more tickets and not pay as much attention to those who are not recieving tickets because of the childs expectations.
What is the delivery system?
Paws and tickets are being given out by teachers and facility members of the school district anywhere and at anytime.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
Some pro's would be in a classroom setting and given out to children who participate more. Another pro could be delivering a ticket to children who use their manners while asking to use the restroom or going up for seconds at lunch. A con could be the teacher. One teacher may have "favorites" in the classroom. Another con could be the location. It's hard to reward everyone with a ticket if students are in large groups (recess or lunch)
How are the tokens banked?
Once a student receieves 10 purple tickets they will receive a golden tickets and therefore choose the prize they wish to trade in for the tickets.
What are the pro's and con's?
Pros-the more you emit in positive behaviors, the more tickets you recieve and the more golden tickets you recieve, which in return the better prize you can purchase.
cons-some positive behaviors may not be rewarded because the teacher may not be watching. Some students may feel like they should recieve better prizes for the amount of tickets they recieve and feel cheated, which could decrease their positive behavior.
What are the back up reinforcers?
Receiving extra recess or being rewarded with cookies and desserts or even t-shirts.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
These were most likely chosen by the waterloo school district and facility members
Are they effective reinforcers?
I believe they are highly effective reinforcers (maybe not the lunch with teachers one) because it is rewarding students things they tend to enjoy at that age.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
Once they have recieved so many tickets and golden tickets, they can trade them in for a prize.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
Possibly sending out surveys to parents asking for feedback on whether their child has mentioned the program to them, and also sending out a survey to children on the amount of tickets they have recieved so far along with their favorite prizes and suggestions on other reinforcers that would help elicit their behaviors.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I'm sure teachers are always encouraging students to act in a positive manner and reminding students they will recieve prizes the more tickets they earn.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
I don't know how effective it would be to send out a newsletter letting parents know about the program but I think it is as effective as they can be. I'm sure parents children are coming home and talking about their tickets and prizes which in return lets parents understand that this is an effective program.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teachers about the system?
Onec again, there's no way of measuring how effective teachers are towards the system but for teachers that actually care about their students behaviors and they way they treat others, i'm sure it's more effective on them than on teachers who do not care about students behaviors and progress.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
Yes, not everyone is going to care about the program although it does seem like an efffective program.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
The fairness on who recieves tokens and who doesn't. Also, when recieving so many tokens, and finally being rewarded with a great prize, students may feel like they have already accomplished what they needed and their behaviors may become extinct.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
How long is this the program going to last because depending on the length, students may become bored and behaviors may become extinct
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
Is there a limit on how many tickets one child can recieve in one day? Or even throughout the time period? Some students may be more outgoing and friendlier than other students and if so, does that get taken into account? This program seems to be quite complex but it does seem effective.
The Panther Poyner on T.R.R.C system is a token economy which is set up at the Waterloo Poyner Elementary School. Students who emit behaviors such as trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility and caring will be given purple paw tickets. Once the student has received ten purple paw tickets, they will have earned a golden ticket. These golden tickets can then be traded in for bigger prizes such as extra recess. This demonstrates positive reinforcement in a token economy system; each time a desired target behavior has been emitted, they will be reinforced by being given a ticket, rewarding them for the pleasurable behavior. The reason that this program has been initiated is that the Waterloo School District has become a PBIS (positive behavior interventions system) District.
A pro associated with using this specific token system, tickets, are that it is difficult to copy the “tokens” and be traded in for prizes which have not been earned. Some cons may be that it is easy for students to lose and possibly ruin paper tickets, for example, when I was younger I often washed paper notes and what not which I had accidentally left in my pocket. I also do not see a point in using both purple and gold tickets. Using one or the other would have been sufficient and then setting higher ticket amounts to receiving each prize earned. The delivery system of these tokens is each time a student is caught emitting a pleasurable behavior by a faculty member, the student will be given a purple paw ticket. The pros of this delivery system is that children will be recognized for emitting the good behavior, a behavior they may not have been recognized for previously. The deliveries, which I assume will be done in front of whoever is around, may also elicit other students to emit similar behaviors. A con associated with this delivery system is that students may emit the desired behaviors while a teacher’s back was turned and will most likely not be reinforced. This could possibly cause extinction because the student was not reinforced for a behavior which may have been reinforced previously.
There is no specific banking system mentioned other than the students bringing the tickets home. This causes me to assume that the students are responsible for holding onto the tickets themselves. A pro to this is that this allows the student to easily keep track of their progress. A large con to this is that elementary students easily lose things and could lose the tickets, causing them to not be properly rewarded for the proper target behavior being emitted. The backup reinforcers listed in the newsletter were Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn lunch with the principle and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. I assume that the teachers and/or principle chose these backup reinforcers. I think that some of the reinforcers can be considered effective. I would enjoy an ice cream cone, extra recess or computer time. I would not enjoy having to eat with a teacher or principle or help the custodians, both of these “reinforcers” seem more like punishment to me. A student can gain access to these reinforcers after they have received enough golden tickets, which means they would have had to have been caught emitting the desired behaviors.
Some of the outcome measures which can demonstrate to the administrators that the program is effective is that there are fewer punishments given (i.e. timeout, being sent to the principle, or missing recess) or fewer behavioral problems in class. There is no way for me to know how well each person is learning about this new system. If this newsletter was the only information given to all participants, then both the students and teachers were not well-informed. This newsletter was targeted towards parents just informing them of the basic idea and what is going on. Examples need to be given to students and teachers so that they can be clear on what the desired target behaviors are. It is possible that not every person has complete buy in this. Teachers may have to stay focused on behavioral problem students more and may not be capable of staying on the lookout for the pleasurable behaviors. Also if students are not being recognized properly they may doubt the system altogether. It also seems as though it takes a large amount of tickets to receive a backup reinforce, also causing discouragement in students. All of these can cause problems in this token economy system.
Some questions I may have for administration are:
How did you choose the backup reinforcers?
Is this actually an effective system in altering undesirable behaviors in your school?
How many golden tickets does it take to receive a backup reinforcer?
Is there a different ticket value on each of the backup reinforcers?
If not, does the student get to choose their backup reinforcer?
What if a student does lose their tickets, will they be replaced or are they out of luck?
How are they going to make those students who feel left out and aren’t getting tickets often, feel more in the loop?
Is there a limit to how many tickets one ticket can receive?
What is this program?
The Waterloo School District adopted a Positive Behavior System to work with children and reinforce them when they are Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible and Caring.
How did it come about?
The program come about to improve a Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible and Caring students Behavior in everywhere.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
In the school they try to elicit: Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible and Caring students Behavior.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Specific target behaviors that they might to emit are: have a respectful behavior with the other students or the space (classroom, don’t paint the tables or chairs, etc.); being responsible for their acts and have a good behavior in every occasion; trustworthy, if they have some task they should finish, and be responsible for the commitment of doing it; Caring about the others, if someone have a problem and the student help can win a purple ticket.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system is based on a positive reinforcement. If the student do the right thing will win a purple paw ticket and if they have 10 they can trade them in for a Golden ticket and buy a few items that they can choose.
What are the tokens used in this program?
The tokens used in this program are purple and golden tickets.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Pros: When the students have a golden ticket they can buy something that they like; The students will be more tolerant with other students and the environment will be better.
Cons: Maybe 10 purple tickets to get to the golden ticket are too much; the target behavior is not specific so sometimes they can have subjective interpretations.
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is when students can receive the purple tickets; can be everywhere, in the hallway, cafeteria, on the playground, in their class rooms and during assemblies
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
Pros: The children will be respectful in a lot of places, not just in the class room;
Cons: It s hard to see every students in so many places so, sometimes the student is reinforced and others not.
How are the tokens banked?
After the students receive 10 purple paw tickets, they are able to trade them in for 1 golden ticket. These Golden tickets are then saved and traded in for prizes.
What are the pro's and con's?
Pros: Some students maybe like the reinforcement; Can be a good start to reinforce the students in a good behavior
Cons: Other students are not interested in the reinforcer, so they don`t care about wining tickets or be more carefully behavior.
What are the back up reinforcers?
The backup reinforcers are: prizes such as Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time and helping the custodian.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
This information is not present, but I assume that they can choose when they change the golden ticket.
Are they effective reinforcers?
I think the reinforcers are not effective for every student. This can be a problem for this initiative.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
They trade the golden tickets for prizes.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
If they create a “classroom bank” (list of students names on which the teacher can write with a washable marker and erase as token total change for each student) the teacher can control easly how many tickets the student have.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
The administrators teaching the students about the system are not effective, or clear. They don`t explain the rules, just a vague idea.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
To the parents is the same, they present apparently a innovate idea but it is vague and doesn´t explain well.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
There are no information how teachers are informed about the system.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
After my reading behavior of the “Token Economy” explanation I can see that the information provided is not good but the concept and the intention are not bad, so the parents probably will be satisfied with these new system, the teachers will be more confused about the rules and maybe they can`t lead with it; and finally the students in the beginning will be a little more “controlled” but the consequences in the end I think will not be good (because of the lack of information).
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
The tokens can beneficiate a few students but not others because the information is not enough and the instructions are not clear. The token economy can´t be effective at all.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
When does the student receive the tickets? In what situation? How many tickets students can receive in one day? Students can choose the reinforcement?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
The limits and the exactly behavior that it will be prime the student, for a just distribution of the tickets.
What is the program?
This program I used to control the behavior of students in the classroom, lunch and other places like recess. The children receive different tokens if they emit good behavior and the kids can trade the tokens in for benefits, like being at to go to recess longer, so in the long run it works as positive reinforcement.
How did it come about?
Schools are always trying to figure out good incentives for children but the Waterloo School District wanted to alter children’s behaviors and decided that they liked the T.R.R.C. (Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring) Program.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
Some of the behavioral classes being elicited are positive, good or appropriate behavior. Such as caring, responsibility, trustworthiness, and respectfulness just as the program suggests. They want the kids to be well-rounded decrease negative behavior.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
They want the children to emit the behaviors that I have talked about above. They want the kids to be caring to their other classmates and the teachers. This would be like helping another student pick up something they dropped and helping the teacher out in the classroom. They want the good well-rounded behavior with responsibility, trustworthiness and respect all wrapped into one, this would be the students talking only when called on in class and being an active participant in class.
This system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This is an example of positive reinforcement because the students are rewarded using the token economy.
What are the tokens used in this program?
The tokens they use are tickets. If the kids emit good behavior they get a ticket. If they get enough they will receive a golden ticket. And they can trade that golden ticket in for a reward they earned.
What might be some pros and cons associated with using these tokens?
Pros: The kids work harder to receive the tokens and feel a sense of pride when they emit the correct behavior and get rewarded. The kids can learn all the values the school wants them to and become a better student while taking care of their tickets.
Cons: Some students may think it’s stupid and cause a scene. Some students may even take other’s tickets or cheat their way to a golden ticket so then they are being reinforced that they can cheat their way through life.
What is the delivery system?
The teachers and other authority watch the kids and if they see good behavior from them, they give the kid a ticket.
What are some pros and cons associated with the delivery system?
Pros: The teachers will gain respect for the kids and see the kids in a whole new light. The administration may change their behaviors too, to make sure the kids are seeing good examples to follow.
Cons: The kids only get rewarded when the teachers see them do something good. So if they emit a good behavior when no one is around they will not be reinforced.
How are the tokens banked? What are the pros and cons?
Once the kids receive ten tickets they can cash them in at the ‘bank’ and receive a golden ticket, which in turn they can trade in for a reward.
Pros: The kids can learn about earning and working toward a goal. They can also learn a little bit about how a bank works, that you can only take out what you put in.
Cons: The kids could lose track of how many tickets they have or could be nervous about learning the banking system
What are the back-up reinforcers? How are they chosen?
The back-up reinforcers are the rewards the kids get after turning in their golden ticket. Like the example of more time at recess. They are chosen because it is what the children want.
Are the effective reinforcers? How do the students gain access to the reinforcer?
I think they are effective renforcers. Because they are what the students want.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
They could monitor the children’s behavior before and after the system was implemented. They could ask the teacher’s opinions on if they think the system is working. They could also just ask the children if they like the system and if they could change something about it, what would that be?
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I don’t think they are doing a very good job letting the students know about the system. They are letting the parents know through the newsletter, but some parents might not read that or share that information with the kids. They could possibly hold an assembly with the students and explain how fun this new system is going to be to get the students excited.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
As said above the parents could learn about it through the newsletter. But they aren’t being very proactive in letting the parents know. I think the school should send packet home with the students to explain the program and have a consent form for the parents to sign saying they want their kids to participate.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teachers about the system?
The teachers know what the system is about and what the end goal is, but I think the administration should have a staff meeting to set limits on what behaviors to reward and how often to reward the children so they can be more consistent.
Is there the possibility that not everyone may have complete buy in the system?
Yes, there is always that possibility. Some may think it’s silly or not see the point in rewarding kids with paper tickets. Teachers may get annoyed with giving out tickets or the kids asking to be rewarded to with the tickets. The kids may not buy into the system either if after awhile they get bored with it or they see a glitch in the system.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
They should decide what the top amount of tickets is. Satiation can occur because the kids could get bored of the tickets or think the rewards are not enough. Tickets could be stolen from other students and then some students may give up. The teachers may not use the tickets equally and some may not believe in the system.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
How do the teachers feel about all of this? Are they all giving out the tickets equally? What was wrong with the last system they were using? Could the kids possibly be over-rewarded?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would like to know if any other schools have used this system and how it went for them. I would like to know that they parents are well informed. I would also like after the system has started for some feedback from the school explaining how the system is working.
What is this program?
-The program is a token economy set up to encourage children to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring.
How did it come about?
-The Waterloo school district wanted to be a Positive Behavior Interventions System district in order to elicit positive behaviors out of the children.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
-They are trying to elicit trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring behaviors out of the children.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
-Getting to class on time, opening doors for others, saying please and thank you, sharing treats with others etc.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
-It is based on positive reinforcement.
Is it positive or negative?
-Positive reinforcement because the children receive a token in the form of gold paw ticket.
What are the tokens used in this program?
-The tokens are purple paw tickets. After the children receive 10 purple paw tickets, they can exchange them for 1 golden paw ticket. After receiving many golden paw tickets, children can receive another reinforcer.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
-The pros are: encourages children to emit positive behaviors, they elicit excitement in the children and make helping others fun. The cons are: may be difficult to keep track of the tokens, children may become too competitive, may distract children from learning.
What is the delivery system?
-Tokens are delivered after a positive behavior is emitted.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
-Pro’s: if delivered immediately and with praise, the likelihood of the children emitting that behavior again increases, good reinforcement. Con’s- may distract from learning, teachers may not notice every positive behavior, children may stop emitting behaviors if they don’t receive reinforcement right away.
How are the tokens banked?
-After the children receive 10 purple paw tickets, they receive 1 golden paw ticket. After a certain amount of golden paw tickets are collected, another reinforce is given.
What are the pro's and con's?
-Pro’s: different reinforcers excite children and encourage them to do emit more positive behaviors. Con’s: Teachers may have a difficult time pricing the reinforcers, some reinforcers may be more rewarding to students than others.
What are the back up reinforcers?
-Getting to help the janitors out, extra time on the computer, get to eat lunch with the principal or lead teacher.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
-These are reinforcers that are pleasurable to children
Are they effective reinforcers?
-More than likely. Young children can easily be manipulated with inexpensive or simple reinforcers, so this probably will work. High school kids, on the otherhand, would not be reinforced by getting the opportunity to eat with the principal.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
-They gain access to the reinforcers after they have acquired a certain amount of golden tickets.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
-They could observed the number of tickets the children are receiving. They could also observe the children’s behaviors to see if there is any improvement.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
-I would say they are sufficiently explaining the system. The children really only need to know the behaviors they are supposed to emit in order to receive reinforcement.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
-I think they sufficiently explained the system to the parents. Perhaps they could be a little more specific about the reinforcers the children receive. Some parents may not approve of some reinforcers.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
-It is hard to say. The article does not mention this, but all of the teachers should be knowledgeable about the system. If some teachers don’t reinforce this system, it will not be very effective.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
-Yes, and this is a problem. If this is the case, then it will not be effective, and teachers/parents will need to find a better method.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
-Some reinforcers may not be effective for some individuals. The children may also become bored with the system. This token economy may also be a distraction in the classroom.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
-When children emit aversive behaviors, do you take away their tokens? How do you discipline children? What would you do if a child is not interested in this system?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
- I would like to know if the children’s behaviors are improving or not. I would also like to know the exact reinforcers that are given.
What is this program?
This program is the Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C. which is where students are reinforced for emitting behaviors that demonstrate trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring through a token economy.
How did it come about?
The program is a district wide program from the Positive Behavior Interventions System.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The program is trying to elicit the behavioral classes of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Some specific target behaviors might be turning in assignments on time, throwing away one’s trash in the lunch room, listening to teachers and school authorities, helping other students in the classroom, walking in the hallway, an remembering to get permission slips signed.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
The system is based on positive reinforcement because it seeks to elicit certain behaviors more frequently and reinforces the behavior with the addition of a token.
What are the tokens used in this program? What might be some pros and con's associated with using these tokens?
The tokens used in this system are purple and gold tickets. The pros of the tokens are that the tokens are reusable, easy to administer, cost effective, and easy to transport. The cons of the tokens are that the tickets are easy to lose, presumably easy to counterfeit, and can easily be taken by others.
What is the delivery system? What are some pros and cons associated with the delivery system?
The tokens are delivered by teachers and school staff when they see behaviors that fit within the behavioral classes. Some pros to this delivery system are that students are likely to emit several desired behaviors in the presence of school staff and elicit more desired behaviors in the classroom where supervision is fairly constant. The cons to this delivery system are that the staff cannot be everywhere with the students so the students might not be reinforced for every desired behavior that is emitted causing extinction and the students might emit undesired behaviors when not in the presence of school staff.
How are the tokens banked? What are the pros and cons?
The tokens are given to the student. The pro to this is that the student has a tangible reinforcer of his or her behavior. The con to this is that the student could easily lose the tokens he or she has earned.
What are the backup reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen? Are they effective reinforcers? How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
The backup reinforcers include Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of popcorn, lunch with the principle and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. Presumably the student gets to choose the backup reinforcer. Some of the reinforcers do not sound very reinforcing like helping a custodian or having lunch with the principal. If the student gets to choose the backup reinforcer, they should be fairly effective, though, because the student will choose what he or she likes best from the list.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
Some outcome measures might be more homework turned in on time, cleaner lunchrooms, fewer fights at recess, fewer principal visits, and fewer disciplinary actions.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
It sounds like the administrators are not very effective at teaching the students about the system because there are not any target behaviors identified.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
Administrators seems moderately effective at teaching parents about the system because it is in the newsletter but again it is fairly vague and it also assumes that the parent will read the newsletter which might not be the case.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
It does not sound like the administrators were very effective about teaching the other teachers about the system. The program should be very specific so that there are not inconsistencies from teacher to teacher in reinforcement. It should be as specific as a list of certain target behaviors that each individual student is to be reinforced for emitting.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
There is the possibility that not everyone will buy into the system. Some teachers might not agree with the system and therefore not reinforce certain target behaviors. Also, some teachers might not have the same idea of what a target behavior is and therefore reinforce for different behaviors.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
The backup reinforcer might not be salient enough to elicit the target behavior there may be inconsistencies with reinforcement from administrator to administrator, and the program is not tailored to the individual.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
I would want to know the specifics like what target behaviors do they wish to elicit, when is the student reinforced, do all staff members reinforce the students, and what if the students do not want the backup reinforcers, will the program be specific to the individual student or be general.
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would like to know how the backup reinforcers were choosen and how salient they are to the students. I would also like to know the outcomes of the program and how expensive the program was to implement.
The Poyner Elementary School purple and gold ticket program is a token economy. When students emit positive behavior (respect, responsibility, caring, and trustworthiness), it elicits teachers to give the student a purple ticket. After ten purple tickets have been collected by a student, the student obtains a golden ticket. The golden tickets are then saved and traded in for rewards like ice cream, popcorn, recess, extra computer time, and other reinforcing consequences. The Waterloo School District is attempting to reinforce positive behavior as they are implementing a Positive Behavior Intervention System. The district is trying to elicit behavioral classes which improve the environment for all. These include respect, caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility. A specific target behavior might be not talking in the hallways, always raising one’s hand in class, getting assignments done on time, and assisting teachers or students when they need help. This system is based on positive reinforcement because the students get reinforced when they emit the positive behaviors previously mentioned. The tokens used are tickets. A student receives a purple ticket whenever they are witnessed doing something positive. Ten purple tickets can be traded in for one golden ticket. This golden ticket can be exchanged for special privileges. The students will enjoy working towards a golden ticket and it will boost their self-esteem when they receive a ticket. If they witness another student getting a ticket, they might try even harder to emit the behaviors that will lead to a ticket. It is not all positive, however. Students may get discouraged how long it takes them to reach ten tickets. Patience is not the most popular trait among elementary aged children. Again, teachers emit the distributing behavior of the tickets but they may not see every student who does something positive. This could also discourage students. Teachers may be liked more and respected more after handing out tickets. Students can hand in the ten purple tickets for one golden ticket. A con of this system is the length of time it takes to get reinforced. This could be discouraging for the students if they are continually behaving and not being reinforced. It is long enough, however, where the students will not emit a satiated behavior. The backup reinforcers include Sonic ice cream, extra recess, and other desirable consequences. Elementary students enjoy these things so they are effective reinforcers. Students gain access to these by obtaining ten purple tickets, exchanging it for a golden ticket, and then exchanging that for a reinforcer. One outcome measure could be the amount of times children are sent to the principal’s office for disciplinary reasons compared to before the ticket program was started. The teachers could also ask the students if they enjoy the system. I assume teachers will educate the students about different ways to obtain the tickets. In my opinion, the school should send another letter to parents explaining the details of a token economy. The administration needs to educate the other teachers about token economies. It will not be effective if they are uneducated. It is possible not everyone will buy in to the system if they are uneducated. Students also may try to “act cool” and say the prizes aren’t worth emitting positive behaviors. One problem with this token economy is the students will not be reinforced every time they emit a positive behavior. This can lead to a decrease in positive behavior. The target behaviors should also be defined more specifically. If I could ask the administration a question, I would ask what they would do if a teacher decided not to participate. I also would like to know if it requires more than one golden ticket to receive a reinforcer.
The program is keeping the Panthers on T.R.R.C.(track) which stands for trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring, which is a token economy in which individuals are rewarded for exhibiting the above behavior. It came about because the Waterloo School District created this initiative as a part of a Positive Behavior Interventions System. They are trying to elicit the behavior classes of being trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring. The specific target behaviors could include a whole array of behaviors, which is a potential problem that I see. But the examples I’m sure they are looking for would be as follows. Being trusted to be left alone in the classroom or run an errand for the teacher. Being respectful by being a good listener in class. Being responsible by cleaning up after themselves. Being caring by sharing a toy or game with another student. This system is based on positive reinforcement. The tokens utilized in the system are purple paws which the students store up and receive when they emit the above behaviors. Some pros with these tokens are that they are cheap, give a sense of school pride, and can easily be distributed. Some cons with these tokens are that they could probably easily be replicated and the system could be flooded with counterfits, and that they are relatively meaningless, but most tokens are themselves of little value. The paw prints are delivered to the students by the teachers whenever the teachers ‘catch’ the students emitting the desired behaviors. The pro with this system is that it is very likely that the student will be ‘caught’ exhibiting the correct behavior in school with teachers all around. The con is that this may limit the time and place where the good behavior is emitted. The students may learn to only be caring/responsible when the teacher is around and a total brat as soon as they are out of sight. It also limits the behavior only to school when this kind of behavior should be encouraged outside of school as well. The students keep track of their own paw prints and when they get 10 of them they can cash them in for a gold ticket. A good thing about this system is that it may give the students a larger sense of responsibility of their own reward system. A possible bad thing is that stuff happens and the students could lose their tickets and become discouraged. The backup reinforcers are the golden tikets that they can cash in for once they have accrued 10 paw prints. I have no idea how they were chosen, but I suppose they would be somewhat effective in creating a kind of half way point for the students to reach on their way toward their reward. Students gain access to the reinforcers by cashing in their golden ticket for one of a number of options, such as extra recess, ice cream, or lunch with the principle. These could be very effective reinforcers depending on the student. If the student has a bad home life they may be extremely motivated to succeed in this realm to be around other adults and be rewarded in school. Or if you have a child who has everything they may not be very motivated to try and get the rewards because they can wait until home to have ice cream, play time, or be with mom or dad. It really depends on whether the kid will be motivated by the reinforcers. From what we can see there is no real measure to know if the system is effective. I suppose they could keep track of how many gold tickets have been cashed or how many purple paws have been handed out. If they see a lot of exchange happening here then that would be a good indicator of the programs success or at least its popularity. I assume the admins are teaching the students about the system very well, being they are the participants. They should try to have some definitive criteria for how they will rate behavior otherwise they could put themselves in a pickle. One example I can think of is if a kid got in a fight sticking up for his friend. He was being kind and respectful for his friend and got beat up for it. Will a purple paw make up for this? Will he be punished for this? It’s best to have as strict of a criteria as possible. I think that the admins are doing a great job of informing the parents about the system. I really can’t think of what else they could possibly add to make it more thorough. This is a very crucial aspect of the process because the teachers are the ones administering the rewards. If they are not sufficiently told what ‘target behaviors’ they are to be looking for then they could become confused and reward the wrong sorts of behaviors. As stated above it is important to know exactly where to draw the line and to be consistent with all students. There is always the possibility of not everyone being on board with this program. Students could reject it because they don’t view any of the reinforcers as good rewards. Teachers may back out of it because they don’t see being a conduct officer as part of their job. Parents may back out because they would like to be the one rewarding or punishing their student accordingly to how they act rather than having the schools do it. One potential problem I can see arising is the fact that they are putting a sort of monetary value on ‘good’ behaviors that the children emit. One problem with token economies is that when individuals are rewarded for a behavior that they simply like doing, like being respectful, trustworthy or caring, just because they feel like it or it drives them intrinsically, will decrease the frequency with which it occurs because it has now become a chore they are paid to complete. As stated above my biggest question would be what the specific criteria might be for this token economy and the target behaviors they are seeking to elicit. Aside from that I think they put together a potentially effective token economy and I would be interested to learn how it turned out.
The TRRC program is a program that Poyner Elementary school implemented to encourage students to demonstrate the following behaviors: trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. If a teacher witnesses a student emitting one or more of these target behaviors during the school day they reinforce the student by giving them a purple paw ticket. When the student has received ten purple paw tickets they can then turn them in for one golden ticket. The golden ticket can be saved or turned in for a prize such as: ice cream, extra recess time, popcorn, a special lunch with the principal or teacher, extra computer time, or helping the custodian.
This program came about because the Waterloo school district wanted to implement a positive behavior intervention system. The behavioral classes they are trying to elicit are trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility, and caring behaviors. Some specific target behaviors that they may want the children to emit could include: telling the truth, raising your hand, not talking when other people are talking, waiting your turn, picking up after yourself, volunteering to help the teacher or another classmate, being nice to other classmates and including them in specific activities.
This system is based on positive reinforcement. When the students emit one or more of the target behaviors listed above the consequence is receiving a token. Therefore, something is being added (the tokens) to increase the frequency of them emitting those target behaviors again. Initially the tokens are purple paw tickets, but after receiving ten of those the students get one golden tickets which is turned in for a variety of prizes.
Some pro's associated with using these tokens could be to teach the child responsibility and organizational skills by saving the tickets and not losing them. Another pro could be giving children independence by allowing them to make the decision about whether or not they want to save their golden tickets or turn them in right away for a prize. Some con's associated with using these tickets could be easily ripped or another student could take them, or they could be accidently thrown away with old papers.
It wasn't all that specific regarding the delivery system, but it sounds like any teacher or supervisor could give a child a ticket if they witnessed them emitting one of the target behaviors. Some pro's associated with the delivery system could be that both teachers and students know what behaviors elicit the giving of a ticket so it should be rather easy for teachers to spot target behaviors. Some con's associated with the delivery system could be that teachers may not see every child emit a target behavior so some kids may not get reinforced every time they emit a target behavior. If a teacher continues not to notice some children then those children could become disinterested with the program or even deliberately act out or be defiant as a result.
The tokens banked by each child saving and turning in their ten purple paw tickets in exchange for one golden ticket which can then be turned in for a prize. One of the pro's for this system is that it is a fairly simple process so even younger children will understand what they need to do. A con of this system could be that tickets could be accidentally lost.
The back-up reinforcers are the prizes the children can choose from once they turn in their golden tickets. Ice cream, pop corn, extra recess and computer time, helping the janitor, and having lunch with the teacher or principal are all back-up reinforcers. They back-up reinforcers seem to have been chosen by making an educated guess as to what children would find pleasurable. I would assume the back-up reinforcers are effective since they are all objects or situations children would find enjoyable, but there is really no evidence in this article as to whether or not they are actually effective. The students gain access to these reinforcers by turning in a golden ticket they receive after previously turning in their ten purple tickets.
Some of the measures administrators could use to test the effectiveness of the program could be surveys given to the kids, parents, and teachers that ask them about noticable behavior changes before the program was implemented and after the children had been participating in the program. I would assume the administrators would explain the system to the students and ask any questions they may have about the process or examples regarding specific behaviors, but it doesn't really go into detail about it in the article. I think by sending a newsletter home to parents they are probably trying to effectively communicate this system with parents. It doesn't really say how the teachers were prepared by the administration when it comes to this system, but I would assume that the teachers were adequately trained before the start of the school year regarding which behaviors they are looking for, how to deliver the tokens and tickets, and during what time of day and on what specific days the children would be allowed to turn in their tickets for prizes.
I think it's possible that not everyone could have complete buy in the system. Towards the middle or end of the school system teachers could get tired of paying special attention to the behaviors of the children, although I think that is part of their job anyway so technically they shouldn't. But in the beginning they could give out more tickets and then sort of so down as the school year progresses. Some problems that may exist with this token economy could be that children get tired of the prizes and thus may not be as motivated to emit the target behaviors, and teachers may cut back the amount of tokens they hand out as the school year progresses. Some questions I might have for the administrators would be how exactly do they know their system is effective at eliciting the kids to emit those specific target behaviors? How do they know the kids aren't emitting the same amount of these behaviors they normally would without being reinforced?
1.What is this program?
This program is a system put in place to help motivate kids to be trustworthy, responsible, respectable, and caring. The students are given a purple paw ticket when they are caught doing something good, and once they get 10 of these they can trade them in for a golden ticket. This golden ticket gets them something fun, like lunch with the principal and lead teacher for example. According to the little write up, the students are responding very well to this and seem to like it.
2.How did it come about?
It came about when the Waterloo school district decided to create a system to promote good behavior in their students, from many different schools with many different aged kids. They decided to create the PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions System) District in order to try and keep track of when the kids are acting in the correct manner and doing good things for others. This led them to specifically create the T.R.R.C idea.
3.What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The behavioral classes that they are trying to elicit are Trustworthiness, Respectfulness, Responsibility and Caring.
4.What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
They could set target behaviors of holding the door open for someone at least twice a day or getting all of their homework done ON TIME every week. Keeping a mixture of the 4 different behavioral classes will help create a well-balanced student who knows how to act in a positive manner.
5.Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system is based on reinforcement, because the children are given a reward for doing something good. This will definitely help them to realize what they are doing is good and that they should continue to do these things. This is an example of positive punishment because they are getting results from the reinforcement. When a child is given a reward for something, they will likely continue emitting the behavior.
6.What are the tokens used in this program?
The token used are the purple paws and the golden tickets that they receive for their good behavior. They are given a purple paw when they do something admirable, and they can trade in 10 paws for a golden ticket. The golden ticket gets them a big prize, like a bad of movie popcorn or Sonic ice cream.
7.What might be some pro’s and con’s associated with using these tokens?
One main con would be that some students may bully others to get more paws. It is that important to some to be the best and get all the prizes they can get. This would obviously be defeating the purpose of the paws and the students bullying the others would be receiving paws when they should be having them taken away. A pro that goes along with this is that it is definitely a way to keep the students interested and continuing to emit good behavior because they do have a goal amount of 10 to reach. Students who have the drive and really want to do good things for others and themselves will be able to reach this goal and will feel good about themselves when they do get the golden ticket.
8.What is the delivery system?
The delivery system consists of giving the student a purple paw every time they emit a good behavior of T.R.R.C and someone is catches them in the act. They then are to accumulate 10 of these paws. Once they reach 10, they can trade these in for a golden ticket. The golden ticket then allows them to receive a prize of some sort.
9.What are some pro’s and con’s of this delivery system?
A pro would be that this kind of method really allows a student to feel good about themselve’s when they see all of the purple paws and golden tickets that they have received. It is always a good feeling when your good behavior is noticed, and even better when you know you are going to be reinforced for doing it. However, the goal is to get them to continue the behavior even when they are not being reinforced for it. A con would be that it is kind of hard for teachers to always see when a student is behaving in a good manner. This could discourage a student when they know they are constantly doing good things and they are not being noticed for it. This could lead to giving up or bad behaviors to get the attention that they are looking for.
10.How are the tokens banked? What are the pro’s and con’s?
As mentioned above, the students get 10 purple paws for good behavior. Once they reach 10, they can trade it in for a golden ticket. This ticket grants them a larger prize of some sort. A con, again, would be that it may be hard for a student to keep motivation to get to 10 paws when they feel they aren’t getting noticed for the things they are doing. Nothing is more discouraging than constantly doing good things and not being noticed for them when others are being noticed. A pro, again, would be that this gives the students motivation to reach the goal of 10 paws and a golden ticket.
11.What are the back-up reinforcers?
The back-up reinforcers are the golden tickets. These are the reinforcers that are given after the initial reinforcers in the purple paws.
12.How were the back-up reinforers chosen?
They were chosen because they wanted to give the students a larger prize once they reached the 10 purple paws. They wanted to be able to give them something huge like lunch with the principal or Sonic ice cream because these are all things that would put a good image in their mind of good behavior.
13.Are they effective reinforcers?
Yes, they are. I think rewarding students with something that they can see accumulate is a good way to get the point across. Being rewarded for doing something good is a great feeling for a child.
14.How do students gain access to the reinforcers?
They gain access by having good behavior. When they do this, a teacher rewards them with the paws and the golden tickets.
15.What are some of the outcome measurers so that the administration know it is effective?
They can simply measure this by seeing how many students are receiving purple paws and golden tickets and how many students are not receiving them. They can then determine what needs to be done to get more students to participate.
16.How effectively are the administration teaching the students about this system? How effectively are they teaching the parents about the system?
They are clearly doing a good job because they report that many of their students are receiving many paws and golden tickets. They also mention that the students may be mentioning it at home, and when a student mentions something like that at home, the odds are that they like it and enjoy participating. I think that they are also doing a good job with the parents because they sent it out in the newsletter and did a nice job of explaining what it is.
17. Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
This is always a possibility because not everyone will believe in the way the system is working or the way they are communicating it to others. You will always have your believers and you will always have the ones who do not believe.
18. What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
A problem could be that it may die out. It starts out as a strong way to get kids to understand the importance of good behavior, but it will only work for so long in an effective manner. It may just require changes every so often to keep it up to date and interesting to the students.
19. What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
I may just ask why they decided to do things the way that they did. There are so many different directions you can go with this, and knowing why they decided on this specific route would be of interest to me.
20. What additional information might you want to know about the system?
Do they continue once a student gets a golden ticket once? Do they take away from students who behave poorly? Do they get to choose what their prize is?
Poyner Elementary School in Waterloo is emitting a positive behavior intervention system which rewards students by giving them a purple paw ticket throughout the day when they are caught emitting behaviors of the pillars trustworthiness, responsible, caring, and respectfulness. This program came about because they are trying to emit the behavior of being a positive behavior intervention system. They are trying to elicit the behaviors of the pillars by reinforcing their positive behavior. Some of the specific behaviors the education system would like the children to elicit would be: helping someone pick up their toys, telling the teachers the truth if they did something wrong, helping a custodian pick up trash, staying late in the classroom to help pick up, etc.
Since this program is rewarding them for their positive behavior, this is a reinforcement program rather than a punishment program. In detail, since the program is adding a reward for their positive behavior, this would be considered positive reinforcement. They receive “tokens” of purple paw tickets. Some positives of these tokens could be: they want to collect more to show their other classmates; they are creative so the students think they are cool, and they are cheap to distribute. A negative to these tokens is they might be easy to lose. If the students lose them, they won’t receive their prize the earned and may get upset.
Anywhere throughout the school the tokens are administered by the staff members to the students. This could be positive because this reinforces the students to show positive behavior not only in the classroom but throughout the school. This could be negative because it calls for more staff to be around constantly which could raise the need for teachers or associates.
Once the children receive ten tokens, they can be traded in for one golden ticket. A golden ticket can be traded in for prizes such as ice cream cones, extra recesses, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping a custodian. This can be positive because they may enjoy these rewards which will make them want to win the golden tickets. This could also be negative if they do not like any of the rewards. If this is the case, they may not care if they get tokens or not.
The backup reinforcers for this program are the parents. They encourage the parents to emit the behavior of encouraging this positive behavior. They are chosen because they are the only other direct link to the children when they are at home and not at school. This can be effective because the parents could also reward the children for their positive behavior at school. By having the parents reinforce these children too; this could be even more effective.
The students receive their reinforcers by the teachers and associates giving them to the students. In order for this to work, the staff needs to be on the same page when rewarding behaviors. They need to know the specific behaviors the children must emit in order to give the students rewards so it is equal throughout the students. The administrators seem effective in informing the students about the system because they are putting it in their news flyer. They should also put posters up throughout the school and continue to discuss it in order for the children to clearly understand the program. By putting it in the flyer, they are also informing the parents about the system.
With every system such as this one, come possibilities of not everyone knowing all the information about the system and understanding the basis of it. Sometimes parents do not read the flyers sent home with their children. This can cause others to be reinforced at home and not everyone. Also, if the children are not aware of the positive behaviors they need to emit, they may not do them making them less likely to receive the tokens. Also, if the teachers are not correctly aware of what behaviors to reinforce, they may be reinforcing behaviors that shouldn’t be reinforced. Children can also be rebellious and not want to participate in the specific behaviors.
With token economies, there come some negatives. One of the negatives is that they could lose their tokens so they can find it hard to receive their golden ticket. Another problem is the students may not know what behaviors they need to emit in order to receive their tokens so they aren’t receiving their tokens. A final problem with the token economy is that the students may not like the rewards they get for their positive behaviors so they do not want to emit the behaviors.
Some questions I have for the administrators are: how are the parents taught about the program? How long will this program go on? What happens if the children lose their tokens? What happens if the children don’t like their rewards?
With these questions answered, I believe this could be an effective program for showing positive behavior in schools.
This program is very similar to a token economy. When the students emit desired target behaviors set forth by their teachers they are then positively rewarded with a purple ticket. Once the student receives 10 tickets they are able to get the “golden” ticket which then is used to purchase prizes. This program came about because the Waterloo School District created an initiative called the Positive Behavior Interventions System. The school in Evansdale decided to jump aboard and participate. This program is directed at encouraging the students to elicit “character”. Such behaviors include being respectful, responsible, and caring. This is a large behavioral class, so I think it helps that the program focuses on certain behaviors. There are several target behaviors that the children could emit. One example could be that the student is sitting at his or her desk quietly ready for class to begin. Another example could be when a student’s praises a classmate on a project that was done well. If a student drops his or her lunch tray in the lunch room and another classmates decides to help them clean it up could also be a target behavior that would elicit the giving away of a paw ticket. This behavioral system is based solely on reinforcement. When a student emits a target behavior, they are positively rewarded with a paw ticket. When the students are not emitting target behaviors they are not being punished, they are just not being reinforced. The tokens that are used in this program vary. The students are first given purple paw tickets when they emit the desirable behaviors. After they gain 10 of these tickets they are then able to trade them in for the golden tickets which are used to purchase the prizes. Like any system, there are pros and cons. First of all, depending on the age and organizational skills of these students, they might struggle with losing these tickets. If the tickets are lost, this might cause the student to become upset and thus not emit the target behaviors as often. Another con to the tickets is that some students might steal fellow classmate’s tickets. This could cause a whole host of problems. However, they are some pros. By giving the students their own tickets, they are then required to practice responsibility and organization. The delivery system in this program requires the teacher and other administrative persons to distribute the tickets. Some pros to this delivery system include having the teacher is aware of all of the target behaviors which are being emitted. However, a con to this delivery system is that it will take time away from the teacher to actually teach. Another con could be that the teacher has favorites and might give his or her favorites more tickets. As far as I can tell from the article is that the students are just given the tickets and are responsible for banking them. Like I said before, this can be seen as a positive or negative. The students could struggle with keeping track of them, thus losing them. But at the same time this can teach the students to be responsible. I am not aware of any back up reinforces. I believe they could include complementing and praising the students instead of giving them a ticket every time. Administrators would be able to measure the effectiveness by being notified every time students receive a gold ticket. They can then produce an average number of gold tickets issued every month. This could give them an idea of how effective the system is. Some additional information I would like to know as a parent to a student would be how the teachers are being taught on how to use this system. This would be important because if every teacher is doing it differently the students could either become confused or learn how to manipulate the system. Also, I would be interested in finding out how the system will be able to handle extinction. As with most tings, people become sick of doing stuff regardless of the reinforcer. I would also like to be notified of the effectiveness of this system.
What is this program? After the students receive 10 purple tickets, they are able to trade them in for 1 golden ticket. These golden tickets are saved and traded in for prizes. The school is focusing on being trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring. Students being caught demonstrating these characteristics throughout the day are given purple paw tickets.
How did it come about? The Waterloo school district has an initiative—a positive behavior interventions system. I think there have been other initiatives of similar consequence in other places (4 pillars of community)
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? They are focusing on trustworthiness, respectfulness, being responsible, and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit? Being honest, not cheating or stealing. Being respectful of teachers, administrators and other students. Being responsible for one’s self (not leaving homework at home, raising your hand to speak or to use the restroom, cleaning up after one’s self) Being caring could be holding the door for someone or not talking out of turn.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? I believe that it is based on positive reinforcement. We have been taught these things not only in school but in society as well. If you do what you have been taught or have learned you are being positively reinforced with tickets where you can trade them in for pleasurable things.
What are the tokens used in this program? Purple and golden tickets. Play money.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? They can be easily dispensed. They could be easily counterfeited though (use a copy machine or scanner and make as many as you want). They do give the idea that they are a “money” and can be spent on enjoyable things.
What is the delivery system? This is fairly vague. “Students are being caught everywhere—in the hallway and cafeteria, on the playground, in their classrooms, and during assemblies---I assume if they demonstrate one of the TRRC’s they get a ticket. If they are not they do not get one.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? It supports good morals, and if the student is demonstrating these characteristic they get a ticket. They can keep the tickets and bank them for a golden ticket once they have 10 purple tickets. The adverse side of this is if a student thinks they are eliciting a positive quality and they do not get rewarded with a ticket---what does a student do then?
How are the tokens banked? What are the pro's and con's? This is unclear or not defined. That is both the positive and negative side of it….students may get tickets, but they could possibly lose or misplace them…yet if they do save them and trade them in they can trade them in for prizes.
What are the backup reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen? Are they effective reinforcers? How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? None of these were addressed.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? If students are earning tokens and trading them in for prizes, possibly the prizes are being bought on a regular basis.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? This is unclear and not addressed. If I were to infer I would think that teachers are giving examples of positive behavior and telling that if, the students demonstrate these behaviors they will be rewarded.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? It seems as if the administrators are not teaching the parents much except what is outlined in the newsletter.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system? I would assume that through in-service meetings. Effectively could be questions though.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? Of course. Some people believe that these are things that students should be doing all of the time anyhow. They should not be rewarded for something that they should already be doing on a daily basis. Some belief that if you don’t elicit these behaviors that you should be punished, not rewarded for all ready doing them.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? “Students who are permitted to accumulate large hoards of tokens may believe that they can “coast” for a period of time and not work or behave appropriately until they run out of tokens. Hoarding may also result in a student’s being able to purchase a large number of prized reinforcers in one day. Hoarding may be reduced by placing expiration dates on tokens or in having a backup reinforcer sale or auction. Rules for an auction can be that (a) all token savings are dropped to zero the day after the auction, (b) students bid against each other for the available items, and (c) students cannot lend each other points for the auction.”
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?---
Has this system worked in other school settings? What are the backup reinforcers? Are the tokens being distributed on a regular basis? How are they being banked? Are all grades participating? How do younger students not lose their tokens?
What additional information might you want to know about the system? I would like to know what parameters the afore mentioned TRRC’s constitute. These could be looked at differently from student to student as well as from teacher to teacher.
1. What is this program? The program is called the T.R.R.C. program at the Poyner Elementary school in the Waterloo and helps children focus on being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring.
2.How did it come about? This came about because the Waterloo School District is starting to initiate being a Positive Behavior Interventions system district. This may be due to wanting a desired positive behavior in students.
3. What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? The behavioral classes are functional behaviors that are being elicited by having a good positive behavior in the school environment and those students are being reinforced by emitting the T.R.R.C. behaviors.
4.What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit? Trustworthy example: When a student goes to get a drink in the hall and not roaming the hallways. Respect example: Staying quiet while other students are answering questions. Responsible example: When students bring all their materials to class (paper, pencils..etc.) Caring: When students help other students with homework or questions on a subject.
5.Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative? The system is based on positive reinforcement because the program is increasing the frequency of a desired behavior and adding the tickets as the reward of emitting the T.R.R.C. behaviors.
6. What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens that are being used in this program are purple tickets and the golden ticket.
7. What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? The pro’s of using this ticket would be that they are all the same for each student, so there would be no jealously on colors/shapes/sizes. The con’s would be that some students might steal or lose their purple or golden tickets.
8.What is the delivery system? The delivery system is teachers handing out the tickets to the students when they are emitting one of the 4 behaviors of the T.R.R.C. program.
9. What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? The pro’s would be that the teachers can remember who they gave tickets too each day. The con’s would be that students might only emit the behaviors when the particular teacher is around to get a ticket. How are the tokens banked? The tokens are banked by having 10 purple tickets to trade in for a golden ticket. The golden ticket then will lead to reinforcing prizes.
10. What are the pro's and con's? What are the back up reinforcers?
The pro’s are that it may take a few weeks to gain 10 tickets for the golden ticket, which gives the students plenty of chances and time to emit the 4 different behaviors. The con’s is that students may lose interest. The back up reinforcers could include ice cream cones/extra recess/a bag of popcorn/ lunch with the principal and lead teacher/ extra computer time/ and helping the custodian.
11. How were the backup reinforcers chosen? The reinforcers may have been chosen by having a vote from students on what they like or from observation.
12. Are they effective reinforcers? I believe that for an elementary based school and program that these reinforcers would be very effective.
13. How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? The students gain the access to the reinforcers when they trade in their golden ticket for one of the prizes.
14.What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? The outcomes measures could be counting the amount of golden tickets they receive when the students trade them in for the prize.
15. How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? The only way the school would be able to tell it was effectively being taught to the students is by asking the students about the program.
16. How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? The administrators are obviously teaching the parents because it was printed in the school newspaper that students take home or is sent to the home.
17.How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?The only way this could be effectively taught is if the teachers present this program at board meetings and teacher meetings. Also, it would help if the principals in the district got together to discuss the program.
18. Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? There could be some students that would never follow through or have no interest in the program especially if the teacher does not stress the program in the classroom.
19.What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? Problems that occur sometimes in the token economies are when the reinforcers are satiated.
20.What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
(What is the percentage of students in one classroom that get a golden ticket?)
21.What additional information might you want to know about the system? I would want to know after a full year of pursuing this program how many students actually got the prize they wanted or if only the same students got the golden ticket each month.
1) What is the program?
The Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C program is a program designed to encourage students to demonstrate the pillar characteristics of the school. These pillars consist of being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring (TRRC). The kids will receive one purple ticket for each time they are seen demonstrating one of these acts. After the students have ten purple tickets they cantrade them in for one golden tickt which they can use for leisure activities such as sonic ce cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal or lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian.
2) How did it come about?
This concept came about because the Waterloo School District is trying to encourage children to give off a positive behavior around the school district.
3) What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
They are trying to elicit a positive behavior amongst students, in particular the T.R.C.C program.
4) What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
The specific target behavior that they would want children to emit would be the trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring behaviors. These different target behaviors can be done really at any point during the school day.
5) Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system is based on positive reinforcement. The reason why this would be is because it is adding something to the equation that will result in a higher frequency of the target behaviors.
6) What are the tokens used in this economy?
The tokens used in this economy are called purple and gold tickets. The purple tickets, to me, would resemble pocket change. Whereas the golden tickets would resemble dollar bills. The reason I say this is because you have to build up 10 purple tickets before you can get 1 golden ticket, which is the one that's actually worth something.
7) What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
A benefit with these are that they are simple for kids to understand. It's not too complicated, just two forms of token and 10 will equal 1 of the other. The downside of this is that some kids may not find value with a purple or gold certificate or they may not like what the certificates can get them. If this is the case the kids just wouldn't care about the T.R.R.C anyway.
8) What is the delivery system?
The delivery system for the purple and gold certificates is that if a faculty member sees you demonstrating one of the pillars of the T.R.R.C then you will get a certificate.
9) What are the pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
A pro of the delivery system is that the adults are neutral and it would be fair for all kids to have chance at a certificate, so no bias. The con of this would be that some kids may have reasons why they wouldn't have the same odds as other kids, i.e handicapped kids. It could be difficult for handicapped kids to help someone out on the playground of they have certain restrictions that other kids do not.
10) How are the tokens banked?
The tokens are banked by cashing in ten purple certificates and receiving one gold in in exchange.
11) What are the pro's and con's?
The pros of the banking system would be that it's pretty easy for elementary kids to count to 10 and know that it's time for a gold one. The con's of the situation would be that some kids may receive their certificates but may be unorganized by nature and have a way of losing them. A good way to fix this would just be for the teachers to keep ahold of them and maybe log how many each kid has in case they lose them.
12) What are the backup reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
The backup reinforcers can include ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with a teacher and principal, custodial help, things of that nature. You would think that the backup reinforcers were decided on by the faculty or a survey was taken by the students to see what would best stimulate them to participate in the T.R.R.C.
13) Are they effective reinforcers?
It really would depend on the student and their interests. For the most part I would think that elementary school kids would really enjoy these different reinforcers.
14) How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
The students have to collect the purple certificates and once they have ten then they may get one golden certifcate which they may choose their reinforcer after this prerequisiite has been satisfied.
15) What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is working?
The best way that the administrators would know that this would be working would be to just check the rate of children getting in trouble with their teachers and the principal. If this level is on the decrease then their system is working.
16) How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
The administrators have obviously been teaching the students about the new system better than they are teaching the parents because the students know about it before the parents do. According to the newsletter the administrators are trying to answer the parents questions about why their children are talking about purple and gold certificates.
17) How effectively have the administrator taught the other teachers about the system?
You would think that the administrator would have taught the teachers first because if they didn't then the whole token economy would collapse. The reason I say this is because if no one were giving out the certificates then the thing would be virtually non-existent.
18) Is there a possibility that not everyone will buy in with the system? What are some problems known to token economies that may be a problem here?
There seems to always be that risk in a token economy.There will probably always be that person that doesn't want to do work in order to getthe reinforcement, or they may want to do it a different way and just not participate altogether.
19) What are some questions you might have for administrators about this system?
Why not do more activities? Why not have more materialistic goods? Why would anyone do a good act and want to be rewarded by helping the janitor clean, what kind of reinforcement is that?
20) What additional information might you want to knw about the system?
Since this system was from the school year of 2009-2010 I would want to know how their system worked out for that schoolyear and if they chose to continue it into this school year.
What is this program?
This program is basically a program to improve the character of students by giving them tokens to eventually get rewards.
How did it come about?
It was initiated by the Waterloo school district. My assumption is that there were some aversive behaviors being emitted and they needed some way to reinforce the positive behaviors.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
They are trying to elicit the behaviors of being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
They would maybe want a student to open the door for a friend when they’re around, help a friend with a homework problem when they need it, walking in the hallway, being nice to others at recess and to other students and adults, listening to the teacher when she is talking, or many other specific behaviors that have the traits listed above. The list could go on and on.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system is based on reinforcement because instead of punishing children for their bad behaviors, they instead reinforce the children who do the good behaviors. This makes those children who have emitted negative behaviors want to switch sides and become part of the token economy. They want to receive those tokens so they can get prizes and positive attention as well. Therefore, it is positive reinforcement because it is adding something positive to the situation rather than taking it away. It makes the children want to act respectful, responsible, trustworthy, and caring so that they can receive these rewards.
What are the tokens used in this program? What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
The tokens used in this program are purple tickets. Once a student gets 10 purple tickets they may then receive a GOLDEN ticket, which they save and trade in for various prizes later as reinforcements. Pros about these tokens are that they are part of a concrete system so that there really are no ways this can be mistaken. 10 tickets are always 10 tickets and there’s nothing you can do to change it. They are also the same for everybody, so nobody is getting more than anybody else. A con about these tickets is that they are probably made of paper so they can be easily lost or ripped. Especially if they’re in the hands of children, these things might happen and there would be no way of knowing if the child should be reimbursed for the ones lost or not. The students may also emit a negative spending behavior of these tickets. They might spend them on one thing and then realize that they really wanted something else. This might make them upset, even though it really shouldn’t. You never know how children are going to react to something, even when they are in control of it.
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is that when the teachers see a child emitting a good behavior that shows one of the four characteristics listed above, they hand out these tickets. The children then exchange their tickets for a prize when they have enough of the golden tickets.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
One con of this system is that a child’s behaviors may go unnoticed in the system. This could make a child upset and maybe believe that he is not doing something correctly. This may alter his behavior and create a negative attitude about this system overall. I’d say this is a large negative aspect of the system. It might also occur that the children only emit good behaviors when they know they are being watched. This kind of defeats the purpose of the program when really the children may be being nasty behind the teachers’ backs. Also, some students might not be seen as much as others or may emit positive behaviors behind the scenes. A pro of this system is that a child will hopefully catch on to emitting good behaviors and do them all of the time, even when the teachers are not looking.
How are the tokens banked? What are the pro's and con's?
After ten purple tickets, the students may then bank their ten tickets to get a golden ticket. They may then take whatever golden tickets they have saved up to the teacher and cash them in for a bigger prize. As discussed above, cons could include that the students might spend their golden tickets right away, or they may not like the choices of the reinforcements. I think there are more pros with this because they have many reinforcers to choose from and it seems to be a great system overall.
What are the back up reinforcers? How are these chosen? Are they effective reinforcers?
These would include ice cream cones, extra recess, popcorn, lunch with the principle and a teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. These may have been chosen by guessing what the students would like the most. They may also have been chosen by the teachers by observing behaviors that hinted that these things would be the best choices. I believe these are very effective reinforcers at least from my standpoint. When I work studied at the elementary school I saw children who found enjoyment from all of these things. They love the attention of getting to spend time one on one with a teacher or the custodian. And what kid doesn’t love ice cream and popcorn? With this many choices as reinforcers as well there has to be something there that will reinforce each one of the children. Therefore I believe they are very effective.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
An outcome of this would be that there would be increased positive behavior in the hallways and therefore there would most likely be fewer aversive behaviors in the school system as well. Children may be showing more traits of being respectful, responsible, trustworthy, and caring as well.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
We can’t really see how well the students are being taught the system but by printing it in the bulletin it shows that the parents and other teachers are being educated, maybe a little late however.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
The teachers, even though they should all be in the system since they are part of the school system, may not all be on board with this system. If they don’t agree with it, they might not take part in it and the students would miss out on this opportunity to increase their positive characteristics. Some students may not take part in this as well and may decide not to be part of the system, especially if they don’t find any of the ending prizes very reinforcing.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
If some of the students are emitting these good behaviors constantly, they may get satiated. They could use up all of the reinforcements and would therefore have nothing to look forward to. Some students might have too much pride to take part in this if they are proud of their negative behaviors so this would not work as well.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? What additional information might you want to know about the system?
Do they make sure everyone gets a ticket at some point so nobody feels missed or left out? Do they have multiple teachers watching for these good behaviors? Do they change the reinforcements every so often so no child gets satiated? I would also want to know the outcome of the token economy after a year, two years, and so on. I’d want to know if there was an overall change in the school and if there was a large change in the individual students as well.
What is this program?
It is simply a program that is designed to reinforce good behaviors from children such as politeness and honesty.
How did it come about? It is a part of the Positive Behavior Intervention System that has been implemented in Waterloo Community Schools
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
They are trying to elicit the students to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
It talks about how they want the children to raise their hand to be called upon or be honest when asked a question
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
This system uses reinforcement to change behaviors
Is it positive or negative?
Its positive because theyre adding something pleasureable when the target behavior is emitted
What are the tokens used in this program?
Purple paws is associated with the mascot, panther can be then traded for for a golden ticket which in turn can be used as a voucher for different types of reinforcers such as ice cream or a longer recess.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
As stated, there is no expiration date so students can save them up and potentially have a recess lasting all day in theory or get ice cream every day. Basically there arent enough limitations.
What is the delivery system?
Apparently, staff can give the purple paw tokens to students at any time when they see a student emitting a desired behavior
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
If the students know which staff member has the tokens, they can fake a behavior in order to receive tokens.
How are the tokens banked?
It wasnt specified. It doesnt appear that the teacher keeps a sufficient record of who has tokens or how many each student has.
What are the pro's and con's?
Using reinforcement as opposed to punishment in a school environment is always good but this system is pretty flawed at this point. The parents may not want the child to have access to ice cream or getting out of class and theyre also just not being informed enough in general about the purple paw tokens.
What are the back up reinforcers?
Again, this wasnt stated, but it is assumed that they are activities that children within the age group would enjoy, thus making them reinforcing.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
They were chosen based on how well the children responded to them.
Are they effective reinforcers?
Yes, if the students find them to be pleasurable activities, then they are reinforcing as long as used correctly in the system.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
They turn in the tokens for a golden ticket which is used as a voucher for the reinforcer.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
They keep track of which reinforcers are chosen the most in order to make it more effective in the future.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
It is unknown how effective they are at teaching the students, so the only way to truly find out is to view the students behavior in regards to the puple paw tokens
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
Not very well. It appears that the school is not letting the parents know about many details of this system.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
I would imagine the teachers have been at least somewhat informed about the system since they are the ones who work with the students on a daily basis. Again, the particulars may be unknown.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
Of course. Some students dont appear to care about material rewards so their behavior would change minimally. Also, if a teacher isnt on board with the system then their students probably wouldnt get very interested in it either.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
While they do a good job of outlining the target behavior, they make it too easy to obtain the rewards. Raising ones hand three times in a week would get them a longer recess three times or three ice cream cones. They should probably use smaller individual rewards or require more purple paw tokens to exchange for a golden ticket.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
"What is the most popular reinforcer for each age group?"
"What is the most common means of obtaining tokens?"
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
"Are the students behaviors actually improving, in and outside of school?"
1. What is this program?
The Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C program is where students are encouraged to demonstrate the pillar characteristics of the school. These characteristics are trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. Once a child demonstrates this they will receive a purple ticket. Once they get ten purple tickets they can then trade those in for a gold ticket. Once they have a gold ticket they can trade that in for a prize.
2. How did it come about?
The Waterloo School District is trying to get good behavior out of its students so it created the program.
3. What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
They are trying to elicit good behavior in the students.
4. What would be some specific target behaviors that they might want the children to emit?
The target behaviors that they want the children to emit is the T.R.R.C. Trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring.
5. Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
This system is based on reinforcement by giving out the purple tickets.
6. What are the tokens used in this economy?
The tokens used in this economy are gold and purple tickets. These tokens resemble money.
7. What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
A pro of using these tokens can be implementing good behavior. A con of using these tokens is having false good behavior. Kids will learn that they can loosely act in a good manner just to receive tokens.
8. What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is that if faculty see a student demonstrating one of the T.R.R.C's then they will reward them with a purple or gold ticket.
9. What are the pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
A pro of the delivery system is that the teachers delivering the tickets should have no bias. The con can be on the other hand that an adult may know a child well. Also, there are not enough teachers to oversee the good deeds of the students at all times.
10. How are the tokens banked?
The tokens are banked by giving ten purple tickets then trading those in for one gold ticket.
11. What are the pro's and con's?
The pro's of this is that it can teach young children responsibility concering their money in the future. The con is that children tend to lose things and therefore would lose their tickets.
12. What are the back up reinforcers? How were these chosen?
The backup reinforcers are things such as popcorn, lunch with a teacher, ice cream, extra recess...It would be wise to say that these were chosen by faculty.
13. Are they effective reinforcers?
These do seem like effective reinforcers. It would all depend on the students interests.
14. How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
The student will choose a prize after they have collected ten purple tickets and turned those in for one gold ticket.
15. What are some of the outcome measures so that the administration know the system is working?
The best way for the administration to know if this is working is ask various faculty and staff about the progress the children have made. They should also ask how often the children have been getting into trouble since the program has been implemented.
16. How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? How effectively are the administrators teaching parents about the system?
The administrators are doing a good job of teaching the students about the program because they are the ones mainly involved. As for teaching the parents about it, they really havn't. The newsletter has a column telling parents why their children have the purple and gold tickets.
17. How effectively has the administation taught the teachers about the program?
I feel that they have effectively taught the teachers about this program otherwise the program wouldn't work.
18. Is there a possibility that not everyone will buy in with the system? What are some problems known to token economies that may be a problem here?
In societies token economy which is money, not everyone wishes to work for money. You can relate that here. Not evey kid will want to work for a purple ticket.
19. What are some questions you might have for the administration about the system?
I would ask about helping the custodian. That's why we have child labor laws. Specifically so that children aren't cleaning their own school that they attend. I would also ask about having lunch with the teacher or principle. Children need to have lunch with people their own age and learn to interact with other people.
20. What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would have liked to know if the system was effective and if they are still implementing the system now.
What is this program?
The program that is implemented here is at Poyner Elementary school. The school has decided to use a token economy to reward the children for their good behaviors in and outside of the classroom. Teachers and faculty watch for good behaviors of trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility and caring. When spotted, these behaviors are rewarded by giving a purple ticket, when they reach 10 of these tickets they can trade them in for a reinforcer such as extra recess.
How did it come about?
This program started when the Waterloo School District started a Positive Behavior Intervention Program. This program focuses on T.R.R.C (trustworthy, respect, responsibility, caring).
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The functional behaviors that are being elicited by the children are the good behaviors of trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility and caring. These behaviors will then elicit a pleasurable response from everyone involved, including, teachers, students, family and peers.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Specific examples of target behaviors they want the children to emit are telling the truth, helping others pick up dropped books, making sure homework is turned in on time, and being respectful to teachers when they talk.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
This system is an example of positive reinforcement. The students are being rewarded for their positive behaviors.
What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens used are purple and gold tickets. Good behaviors in any school setting elicit the receiving of a purple ticket. Once any student receives ten of these purple tickets, they receive a gold ticket that can be turned in for a reinforcer.
What might be some pros and cons associated with using these tokens?
Pros; students learn to responsibility and feel better about themselves. While emiting these positive behaviors, children can make their peers’ lives better by being caring towards one another. This could prevent bullying as well. Cons; this could become competitive among students which would be a good thing as long as it doesn’t go too far. The students could become jealous of students who get more tickets. It would be hard to see every student’s actions every minute of the day and therefore the tickets may not be distributed fairly.
What is the delivery system?
Teachers and faculty administer the tickets to the students once they see a positive behavior occur.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
Pros of this delivery system are that the teachers are constantly around the teachers and this system will teach them to have respect for their teachers. Cons could be that the students are only emiting these behaviors when the teachers are around.
How are the tokens banked? What are the pro's and con's?
Every time a student receives ten purple tickets they turn it in for a gold ticket, which is then turned in for a prize. The tickets can be saved and used whenever they please. The pros of this system is that they have to receive more than one tickets to earn the prize. If for every good behavior they received a reward they would become satiated and not try as hard to emit the target behaviors. This would cause the students to actually pay attention to the target behaviors and not just focus on the prizes. A con of this banking system could be that the tickets are lost or that the students are trading with each other which would not be teaching them a lesson.
What are the back up reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
The children get prizes such as extra recess and special time with faculty as well. These were chosen because these prizes are reinforcing to children.
Are they effective reinforcers? How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
I would say these are effective reinforcers because they are all things that are usually desired by children and there are diverse choices. The students must save up their tickets to gain access to the reinforcers.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? The faculty could send out a survey to ask the children how they like the system. Asking if they like the prizes or not would be a good way to tell if that is the reason some students aren’t participating. They could also keep track of who is getting the tickets and who isn’t.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I’m sure the teachers are teaching the students about this system if they are receiving tickets and turning them in for prizes etc. From the newsletter it is hard to tell exactly.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
It could be that this newletter is the only way parents are finding out about the system. It would be hard to talk to every single parent about the stipulations of this token economy. I believe that the children are most likely informing their parents of this system more than the administrators.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
I believe all the teachers have to know about the system. It would be beneficial however for them to really talk about what constitutes are target behavior however. Some teachers may be more strict with giving out tickets than other which could cause a big difference in how the students react to the system
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
I believe some students may think it isn’t “cool” to try and get these tickets which could bring others down who actually want to do this. Some teachers may not want to waste their time with this system because it could take away from time spent elsewhere in their classrooms.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
Satiation could potentially be a problem. If it is too easy for students to get tickets it may not be rewarding anymore. The newness of the system may also wear off after awhile and no longer entice the children. Children could be made fun of for participating in this and therefore not want to earn the tickets.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? I would ask how they plan to administer these tickets fairly to all the students. I would also ask how they plan to change up the system if it does not work as planned.
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would want to know how long this system would be in place (how many grade levels will it reach). It would also be beneficial to know what the procedure is for lost tickets. (I believe that keeping track of your tickets is part of being responsible however, which is what they are trying to teach). I would also want to know if there is a limit on the tickets, because if students earn too many they will no longer want to participate. One student having an extreme amount of tickets may discourage others students.
What is the program?
The program is called the poyner purple token program on T.R.R.C . The initials stand for trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and careness that reinforces children for behaviors emitted in the school. The program is based on a token system where kids get poyner purple tokens and for every 10 they receive they get a golden ticket which in return grants them special prizes.
How did it come about?
The Waterloo school system tried to implement a new positive behavior intervention system in the poyner school.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit.
This system is based upon positive reinforcement to increase the desired behavior of the students. The token system is used in the school to elicit the positive reinforcement schedule.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
The Poyner school system would like the children to emit a behavior of trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility, and careness to improve children’s productivity and morals. This is an example of positive reinforcement and is meant to increase the frequency.
What are tokens used for in this program?
Tokens are used to acquire prizes such as more computer time, lunch with a teacher or principal, extra recess, and a variety of other things with the accumulation of golden tickets. Backup reinforcers are chosen for things that would make a kid happy such as extra recess or fun games. To determine if they are good positive reinforcers the teachers could conduct research to see what the students use their golden tickets the most and can make alterations to keep interest. They left out a lot of information to the parents which may cause problems such as how it is organized. The behaviors to get reinforced are also unclear to parents and teachers which could cause problems.
After reading the articles on token economies and Poyner’s token economy I can effectively now answer the questions. Poyner Elementary has put into place a token economy based on students emitting positive behaviors. These positive behaviors are being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring; this is also known at TRRC (“Track”). It originated from the Positive behavior and intervention system in Waterloo.
Behaviors that they are trying to get students to emit probably range from holding doors open or being honest when asked about something. These behaviors seem to be up to the teachers to decide on case by case bases. This system is based solely on positive reinforcement and there are no consequences for not taking part in TRRC. In this token economy purple and gold tickets are used until they are redeemed for a reinforcer. The pros of this token are that they won’t hurt the children if they are misused and they are cheap and easy to give out. The main problem of these token is children are likely to lose their tokens. This could be seriously detrimental to the token economy because the children would lose interest in the token economy if they kept losing the reinforcer.
The delivery system is the teachers giving out the tokens. This system is easy and straightforward but the problem is teachers could miss opportunities to give the tokens out because they don’t notice the behavior. Also different teachers could be reinforcing the same action if more than one teacher noticed it. I don’t think that the tokens are very effective because of their mundane nature and I feel that student will quickly lose interest in them as a reinforcer. The backup reinforcers were chosen by the teachers and faculty of the school and they are somewhat effective reinforcers. Some of them such as eating with the principal are not good reinforcers because in our society seeing the principal is a punishment and that is not something students would want to work towards.
I think that the administrators need to emit more teaching about the economy to all persons involved. The newsletter to the parents is vague and leaves you with an idea of what is going on but not really and students will probably only know doing good gets them stuff but that isn’t the goal of token economies. I would like to ask the administrators why they chose the reinforcers that they did and if any other tokens were looked at before they chose purple and gold tickets.
This program is a token economy program that is designed to help improve children’s behavior. It is set up through the school district and rewards children for displaying positive behavior. These children are then rewarded for their positive behavior. This program came about by having the school district be a part of a positive behavior interventions system, and they want to encourage this behavior in the schools. The behavioral classes that are being elicited are positive behaviors. These could include caring, good sportsmanship, and trustworthiness. Overall, the behaviors have a positive effect on others around them. Some target behaviors that the children could emit would be: sharing, helping others, and having a positive attitude. This system is based on reinforcement. It is positive reinforcement because the children are rewarded with panther paws when they display positive behavior, and then can redeem these for golden tickets which are good for numerous other prizes. Some pro’s of this system might be: students are more likely to display positive behavior, there will be less aversive behavior, students may start displaying this positive behavior more often outside of school, and the school system will run smoother without as many unneeded distractions (fights, arguing). Some con’s of this behavior might be: students feel discouraged if they do not earn tickets fast enough, some students may go against the system just because they can, and the prizes may run out quicker than expected if students are displaying a tremendous amount of positive behavior. The delivery system is that if students are caught displaying positive behavior, they are given a purple paw ticket. Once they receive ten of these they may redeem them for 1 golden ticket, which can be saved and redeemed for several different prizes. Some pro’s of this would be: the students feel driven to display positive behavior in order to earn as many tickets as possible, and the ticket system is a simple way of keeping track of each time a student is displaying positive behavior. Some cons may be: students may get discouraged if they are not getting tickets fast enough, or students may try to cheat and steal other student’s tickets since this is not necessarily monitored (doesn’t say). The backup reinforcers are the prizes that the students can choose from with their golden tickets (more recess time, ice cream cones, lunch with the principal and lead teacher). The leaders of the school district chose these backup reinforcers. I think these are very effective reinforcers since they are designed with the children’s age in mind and what these kids would want as a reinforcement for their positive behavior. The students gain access to these by having enough golden tickets and getting permission from the school leaders (teachers) who approve of their choice of prize. These reinforcers can be measured by tallying or marking how many times each one is chosen by each student. This way the teachers can see exactly how many prizes were given out of each different item. I think the teachers are effectively teaching it, but more information than just a newsletter is probably needed in order to effectively get the correct information across to both students and parents. A meeting at the school about this system could be very beneficial to everyone involved. I think there will always be people, whether students, parents, or teachers, who won’t buy in to this system. However, I think it will be a very limited number of individuals, therefore won’t be a very big issue. Some problems that may arise could be: not being organized with the tickets (handing out and/or redeeming them), people not getting the correct information needed to fully understand how the system works, students getting bored with the prizes, and overall the system just not being as effective as the administrators had hoped. I think I would ask the administrators how much money this is going to cost them, if they are going to keep track (and then release info) on how effective the system is over a certain period of time, and how they are going to continuously encourage students to participate in the system. I think I would also want to know how interested the students actually are in the system and if they took a survey to see how high the student interest was before the program as actually initiated.
This year the Waterloo School District has become a part of a district-wide initiative being a PBIS district meaning Positive Behavior Interventions System. At Poyner, they are implementing a new “token economy” that will encourage the students to demonstrate qualities such as being Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring. Everyone will be a part of Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C! At any time throughout the school day, students may earn a purple ticket for demonstrating one or more of these traits. When they get up to 10 purple tickets they can turn them in for a golden ticket. The golden ticket is then exchangeable for prizes such as a sonic ice cream cone, helping out the custiodian, extra recess, or a special lunch with the principal or main teacher. An example of a behavior that would be rewarded for caring would be a student emitting the behavior of letting another student borrow a pencil. A different scenario could be a student emitting the behavior of helping another student clean up after class, this would show responsibility.
This system is based on positive reinforcement. The students are given something pleasurable in return for emitting a desirable behavior. The reinforcements will encourage the students to increase the frequency of their positive behavior. The tokens used in this system are purple tickets. When the student receives 10, they can exchange it for a gold ticket which is what makes them eligible for the prizes. Some pro’s to this system: 1) The student’s finding it exciting to collect the purple so they can get the gold 2) being able to “spend” the tokens in the end. Some con’s to the system: 1) The tokens could be lost easily 2) They could become a distraction in school. The delivery system is basically that the student will receive a purple ticket immediately after emitting a desirable behavior. The antecedents however are very broad and could be anywhere in the school. Some pro’s to this system: 1) Keeps students’ behavior up throughout the whole day since they are eligible to be rewarded at all times 2) They will be conditioned to learn why they were reinforced immediately after emitting the behavior. Some cons to this system: 1) Jealousy amongst the students could occur. 2) Students may lose their ticket if it is given to them at a distracting time such as lunch or recess.
The tokens are banked in the main office where the student can exchange 10 purple tickets for one gold ticket and therefore can select a prize of their choice. Pros: 1) They get to chose what will make them happiest 2) Will teach them how to save and spend correctly. Cons: 1) Deciphering if all of the reinforcement prizes are worth the same or different amounts of tickets. And if different, deciding what is “worth” how much. There are all different kinds of options for the reinforcers such as; ice cream cone, extra recess, helping out the custodian, etc. These were chosen because they are activities or objects that the students enjoy and will find reinforcing to them. Whether or not the student chooses them will tell you if they are effective reinforcers. If the student didn’t enjoy doing a certain reinforcer, then they simply would avoid choosing that one. The office can keep a record of these things and at the end of month decide what is and is not effectively working as a reinforcer. The administration could also send out surveys to the classrooms and find out if the students like the system and the reinforcers. Students can gain access to the reinforcers when they have received 10 purple tickets (or one gold ticket).
I think the students will vaguely understand how the system works, but the administration could specify what behaviors they are looking to increase and why. Same goes for the administration informing the parents. Yeah the newsletter was nice but it wasn’t very in depth and was hard to find in the newsletter. As well as with the students, I think the administration needs to elaborate on their expectations and give reasons why the students need to make this change. I think the administration has been pretty vague with expectations that the teachers need to portray as well. All teachers will reward different behaviors if not further specified. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but still, the system could be a little better organized. Not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) are going to have a complete buy in with the system. The students and the parents will most likely really like this system. However, teachers may find it aversive. There are possibilities of this token economy causing huge distractions in the classroom. And as with anything in life, you can never please everyone. Token economies are a complex system that if not done carefully and properly can cause large problems. Some other potential problems with token economies is deciding on reinforcers that are pleasing to each student. Satiation and extinction are possible problems as well. Students may get bored of being rewarded for being “responsible” everyday and may become satiated. Also, if a student focuses on one behavior trait to be rewarded, extinction could occur with the other 4 traits. And lastly, there is always the issue of competition becoming to fierce. The administration needs to specify some questions of mine; How many tickets are each reinforcer prize worth? Can a ticket be taken away from a student emitting an aversive behavior? Is there an “expiration date” for the tokens? Can the reinforcers change? Is there a set amount of tickets a student is eligible to receive? And finally, I would like to know more about what specific examples of behaviors are wanted and may be rewarded. The administration also needs to make sure that teachers are equally rewarded the students. A specific behavior needs to be rewarded no matter who emits it. There are quite a few specificities that need to be defined but in general, it’s a good idea.
1) The token economy explained on this newsletter is called T.R.R.C. (Track). This token economy is being emitted at Poyner elementary school in Waterloo. 2) Since Poyner and the Waterloo School district as a whole are part of the Positive Behavior Interventions System District, the school claims to have the responsibility to elicit positive behaviors in their students. 3) The behaviors being elicited by the students are: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, and Caring. School faculty are trying to elicit behaviors demonstrating these traits my implementing a token economy which rewards students for emitting these behaviors. 4) The following are a few examples of target behaviors in which students could be reinforced for emitting: a) holding the door open for another student or teacher, b) picking up a piece of trash they see in the hallway, c) letting another students have a piece of notebook paper if they are out, or d)handing in homework on time. 5) The T.R.R.C. token economy is definitely based on reinforcement because the adults are trying to increase the frequency of this behavior and the students are receiving some kind of reward for emitting it. 6) The token economy is an example of positive reinforcement. Instead of taking something away when the desired behavior is emitted, the adults are giving the students something. 7) The tokens used in this program are purple paw tickets. When the students collect enough purple paw tickets they are able to trade them in for 1 Golden ticket which are then traded in for prizes. 8) The tokens are delivered when they are witnessed emitting trustworthy, responsible, respectful, or caring behavior. Tokens are only given out at school and only if the adult witnessed the student emit the desired behavior. 9) A con of this delivery system is that an adult must witness the students emitting the desired behavior. This might teach the children to only emit the desired behavior when an adult is around. If the student knows that there is no chance of an adult seeing them to the desired act then they may be less likely to emit the desired behavior. A pro is that the students can’t lie about emitting the desired behavior because the adult must witness it. 10) The newsletter doesn’t talk about how the tokens are banked. As far as I understand the students hold on to their purple tickets and once they have enough they can trade them in for 1 golden ticket. Perhaps since the students have to hold on to their tickets and emit a responsible act the reinforcer for responsibly holding on to their tickets is that they will get to receive a golden ticket if they don’t lose any purple tickets. 11) A con of this system is that the progress of the students is not publicly displayed. They article we read says that publicly displaying results can create competition among the students which may increase their frequency or motivation of eliciting the desired behavior. A pro to this system is that it does teach the child how to be responsible and hold on to their tickets. 12) The backup reinforcers for this token economy are prizes such as Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. 13) I’m not really sure how the back up reinforcers were chosen but my guess is that they are all things the adults thing the children would like. Maybe teachers have noticed the students’ enthusiasm for recess, therefore extra recess would be a privilege for them. And every kid loves ice cream or popcorn so there is a good chance these items would also reinforce the students. Students get to choose what prize they want when they have enough golden tickets therefore students will the pick the prizes they like the most. 14) I would guess these reinforcers are very effective for the students. The students are young and these items or activities are all things I thing a child would enjoy doing (except for helping the custodian, I don’t know why a student would want to do that). Also, these aren’t everyday privileges a students is given and when something desired doesn’t occur frequently the student will be even happier at receiving the desired privileges. 15) The reinforcers are distributed by the adults at school. When a student has collected enough golden tickets they can trade them in for prizes. You earn golden tickets by collecting 10 or more purple paw tickets, and you earn purple paw tickets by being caught demonstrating four character pillars throughout the day. 16) A way in which they can measure the effectiveness of the system is to count the amount of desired behaviors being emitted throughout the day. If each adult keeps track of how many paws they give out each day they could analyze whether or not the number of given paws is increasing or decreasing. If the adults had a better way of recording or banking the tokens this might make it easier. 17) The newsletter gives me no information on how well informed the children are about this program. My best guess is that they are pretty knowledgeable about it. 18) I would hope the teachers have been completely informed about the program since they are the ones implementing it and reinforcing the students. If the teachers don’t know what they are doing then the program will not work effectively. 19) My guess is that the newsletter is the only way in which this system has been communicated to the parent. I don’t think it is as important for the parents to know the nitty gritty details of the program so I’m going to say the parents are pretty well informed as long as they emit the behavior of reading this newsletter. 20) Token economies like any form of behavior modification process must be consistent when dealing out reinforcers. If the teachers are not consistent then the students might get confused on which behaviors they must emit. If a student emits a behavior and is not reinforced they may become discouraged and not participate in the program. There are so many kids it would be hard to catch all of the desired behavior and be fair to each student. 21) Some questions and additional information I would like to know have already been touched on earlier. I would like to know how the reinforcers are being banked, how well informed the teachers are about the program and how well the students understand the program. I would be interested to see if the program has been effective so far and how often teachers are giving out purple paws etc.
What is this program? This program is called TRRC and it stands for Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring. Whenever a child emits these behaviors they are reinforced with a purple ticket and when they collect 10 purple tickets they can trade them in for one golden ticket which will get them a prize.
This is an example of a token economy.
How did it come about? It came up through the waterloo school district and the PBIS which stands for Positive Behavior Interventions system.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? They are trying to elicit the children to show trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring behaviors.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit? Some examples would be: the children being trustworthy and not cheating on test, the students being caring and helping one another instead of picking on each other, the children being responsible and turning their homework in on time, the children being respectful of peers and teachers, but also of school property. Overall they are just trying to elicit some positive behaviors from the children.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? This system is based on reinforcement. The tickets are reinforcers of the children’s positive behavior.
Is it positive or negative? This system would be an example of positive reinforcement because they are giving the children tickets that will lead to prizes in order to increase the frequency of the positive behavior.
What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens in this program would be the tickets that the children can turn in for prizes.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? Pros: the children are being positively reinforced to emit positive behaviors and this increases the frequency of these behaviors. Cons: they could become a distraction and the children would be too worried about the tickets and not focusing on school. They could also cause fights between children.
What is the delivery system? This would be an immediate reinforcement delivery system.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? Pro: The kids would know exactly what they did in order to receive the positive reinforcement. Con: it may cause some distractions if they have to stop and give out tickets all the time.
How are the tokens banked? They get a purple ticket for ever positive act and when they get 10 purple tokens they turn them in for one golden ticket which can be turned in for a prize.
What are the pro's and con's? Pro: the students have to have a continuous positive behavior before they get the prize so they are not reinforced after just one positive behavior. Con: The students might need to be reinforced more often because they could get bored and off track when they have to get up to 10 tickets for a prize.
What are the back up reinforcers? They are such things like extra recess or a lunch with the principal.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen? They were chosen because they are things that the children find pleasurable.
Are they effective reinforcers? I think that they are effective reinforcers because they have different options so that there is at least one thing on the list of prizes that the children will find appealing.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? The children can access the reinforcers once they have 10 tickets for their positive behavior.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? By observing the children’s behaviors and watching to see if the children are starting to emit more positive behaviors.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? It doesn’t really say how well the teachers are teaching the students about the new system.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? I think that putting it in the newsletter is pretty effective because most parents read the newsletter to see what is going on at school because never really let their parents know about school.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system? I would hope the teachers would be well informed about the new system because they are the ones who are around the students all day. If the teachers aren’t well informed there won’t be a very good structure within the system.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? It depends on how they run the system because if they don’t really follow the structure then nobody is going to take it seriously and it won’t work in manipulating the children’s behavior.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? Like I said in the last question, if there isn’t a good structure to the system then it won’t be effective. Also in a school setting it could be disruptive to learning.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? Is there a limit to how many tickets a student can get? Are there any stipulations on the behaviors that earn a ticket?
What additional information might you want to know about the system? I would want to know how well the teacher and the students are following this system. I would also like to know if the teacher, students, and parents think this is an effective system.
The TRRC program is a positive reinforcement system being used to reinforce elementary school students eliciting trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring behavior classes. The system was brought about by the Waterloo School District. Some target behaviors that would fit into the trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring behavior classes could be picking up after yourself, telling the truth, completing your homework and turning it in on time, or helping a classmate understand a problem. The system is based on reinforcement. It is a system using positive reinforcement. In this case, target behaviors within the behavioral classes of trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, and caring are being reinforce with the token of a purple paw ticket. The pros of this token would be that they are cheap and easy to create and hand out. Some cons would be that they could be easily lost or stolen, especially by elementary school students. Also, assuming that these tickets are made of paper, they are easily destroyed as well. The tokens are delivered by faculty and staff at Ponyer Elementary. They can be delivered anywhere and at any time. The pros of this delivery system is that it is cheap and easy for the faculty to deliver tokens to students. Also, the token would be delivered directly after the target behavior is emitted, therefore directly reinforcing the behavior. Cons of this delivery system would be that the faculty and staff are not omniscient, and therefore will not be able to reinforce every target behavior emitted by every student in the school. Some students will not get reinforced for their behaviors simply because the faculty might not have seen it. There are actually two layers of back up reinforcers in this system. The first is a golden ticket which is received when the child collects 10 purple paw tickets. These golden tickets are then collected and traded in for prizes and special privileges such as Sonic ice cream, extra recess, extra computer time, or bags of popcorn. The newsletter does not mention how the back up reinforcers were chosen, but I would assume that it was the administrators of the school that picked which back up reinforcers would be used and how many golden tickets each requires. I think the reinforcers would be effective, especially the special privileges because children in this age are naturally competitive and eager to please. Students gain access to the back up reinforcers by emitting target behaviors in the trustworthy, caring, responsible, and respectful behavior classes. When these behaviors are emitted, the children are rewarded with a purple paw ticket. Once a child receives 10 purple paw tickets, he or she will receive a golden ticket. These golden tickets will be banked in order to receive the prizes and special privileges. One way the faculty could measure to see if the system is working would be to keep record of how many purple paw tickets they are giving out. This way, they would be able to see if the target behaviors are increasing or decreasing over time. I would not be able to say how effectively the administrators are teaching the teachers or students about the system since we only have the information the newsletter gives us, but I can see from the newsletter, which was sent to the parents, that the administrators are trying to educate the parents about the system, though I'm not sure it would be effective. The newsletter is obviously something sent either in the mail or with the child for the parents to read. However, I know (because my parents did this) that not all parents will read the newsletter or even receive it (if it is being sent home with the child). For the most part, the communication should be effective, but you can never know for sure. It is possible that teachers, students, and parents could not buy into the system. Teachers might find looking for these target behaviors to be arduous and might not think the venture worthwhile if they are not seeing direct results. The same can be true of parents. Children might not buy into the system because prosocial behaviors such as the ones targeted by this system, might not necessarily be popular behaviors. Also, token economies can be easily corrupted. Flimsy paper tokens can be easily lost or stolen and competition between elementary school children can breed jealously and tension between classmates that would be counterproductive to the goals of the token economy. Some addtional information I would want to know and some questions I would have for the administration would be: How was this system presented to the faculty at Ponyer? How was it presented to the students? How many golden tickets are needed to earn a prize or special privilege? Does the cost of these prizes vary? Do the teachers inform the students of which behavior they performed that earned them their tickets? Are the token amounts earned by each student posted publicly somewhere or is it private? Are the students responsible for banking their own tokens, or do the teacher keep track of them? I would also like to know if the teachers are keeping record of the amount of tokens they have given out and has it increased over time?
What is this program?
-T.R.R.C is a token economy system where children are rewarded for good behavior in school.
How did it come about?
-The Waterloo school district is making the inititave to become a Positive Behavior Intervention System district.
What are behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
-They are elicitating the chilren to emit the behaviors of being trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to elicit?
-Some specific behaviors may be listening to teachers, helping someone, following the rules...ect.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative?
-This system is based on positive reinforcement because they are adding something pleasureable to increase a behavior.
What are the tokens used in this program?
-The tokens are purple and gold tickets.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
-Some pros may be that these tickets would be fun for the children to collect and they get to trade them in later on for prizes. Some cons however may be that the children have a pretty good chance of losing these tickets before they have a chance to trade them in for a prize.
What is the delivery system?
-The students can recieve purple tickets anywhere in the school (classrooms, hallways, playground...) that are given by the staff after observing the child emitting one of the desired behaviors.
What are some pros and cons associated with the delivery system?
-Some pros are that it elicitates the children to emit these behaviors in all settings of the school. Some cons are that the staff may have favorite students or that there may be times where students emit behaviors that are not reinforced because a staff member is not present.
How are the tokens banked?
-The students recieve a purple ticket after they are observed emitting a desired behavior. After recieving 10 purple tickets they can trade them in for 1 gold ticket which they can trade in for a prize or reward.
What are the pros and cons?
-Some pros are that the children recieve prizes or special privleges. Some cons are that they have to recieve 10 purple tickets before they have a chance at a prize, which may be a bit much for children.
What are backup reinforcers? How were they chosen?
-The backup reinforcers are ice cream cones, extra recess, popcorn, lunch with the principle or lead teacher, extra computer time or helping the custodian. The were most likely chosen by the staff who may have asked the childrens opinion.
Are they effective?
-I believe they are because they are desirbable to children.
How do they gain access to these reinforcers?
-They gain these by first recieving 10 purple tickets that they trade in for 1 gold ticket and the gold tickets may be traded in for a prize.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
-Some ways to notice if this system is effective is if the teachers observe the students emitting more positive behavior than they did before and perhaps engaging in less negative behavior. They may be able to measure this by how many tickets they are giving out.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about this system? The parents? Teachers?
-They seemed to have explained this system to the students and are also sending out information about this system to the parents so that they can also help encourage the children. The teachers probably had a meeting about this learning what behaviors to look for.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
-Yes, some students may not be very interested or motivated enough by the reinforcers. Some teachers may not agree with this system and may not be very active in reinforcing.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
-The reinforcers may need to be changed and if the students are getting reinforced to often or little their interest may lessen quicker.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
-What are some target behaviors they are looking for?
-How often are the tickets given out?
-Do they plan on adding new reinforcers?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
-Is this system proving to work?
1. What is this program? TRRC, it stands for trustworthy, respectful, responsibile and caring. Each time a child is seen demonstrating these behaviors, they are rewarded with a purple paw.
2. How did it come about? The Waterloo school, Poyner is a PBIS system - Positive Behavior Intervention systems. They want kids to treat eachother with kindness.
3. What behavioral classes are they trying to elicit? They are trying to elicit an increase in frequency of a good behavior, opposed to a bad one. They are reinforcing the children for behaving well.
4. Specific target behaviors for the children to emit? To include all kids in play on the playground, to not gossip about other students, to complete homework on time, etc.
5. Reinforcement or Punishment based? This system is based on reinforcement, seeing as the children are reinforced with a purple paw for each good behavior. After they receive 10 purple paws, they get 1 golden ticket which is turned in for a prize.
6. Positive or Negative? This is a positive reinforcement. Each time a child is rewarded, they are going to increase the frequency of the behavior that's being rewarded.
7. What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens are the purple paws and then the golden tickets.
8. Pros and cons with using these tokens? Pros- the children are in the end, receiving a prize that they may enjoy. Con- Some kids are impatient and will want to be reinforced right away, not after they receive ten purple paws.
9. Delivery system? If a teacher sees a child emitting these behaviors, they are rewarded.
10. Pros and Cons of delivery system? Pro- teachers can include the lunch observers and janitors. Con- teachers aren't always everywhere to see the children emitting these behaviors.
11. How are the tokens banked? For every ten purple paws, the child gets to turn it in for one golden ticket. The golden tickets are then turned in for a prize.
12. Pros/Cons tokens banked? Pro- They get a prize in the end that they will enjoy. They have to work their way up to it, meaning they will start to unconsciously emit the behavior. Con- Some are impatient and want the prize immideately or it's not affective.
13. Back up reinforcers? This includes ice cream cones, eating with the principal, extra recess time, etc.
14. How were they chosen? The waterloo school board system decided what would be a good reward for positive behavior.
15. Are they effective reinforces? I believe that the extra recess is an effective one because recess tends to be the kids favorite time of the day. And possibly eating lunch with a teacher/principal but it depends on the student.
16. How do the students gain acccess to the reinforcers? The reinforces are admitted through the teachers/principal and rewarded to the students.
17. Outcome measures - effective system? By observing the children's behavior and rewarding/punishing them.
18. How are the teachers teaching the system to the students? It doesn't really mention how they are letting the students know, but I assume that it's mentioned in class and/or an assembly was held.
19. Effectively administers teaching the parents? By sending these newsletters home, it lets the parents know what is going on at school since sometimes the children decide to have selective hearing.
20. Administers teaching the teachers? It doesn't really mention, but I assume that the teachers are willing to reward the positive behaviors to decrease the frequency of aversive behaviors.
21. Possibility not everyone likes the system? Of course. Some teachers may see it as tidious work, some students might not care about eating lunch with the principal or extra recess and some parents might think that the administrators are wasting their time.
22. Problems with token economies? Sometimes rewards need to be reinforced more quickly, then waiting until they have 10 purple paws. they may need to make it 5 at first, then gradually work up to 10.
23. Some questions about the system?
- What made you guys decide to come up with this?
- Were there any other options?
- Are there any other rewards, say for the older students who wouldn't enjoy the ones mentioned?
24. What additional info. might you want to know about the system?
- How has it been working?
- Have you had to change some things?
• What is this program?
o The TRRC program is a behavioral initiative at a Waterloo community school. Their goal is to reward students who show positive behaviors while on school grounds with purple paw tickets. Once they have accumulated 10 purple paw tickets, the student then receives a golden ticket. The golden tickets are meant to be saved and used to gain prizes and rewards, such as extra time at recess and fun tasks around the school.
• How did it come about?
o The TRRC program came into action because the Waterloo School District is a PBIS District, which means Positive Behavior Interventions System.
• What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
o Some behavioral classes that the Poyner Panthers are trying to elicit from the students are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, and Caring. Overall, they want the students to behave in a considerate manner to all other students and staff members.
• What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
o A few target behaviors that the staff might be looking for the students to emit are: holding the door open for others, saying please and thank you, helping other students put their books away, helping to clean up the classroom, running errands for a teacher (and doing exactly what they asked the student to do), offering help to others when they need it, including everyone in recess games and activities, being fair to other students during activities, etc.
• Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
o This TRRC program relies heavily on reinforcement. No one is punished at the end of the day if they have not demonstrated these behaviors. Students are only rewarded and praised when they are seen emitting exemplary behaviors in which reflect TRRC.
• Is it positive or negative?
o This reinforcement system is positive. It is positive because the staff is adding the tickets, and ultimately adding prizes and rewards.
• What are the tokens used in this program?
o The tokens that Poyner chooses to implement are tickets. There are two types of tickets: purple paw tickets and golden tickets. Students initially gain purple paw tickets, and after gaining ten, they are worth one golden ticket.
• What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
o A few pros to using the tickets are that it is something tangible for the students to see and hold on to. I believe this is a motivator because children are competitive, and especially at school. The more tickets they accumulate and receive, the better they will feel and the more they will be able to show off to their parents and friends. These tickets are also a cheap and inexpensive way to keep track of student’s progress. They’re also practical and easy to hand out at any given time so that when a staff member witnesses a child emitting a positive behavior, they can quickly and easily reward them on the spot, which I think is much more effective then rewarding them later on in the day. Cons to the tickets might reside in the students themselves. Children can be sneaky… and when it comes to receiving prizes and rewards, I’m sure they are begging for more tickets. Some students might try to steal other tickets, or it could enable the kids to start trading tickets for other things they might want.
• What is the delivery system?
o The staff members at the school deal with the delivery system. They control who receives the ticket and when they receive it. Once they have witnessed a student emitting a positive behavior, they are rewarded with a purple paw ticket.
• What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
o A pro to this style of delivery is that an adult physically rewards the student. This in itself is a huge deal to a child. It is very reinforcing to receive a ticket from a teacher, especially amongst other fellow students. The child will feel special, and I believe when this happens he or she will be much more likely to repeat the behavior in the future. A con to this delivery system is that sometimes not every positive behavior will be rewarded. Unfortunately, not every child is under supervision at every moment. Sometimes positive behaviors will go unseen, and this can be upsetting to kids. “Why didn’t I get a ticket when I helped put away the toys when Alex did yesterday?” Sometimes they simply won’t understand why they haven’t been rewarded, which can create negative behavior, and therefore not reinforcing the TRRC program. Another con could be that students might start doing things too excessively around the teachers and staff members. The kids will quickly learn the behaviors that are and are not rewarded, which could cause problems. The teachers might become bombarded with students trying to emit positive behaviors all at once, and that can prove to be overwhelming.
• How are the tokens banked?
o In this program, the purple paw tickets are handed in once the student has acquired ten, and then they are given one golden ticket in return. I’m assuming they either let the students be responsible for keeping to tickets, or that there is something at the school where they can store their tickets.
• What are the pro's and con's?
o Pros are that it’s something for the student to hold on to and visually keep track of and that they must receive ten purple paw tickets before receiving the golden ticket. This way it makes the golden tickets more valuable to the children. And, once again, a con might be that the tickets could possibly be stolen or lost before they earn a golden ticket.
• What are the back up reinforcers?
o Listed in the bulletin, they name over several example of what the student might receive in exchange for a golden ticket. A student could have more time a recess, yummy food that’s not good for you (aka: candy and popcorn… ha!), having the opportunity to eat lunch with the principle and lead teacher, having extra computer time, and receiving fun little jobs to help other staff members, like custodians and cooks, during the day.
• How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
o I’m sure the school administration and recognized what students like and dislike doing. Obviously students want rewards that are pleasurable to them, which is pretty much narrowed down to food, extra time doing fun things other than being in class, and getting more time with the teachers and other staff members.
• Are they effective reinforcers?
o I believe these rewards and very reinforcing. Small things that set them apart from the other classmates easily reinforce most kids. They want to feel special, they want to receive pleasurable rewards… And that’s what Poyner is doing!
• How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
o The children gain access to these reinforcers my emitting ten positive and notable behaviors while in the presence of staff members. Once they have successfully emitted these behaviors and gained recognition, these ten notable behaviors are equivalent to a reinforcer of their choice (or maybe not their choice… not sure on that one).
• What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
o I think the best thing the school can to make sure the system is effective is by communication with teachers and staff, students and parents. When they can gain feedback from others, it is easier to centralize what is and is not working in the program. They can possibly do this by sending home letters with students to give to their parents, sending out emails, discussing it in assemblies, staff meetings, and parent-teacher conferences.
• How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
o I can’t really say… I think it all depends on how they implement the system at the school and in the classroom. I don’t know what has been said or taught to the student or if they even know what is specifically expected of them. As long as they have thoroughly explained to the students what they expect and what they are trying to elicit from the students, then I think it’s fair to say it is effective. Also, the teachers should explain exactly how the tickets work, what happens if someone is caught stealing other tickets, and what (EXACTLY) the students can receive in return for golden tickets. It is very important to be straight forward and direct with children so there is no wiggle room to bend the rules.
• How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
o I think they’re on the right track. It’s nice to see that they mentioned it in the school bulletin, but I think they need to include a bit more information regarding who they can contact with questions/comments/concerns. It would also be nice if the school send out an entire newsletter dedicated to explainig this system and how it works. This way, when the students emit positive behaviors at home, the parents can respond in an effective manner.
• How effectively have the administrators taught the other teachers about the system?
o I can’t really tell from this newsletter, but I think that it is important for teachers to be on the same level of understanding when it comes to what behavior they can and cannot reward. Consistency is ultimately the key in this system.
• Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
o Yes, I believe so. I’m sure it is hard on everyone. For the students… they are striving for attention and rewards. The teachers… they are trying to not be bombarded with students and also trying to be levelheaded and fair to each child. The parents… they might have to deal with their child being upset or angry with the possible outcomes of this system. It might also be hard for the parents to grasp to concept, or they might not agree to the rewards their child might receive.
• What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
o One major problem I can possibly see is inconsistency. With the delivery system only being administered by teachers, some students’ behaviors can easily be overseen. This can quickly discourage students and cause major problems. Another problem might be token hoarding. The student is ultimately in control of his or her tokens, and they can do what they please with them. They could possibly hold on to them for as long as they want, and then get multiple golden tickets.
• What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? What additional information might you want to know about the system?
o Oh, plenty! I have so many questions, but mainly I would like to know about how much time they’ve spent on explaining the rules and regulations of this system. I want to know if the students clearly understand the guidelines of what they can and cannot do in TRRC. I hope that the school has set forth and clear and specific outline for this, so that all students, staff member and parents can be consistent and fair.
What is this program?
The program being elicited by the school system is called the Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C. The T.R.R.C is pronounced “track” and refers to the pillars of Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, & Caring. The program is a way that the school positively reinforces children for achieving these pillars. In other words, the program is intended to encourage students to emit good behavior by giving them “tokens” of purple paper slips as a reward for doing the desired character behaviors. The tokens add up to equal a golden ticket when 10 purple slips are accumulated. (The purple slips turning into gold slips may be intended to prevent satiation.) If a student emits the behavior of trading their purple slips for a gold one, they can trade there gold one in for a prize.
How did it come about?
Something called a PBIS or Positive Behavior Intervention System is being applied to the Waterloo school district to encourage good character. The T.R.R.C. program is part of a district-wide initiative to help keep students on track with good behavior.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
Functionally-the program is intended to improve the character of the students and to achieve the desired good behavior.
Topographically-the behavior being rewarded can vary significantly because the behaviors are not clearly defined as anything other than “good” or being something that displays trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility, and caring. Also, the topography of the award could change to include something like a purple square or circle rather than a slip of paper. It could also change to a purple star or other type of token reward. The point is that it is an award that adds together to get another award worth ten of the smaller ones. The bigger tokens are what are actually used to receive the prize. Topographically, many things could change between the award and the actions displayed to receive the token awarded.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
The target behaviors in this case actually have 4 parts so it’s a little harder to be specific.
-Trustworthy-The child might correctly report his grades or possibly do a good job with taking his forms home to his parents. Another target behavior of trustworthiness could be that if the child takes a pass out of the class room they go where they said they were going and came straight back.
-Respectful-If another child is having difficulties with something they don’t make fun of them, but rather they could help them. It could also be as simple as saying “please” or “thank you”.
-Responsible- Getting their homework done by the due date and bringing in all papers when needed.
-Caring- asking others how their day is or holding the door for someone else when their hands are full. It could also be standing up for another student or helping someone pick of their stuff if they drop it.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
The system is clearly based on reinforcement as it increases the frequency of a desired action which is encouraged through the reward of purple token slips and golden tickets that ultimately lead to an even bigger reward for a desired behavior.
Is it positive or negative?
Something desirable or pleasurable is added making it positive reinforcement.
What are the tokens used in this program?
The purple slips of paper are the tokens given every time a student elicits a desired behavior. The students can collect the purple paw slips until they have 10. When they accumulate 10 purple paw slip tokens they may exchange them for a bigger token that is a golden ticket. The golden ticket is what they may use to get their reward/prize for their good behavior. The golden ticket and reception of the prize is there reinforcer. The tokens=purple paw tickets and golden ticket.
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
Some pros include: encouraging the emitting of good behavior and character, learning how to earn and collect tokens-similarly to money, the tokens make desired actions part of a game, tokens are fun and they lead to rewards.
Some cons include: being good may become competitive, could lead to fights over who “behaves better” or has more tokens, trading and stealing of tokens could occur, someone may be well behaved, but disorganized and lose their tokens leading to frustration and sadness, the tokens could cause class room distractions, it could be a pain to elicit a cutting behavior while making all of the tokens/be time consuming.
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is the teacher or supervisor directly and immediately reinforces the behavior by handing the student a purple paw ticket. The antecedent to receiving an award is practically any place while at/attending school. Of course, there are stipulations to receiving or delivering the purple paw print tickets, they are delivered after a desirable behavior occurs (conditions change slightly as they add up).
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
Some pro’s are: it is clear why a child is being reinforced, having a token reward right away helps clarify what behaviors are good/desired, little time passes between the behavior and receiving the token.
Some cons are: the children not being rewarded may become jealous and act aversively to get attention, the tokens could distract the students in a learning/classroom atmosphere, not all desirable behaviors are seen or rewarded-some actions go unnoticed.
How are the tokens banked?
The tokens/purple paw prints are traded for a golden ticket which then may be cashed in or banked away for a choice of various rewards such as: extra recess, popcorn, ice cream, lunch with a teacher or principal, and more.
What are the pro's and con's?
Some pros are: people are able to calculate how close they are to being rewarded, is good for teaching students addition, subtraction, and saving/investing, it is something physical that students can hold on to in terms of reward for their behavior.
Some cons are: some kids may find the paw prints more valuable than others, some people may not like any of the rewards so they don’t care to participate, someone could lose their tokens or get confused about how to bank them.
What are the backup reinforcers?
The backup reinforcers after the purple paw prints are the golden tickets and the other rewards like popcorn, ice cream, lunch with the teacher, etc.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
The may be things that the students voted on that they wanted. At any rate they are pleasurable things to the students that they want badly enough to elicit good behavior or the desired response to get the reward/reinforcer.
Are they effective reinforcers?
I would assume so. It could easily be recorded by taking stats of how many students participated and maybe even looking at the secondary prizes chosen. It could also be graphed.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
The emit the positive desired behavior to acquired the elicited tickets.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
The administrators could survey the children to find out if they enjoyed the tokens and the rewards. Common observations may also help to show the answer. It could also be recorded by the number of paw prints given out. If lots of prints are given out then it must be effective. They could compare positive behavior stats from before and after as well if the information is applicable.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
It all depends on the verbal communication between the administrators and students when the prints/tokens are given. Do they specifically tell the students why they are receiving the token?
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
I think that the news letter is a great and effective start, provided that the parents read the news letter and understand it.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
The target behaviors are not very specific so I feel that the project may lack some organization in terms of specific guidelines.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
Absolutely, this project creates more work for the teachers so they may find it more aversive.
What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
-It may be too complicated for the students
-The backup reinforcers or the tokens themselves might not be exciting enough of a reward
-extinction may occur if one teacher stops giving tokens for a while
-some student may keep there tokens and never trade them for the golden ticket.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
-How many tickets will they make
-is there punishment for doing an oppositional behavior?
-Is there a satiation point?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
I would like to know more about the children’s mental capacity, desire for rewards, and target behaviors.
Sorry my post is one minute late...I had difficulties loggin in that took me almost 10 minutes. I hope this will not cost me a deduction for late work...sorry again!
This program s administered by Poyner Elementary school to implement good behavior in not just the classroom, but all school settings such as recess, lunch and in the hallways. If students are seen showing any of the positive behavior in the T.R.R.C. they receive a purple ticket, and then when they have reached a goal of 10 they can trade them in to receive something positive such as extra recess time, or lunch with the principle
This program came about after the Waterloo School District decided to emit a Positive Behavior Intervention Program. The goal is for students to focus on 4 main things, T.R.R.C which is Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring. The Waterloo School district thought that this would increase good behavior.
Some of the functional behaviors that are being elicited are good behaviors such as being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. Emitting these good behaviors will then elicit a pleasurable response, and will then be awarded with different rewards.
Some of the specific target behaviors are ones I have already mentioned:
Trustworthy- EX: When you ask to go the restroom you actually do, and no go and for example meet a friend in the hallway
Respectful- EX: Don’t interrupt during class, and raise your hand and wait to be called on
Responsible- EX: Doing assignments and homework on time
Caring- EX: Helping another kid out if they are being bullied
This system would be an example of positive reinforcement, because the students are being rewarded for good and positive behavior. If they emit good behavior, they receive a reward.
What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens that are used in this program are “Tickets.” If you show good behavior in any type of school setting the student will receive a purple ticket. Once the student emits 10 good behaviors, and receives 10 tickets they will then get a golden ticket. This ticket will then be used for a reward or some type of price.
Some of the pros to using these tickets may be: Students will then feel better about themselves or feel good about themselves if they receive a ticket, the students may think this is fun, and the students can learn responsibility by taking care of the tickets they receive
Some of the cons to using tokens could be: the students may lose the tickets, or students may take it too far and students may steal other peoples tokens.
The delivery system is administered by teachers and other administration in the school. Once they see a student emitting a good behavior they are able to give them a ticket.
One of the pros to this may be that child tend to have good behavior or should have good behavior around administration and teaches, and this will make sure that they respect their administration, but one of the cons for this could be that the students may ONLY have good behavior with administration is around, but then when they are in an atmosphere will say just other children, they may not show any of the TRRC characteristics.
Once a student receives 10 of his or her purple tokens, they can “bank” them in for a GOLDEN ticket, which means they will receive a reward or price. The tokens can be saved, like in a bank, and used whenever the students want.
One of the things that I think is good about the tokens being banked is that the kids need to first receive 10 tickets, if the students only needed one to receive a price, then satiation could occur, but having 10 before you can receive a golden ticket can help with a student learn responsibility and possible how to work with money, or even count (if they are in the younger grades). Yet, one of the cons to this could be that the student may have a hard time keeping track of their tickets, or maybe other students would unfortunately steal their tickets.
I would say that the backup reinforcers are the rewards the children receive after turning in all their tickets. These would be things such as the ice cream, extra recess, and eating with the principle. These were chosen because they are all desired things for children.
I would say these are effective reinforcers because they are all things that are usually desired by children.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? There are a couple things that the teachers and administration could do to see if this program is effective. For one, they could just ask the children. Also, they could have all the children write down some type of reward that they would be interested in receiving, and then the children could vote on them. This would make sure majority of the children like the positive rewards they are receiving, which will act as a positive reinforcement.
I did not see much about how exactly administrators are teaching the students about the program. I do not think the children are reading this news letter, so hopefully their parents are informing them about the program as well. This could even be a program that can be administered in the household as well.
I also does not say how much the administrators are teaching the parents, but I think this news letter is a good start. I think another way the school could inform the parents is maybe have a PTA or parent meeting where they can come and listen about the program in depth, and learn how to possibly work this into home environment too.
Although the teachers all know what the target behaviors for the kids are they all may see them a little differently. I think the parents need to have a meeting to really understand what the desired behaviors entail. You could have a teacher that is pretty lenient and reward kids with every little thing they do, but you could also have another teacher that is extremely strict and sees things differently.
Yes, I think some of the teachers and administration may have some problems with the program because it may take away time for other things that need to be done in the classroom. Also, teachers may think it is a hassle, or may forget to reward certain behaviors.
1. Satiation could potentially be a problem. A student could be sick of getting the same rewards over and over
2. I think they need to decide if there is a set amount of tickets the children can get
3. Children could turn very competitive and some of the children could steal the tickets from others.
1. Are all teachers that are participating doing so because they have to or because they want to?
2. Max amount of tokens or ceiling that you can hit?
I’m on board w/the token economies, but if one is being put to use, every0ne should be on board w/the idea and everyone should be executing it in the same manner. I think that the school needs to inform the parents about the program in more depth. The news letter was helpful, but I think it does not justify what the school district is trying to do
The program is one developed by the Waterloo school district in order to elicit a certain response by children. It came from the PBIS program which reinforces positive behavior. This year they developed the TRRC program as a way to do just this in the Waterloo school district. The TRRC program is one that promotes trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring behavior. Some target behaviors the students might want to emit in order to take part in this program would be to help someone with their books, open doors for other students, help the teach out, participate in class, get their homework done, come to class prepared, help a friend that has fallen down on the playground, and many others. This system is based on positive reinforcement. When a student emits one of the above tasks or any other tasks that would fall under these categories then they will receive a purple token. Receiving a purple token should maintain that this behavior should increase. There are two different tokens used in this program. If a student emits a desired behavior they receive a purple token, as talked about above. If they get ten of these purple tokens then they get to receive a golden token. They can then trade the golden token for different prizes. They are only allowed to trade tokens for prizes if they have a gold token. The purple tokens cannot be exchanged for prizes, but must be built up. Some pros and cons associated with using tokens is that it can get the students to emit the desired behavior, thus changing their behavior to a more positive one. The cons may be that students may not always cooperate, especially if the prizes don’t seem worthwhile to them, and the prizes may become too costly for the school to use. The two tokens used in this example are purple and gold tokens. The pros to using these tokens is that students have to build up a certain amount of one color of token to receive a gold token and get prizes. The cons could be that maybe waiting to get the gold token takes too long for some students, or maybe one student gets one gold token and has 4 purple tokens when the program ends and doesn’t get any credit for having those four tokens. The delivery system goes as follows: the student emits a desired behavior, the teachers see this desired behavior and the student gets a purple token. If the student gets ten purple tokens they go in and exchange them for a gold one. The pros with this delivery system are that the student gets reinforced right away after emitting the behavior. The con would be that maybe the teacher doesn’t reinforce this behavior every time or to every student. This would make it difficult for the student to know whether to emit this behavior or not. The reinforcers are the tokens, but the objects the gold tokens can be exchanged for are the backup reinforcers. Some of the backup reinforcers listed were ice cream, popcorn, extra recess, lunch with a teacher, etc. Personally, I don’t think some of these would be great reinforcers seeing as I’m not sure many kids would want to eat lunch with a teacher instead of their friends. I also don’t think that some kids will feel some of these things are worth waiting ten tokens worth to get. I think the school could track how well this program is working by emitting the behavior of tracking how many purple tokens are handed out, or how many prizes are given out. They could also see if the number of students in detention or however they are corrected, is reduced in any way. I think that it is an alright program, but needs some tweaks such as better prizes for the students. I think the teachers could be educated more about it so that they are aware of the type of results that could happen if they favor certain students, or don’t hand out the tokens when pleasant behavior is emitted. I think that they did a poor job at letting the parents know as well considering they sent it in a news letter that many parents don’t get, and it is shoved into this tiny box at the end of the newsletter. This doesn’t make it seem like it is that big of a deal nor is it explaining the technical benefits to a token economy to the parents. Overall, this system could work if the school district had all of its staff correctly informed and parents as well.
The program is one developed by the Waterloo school district in order to elicit a certain response by children. It came from the PBIS program which reinforces positive behavior. This year they developed the TRRC program as a way to do just this in the Waterloo school district. The TRRC program is one that promotes trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring behavior. Some target behaviors the students might want to emit in order to take part in this program would be to help someone with their books, open doors for other students, help the teach out, participate in class, get their homework done, come to class prepared, help a friend that has fallen down on the playground, and many others. This system is based on positive reinforcement. When a student emits one of the above tasks or any other tasks that would fall under these categories then they will receive a purple token. Receiving a purple token should maintain that this behavior should increase. There are two different tokens used in this program. If a student emits a desired behavior they receive a purple token, as talked about above. If they get ten of these purple tokens then they get to receive a golden token. They can then trade the golden token for different prizes. They are only allowed to trade tokens for prizes if they have a gold token. The purple tokens cannot be exchanged for prizes, but must be built up. Some pros and cons associated with using tokens is that it can get the students to emit the desired behavior, thus changing their behavior to a more positive one. The cons may be that students may not always cooperate, especially if the prizes don’t seem worthwhile to them, and the prizes may become too costly for the school to use. The two tokens used in this example are purple and gold tokens. The pros to using these tokens is that students have to build up a certain amount of one color of token to receive a gold token and get prizes. The cons could be that maybe waiting to get the gold token takes too long for some students, or maybe one student gets one gold token and has 4 purple tokens when the program ends and doesn’t get any credit for having those four tokens. The delivery system goes as follows: the student emits a desired behavior, the teachers see this desired behavior and the student gets a purple token. If the student gets ten purple tokens they go in and exchange them for a gold one. The pros with this delivery system are that the student gets reinforced right away after emitting the behavior. The con would be that maybe the teacher doesn’t reinforce this behavior every time or to every student. This would make it difficult for the student to know whether to emit this behavior or not. The reinforcers are the tokens, but the objects the gold tokens can be exchanged for are the backup reinforcers. Some of the backup reinforcers listed were ice cream, popcorn, extra recess, lunch with a teacher, etc. Personally, I don’t think some of these would be great reinforcers seeing as I’m not sure many kids would want to eat lunch with a teacher instead of their friends. I also don’t think that some kids will feel some of these things are worth waiting ten tokens worth to get. I think the school could track how well this program is working by emitting the behavior of tracking how many purple tokens are handed out, or how many prizes are given out. They could also see if the number of students in detention or however they are corrected, is reduced in any way. I think that it is an alright program, but needs some tweaks such as better prizes for the students. I think the teachers could be educated more about it so that they are aware of the type of results that could happen if they favor certain students, or don’t hand out the tokens when pleasant behavior is emitted. I think that they did a poor job at letting the parents know as well considering they sent it in a news letter that many parents don’t get, and it is shoved into this tiny box at the end of the newsletter. This doesn’t make it seem like it is that big of a deal nor is it explaining the technical benefits to a token economy to the parents. Overall, this system could work if the school district had all of its staff correctly informed and parents as well.
What is this program? this program aims to elicit trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring behaviors in the children at this particular elementary school. They plan to elicit these behaviors by reinforcing the students with tickets every time they emit the desired behavior. They can then turn in 10 of these tickets for a golden ticket and they can do a special activity.
How did it come about? Participating in the Positive Behavior Interventions System
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? Attempting to elicit trustworthy, responsible, respectful, and caring types of behaviors. Essentially they are trying to elicit behaviors that are peaceful and helpful in nature.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit? Helping a classmate if he/she falls down on the playground, helping differently abled classmates go through the lunch line if they are having trouble,
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Reinforcement
Is it positive or negative? positive
What are the tokens used in this program? the tokens used as reinforcement
What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? They could be easily lost or torn,
What is the delivery system? When students are witnessed emitting a behavior that fits into the classes of trustworthy, responsible, respectful, or caring, they are rewarded immediately with a purple paw ticket.
What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? Pros: Cons: Unless the teacher keeps and keeps track of each individual students tickets accumulated, the tickets can be lost or even stolen if the students are in charge of keeping track of them.
How are the tokens banked? After a student emits a desired target behavior 10 times, thus receiving 10 purple paw tickets, they can turn these in for a gold ticket. With this they can trade it in for additional reinforcements such as movie popcorn, extra recess, or lunch with a teacher or the principal.
What are the pro's and con's?
What are the back up reinforcers? The gold ticket is the backup reinforcer to the purple paw tickets. Secondary to receiving praise and a ticket as reinforcement for emitting the desired target behavior, the students can exchange 10 of these purple tickets to do something special.
How were the backup reinforcers chosen? I’m assuming a trial of this type of system was implemented to try and see what kind of backup reinforcers were most effective in eliciting the desired target behaviors.
How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? By emitting the desired target behaviors that fit into the desired behavioral classes.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? Students displaying behaviors that fit into the behavioral class of being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring more often than before.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? Adequate information about the system and how it works should be presented to the students in ways they can understand.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? The same should be done with the parents. They could also share with the parents the desired outcomes and why this method is used to elicit the desired behaviors in their children. In regards to the newsletter, adequate information is definitely not given.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system? I do not know how effectively the administrators taught the other teachers about the system. Obviously they will need detailed information about how a system like this works, specifics of the target behaviors, and frequency and immediacy of the tokens.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? Definitely. When it comes to behavior modification, a lot of people (especially parents in regard to their children) have issues with techniques used. Leading the children to believe that they will always receive rewards for good behavior may be a concern for some parents.
What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? Good deeds might easily go unnoticed by teachers, thus potentially discouraging good behavior.
I cant really think of any additional information I would want about this particular token economy system.
What is the program?
It seems as though Poyner Elementary is trying to implement a token economy to elicit acts of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring. This is part of the Positive Behavior Interventions System. Students are rewarded for acts of the TRRC so they will emit these kinds of behaviors more often. Whenever they emit one of these behaviors they get a purple ticket. When they collect 10 of these, they get a gold ticket which they can use to get prizes like extra recess, extra computer time, lunch with the principle and others.
How did it come about?
The Waterloo school district is working on a positive behavior interventions system so kids will emit more positive behaviors.
What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
The behavioral classes they are trying to elicit are the TRRC! Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring are behavioral classes that can include many specific behaviors. Actions that fit these classes topographically span an entire gambit of possibilities.
What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
Trustworthiness- An example of this would be to actually go to the bathroom when the student asks the teacher if they can go. No lunging around the halls.
Respect- An example of this would be not acting out in class, respecting their teachers.
Responsibility- An example of this would be getting your homework done on time.
Caring- An example of this would be to help other students with their work if they see someone struggling.
Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
It is a system based on reinforcement as they get rewarded for doing good things and the intent is to increase those behaviors.
Is it positive or negative?
It is positive because they receive rewards for their actions.
What are the tokens used in this program?
The tokens are used to elicit positive behaviors categorized by the TRRC. These tokens can be redeemed for rewards.
What might be some pros and cons?
Pros:
Promotes good behavior
Kids find it fun
Cons:
Could make behaving well a competition
Students could take other students tickets
Kids could only concentrate on these good behaviors and forget about why they are in school
What is the delivery system?
The delivery system is basically done by rewarding a student at any time for desired behaviors immediately. The purple tickets elicit positive behaviors and positively reinforce said behaviors.
What are some pros and cons associated with the delivery system?
Pros:
Kids know immediately why they are rewarded
Child feels better about him or herself when they are pointed out for good things.
Cons:
If in a classroom setting, it could distract the students.
Other students could feel bad that they didn’t get a ticket
Students could act up to get attention.
How are the tokens banked?
Ten purple tickets=1 gold ticket
Gold tickets can be used to claim prizes
What are the pros and cons?
Pros:
Many positive behaviors must be emitted in order to get prizes.
Children simultaneously learn how to save up for something they want
Cons:
Can’t really think of any.
What are the backup reinforcers?
The prizes that can be redeemed with gold tickets are the backup reinforcers.
How were they chosen?
They are things students like.
Are they effective reinforcers?
I would think so! I know kids who would do anything for ice cream or more playtime!
How do students gain access to the reinforcers?
They emit responses that fit in the TRRC classes.
What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
They could see if any of the redeemable prizes are being “purchased” by students and which ones are most popular. They can also see how natural these positive behaviors become to the students.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
I feel like they are teaching the parents about the system and not the students. Students don’t like reading newsletters. I feel like the system should be talked about in class.
How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
I feel like they are effectively telling the parents about the system. They know what kind of behaviors count for the TRRC and they don’t need to be told what counts or what doesn’t. Plus I know that my parents always read those newsletters.
How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
I feel like they all know about the system now and it is up to them what counts as an action deserving of a purple ticket.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
I feel like the teachers could be the ones who don’t completely buy in to the system. They are with the kids at school and they probably see the aversive effects more than anyone.
Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
It seems a bit too complex for elementary students. Getting tickets to get different tickets to get prizes just sounds confusing. The prizes could also become an issue if they aren’t desirable enough. Students could also save a ton of tickets and buy so many prizes at one time.
What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
1. Could I get a sheet that shows the prizes available and what they cost?
2. Is there a prize per day limit?
3. What is the limit of tickets being held?
What additional information might you want to know about the system?
Maybe if there are any specific actions that they are looking for.
The Waterloo School District had a desire to be a PBIS district (Positive Behavior Interventions System). Part of this program includes a token economy they call Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C. (pronounced track). This program is designed to elicit Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, and Caring. They deemed these character pillars. They don’t explicitly define these behaviors; however, it makes sense that they would want the children to emit politeness such as please and thank you, doing what they say when they say it, listening to others, and helping others out. This system is highly based on reinforcement. This is an example of positive reinforcement because they are receiving tickets (reward) when they emit the target behaviors, thus increasing the frequency of said target behaviors. The tokens in this program are purple tickets. They also use gold tickets. A pro to using this type of token is that it is tangible. They can actually collect the tickets in their hands. This may elicit the children to be more excited as they can count the tickets they have. They can also carry them around with them (assuming the children retain them not the teacher). A con to this system may be that they may lose the tickets (if the children retain them). They may not be kept in one place. They also may not mean anything to some kids since they are simply paper. When the students are caught demonstrating any of the character pillars described above, they are given a purple paw ticket. When they receive 10 purple paw tickets they can trade them in for 1 GOLDEN ticket. The GOLDEN tickets are saved and eventually traded in for prizes. A pro to this delivery system is that kids will be more likely to emit the target behaviors more often so they will get noticed. A con may be that the children will only emit the target behavior when they know an adult is around to give them reinforcers. Another con may be that it may be too easy to receive 10 purple paw tickets. If they receive the reinforcer too fast, they could bank them and get out of control. It may also begin to lose its effectiveness if they are too easy to receive. As I mentioned, the purple paw tickets are traded for GOLDEN tickets which are banked until traded. They don’t specifically mention how long the tickets are banked for or if there is a limit of how many the children can bank. This could be a con. If there is a certain time when they are traded in, but it is too far away from the time they are collected the children could collect tons of them and use them all at once. It also doesn’t say how many GOLDEN tickets are required for the backup reinforcers. One pro is that the step between the purple paw tickets and the GOLDEN tickets adds a reinforcer to the mix. The children have an additional reinforcer to work towards. The backup reinforcers are prizes such as Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. It doesn’t say how they were chosen. To me, some of them don’t sound like they would be effect reinforcers, such as lunch with the principal and teacher and helping the custodian. I think this may be because I had aversive experiences with the principal when I was younger, she wasn’t very nice. To these kids, it may very well be an effective reinforcer. The first few reinforcers would probably be pretty effective. What kid wouldn’t want ice cream, extra recess, popcorn, and computer time?! They don’t state if there is a “store” of some sort to gain access to the reinforcers. I wish they would have been a little more specific on the details. They also don’t say how they are measuring effectiveness. They do mention that kids are being caught emitting the target behaviors everywhere, so that does measure effectiveness somehow. I’m assuming by the last sentence that they are effectively teaching the students about the system. Since this explanation of this program was the Poyner Elementary Newsletter, it is obvious they are effectively teaching the parents about the system. Hopefully the parents actually read the newsletter. If they don’t, then it is not very effective. I’m assuming since children are getting tickets everywhere that the administrators have taught the teachers effectively about the system. I think that some students may not care about the system. In order to be effective the reinforcer has to be something that the student wants and likes. To some students pieces of paper (tickets) would not mean anything. These students would not be buying into the program because the reinforcer is not reinforcing. Some teachers may also not feel this is good enough or think it is stupid so they may not be reinforcing the students as they should be. As I’ve mentioned, a problem may be that the reinforcers may not be reinforcing. This type of token economy may also suffer if the children become satiated with tokens, or in this case tickets. Once satiation occurs, the tickets will no longer be reinforcing. I’ve already mentioned some things I would like to know more. One would be how long or when the students exchange the GOLDEN tickets for prizes. I would also like to know if there is a limit on the tickets they can receive. Do they have some backup reinforcer that they can save a large amount for as a group, like a pizza party, etc. It seems like that type of system would facilitate cohesiveness among the students. I would also like to know if they have made a baseline graph and if they have kept up with it. I would also like to know if they are implementing an across the board token economy or if they are individualizing it for any students who need special attention.
Poyner Elementary has implemented a token economy called The Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C, the program is meant to increase students to emit behaviors such as trustworthiness, respectful, responsible and caring. Focusing on target behaviors such as kindness, raising their hands, helping, others, sharing and many other target behaviors that fall under trustworthiness, respectful, responsible and caring. This program is one of the manipulations the Waterloo School District is trying to implement it is part of the Positive Behavior Intervention System. This system is based on reinforcement because the school is trying to increase the frequency of positive behaviors by giving students tickets for emitting the target behaviors.
The tokens used in this program are actually different colored tickets. Purple tickets are given out when the student elicit the good behavior and once they student has accumulated ten purple tickets. They can turn those ten into one golden ticket, it is these tickets that the student can use in exchange for (reinforcement) prizes such as extra recess, popcorn, or lunch with the principle. Some pros of this system is it can be easy to keep track of the tickets using ten purple to one gold. A con to this system could be if a student may lose their tickets or can trade with other students or even have them stolen from them. The delivery system is based on when the teachers observe a target behavior being emitted, the teacher then gives the student a purple ticked. This is also another pro to this system since students are immediately reinforced for the good behavior. The back up reinforcer occurs when the student turns in his or her golden tickets in return of a prize for example the student can gain more time on recess and having other options gives the student a lil control over what their prize will be and they are able to pick something they want. It is safe so assume that the reinforcers will be effective although we will not be able to tell for sure until the first prizes are given and if this would be affective in the long run.
The short article that informs parents about the program was given in a newsletter and it is very possible that not all parents read the newsletter. I also don't think they did a very good job at letting the parents know before implementing the program, in the beginning of the short article, it asks if they have heard their child talk about purple tickets. This implies that they have implemented the program already and they are just letting the parents now through a newsletter. From the article it is unclear if they have explained the reasons of the program to the children. I am hoping they have and hopefully in a better way than a short summary to the parents. Possibly hold an assembly with the students and explain the process of the program and why it is being implemented. I have already touched on the fact that I do not believe the school did a good job at letting parents know about the program. I think the school should send a packet home with students explaining the program and why it is being implemented. Also have a form for parents to sign saying they have read the content. The teachers have been well informed about what the goals are. My advice here is to have a meeting to maybe set up a limit to how many golden tickets a student can use on one thing, and what kind of specific behaviors they should reward. Also a little training with this can help the teacher be consistent with each other. This can help teachers give tickets more equally among students
There is a possibility that not all teachers or parents will agree that this program will work and may not want to participate in the program. They may think it is silly to pass out play money in return for good behavior, my first thought in reading the token system was the fear that a child might learn to only be good when they are going to be rewarded.
A few questions I have to administrators about this system are:
Are teachers trained to reward the target behaviors?
How will you make sure teachers give tickets out to students that deserve them?
Will the teacher have to keep track of how many tickets each student has or will the student have to?
How long do you plan to do this program?
Will you use this system with students with special needs? Will you need to change the program to do so?
How many golden tickets will a student need for each prize? This is important as the goal should not be too high yet not too easy. Some additional information I would like to know is what other programs has the school used that is similar to this one and how did it do? What other school have used this type of program and how well did it work after the program was done?