Reading Activity Week #15 (Due Tuesday)

This program is a token economy system the Poyner Panthers made called Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C. This program came about because of the school wanted to be a part of the Positive Behavior Interventions System taking place within the Waterloo School District. The behavior classes this program is trying to elicit are trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility, and being caring. Some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit would be raising your hands, helping other kids pick up dropped books, doing their homework on time, or admitting if they did something bad. This system is strictly based on reinforcement, more specifically positive reinforcement. The tokens given to the kids are purple paw tickets and when they collect ten of these they can turn them in for a golden ticket which they can then trade for a prize. This type of token system is teaching them responsibility because they have to hold onto the purple paw tickets, but on the flip side if the children lose their tickets they may never actually get a prize. The children are given these tickets by teachers whenever they are caught demonstrating the behavioral classes listed above. While it is a good thing the teachers to get all the teachers involved, if one teacher reinforces a certain behavior but another one does not it could get confusing for the kids. The back-up reinforcers are the prizes the kids can turn the golden tickets for. The included sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, or helping the custodian. I’m assuming these were chosen because the children like to do these things. If this is indeed the case I would think the reinforcers would be effective. If this system works I would think the administration would be giving out a lot of the prizes and would also notice a positive behavioral change within the student body.

I think this is a good attempt at bettering the school/district. I would hope that everyone would get on board. A suggestion for the younger kids might be to hang onto their purple paw tokens for them so they actually get a reward.

Terms: token economy, behavior interventions, behavior classes, elicit, target behaviors, emit, reinforcement, positive reinforcement, tokens, behavior, reinforces, reinforcers, behavioral change

This is a program put on by the Poyner Elementary School. It is a token economy that has a goal of teaching trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring. Kids are rewarded with tickets if they are caught exhibiting any of these four good qualities in school. The program came about because of the Waterloo school district Positive Behavior Interventions System. The Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C. is their way of instilling the positive behaviors in their students.

The behavior classes they are trying to elicit are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and caring. Some specific behaviors would include things like sharing with other students, being quiet when the teacher is talking, doing what you are asked, and helping clean up.

This system is based on reinforcement because the school is trying to increase the occurrence of positive behaviors. It is positive because it involved the addition of tickets and secondary reinforcements to elicit the behaviors out of the students.

The tokens used in this program are tickets. There are two types of tickets. Purple tickets are what students get when they are eliciting the good behavior and once they get ten purple tickets they can trade them in for a gold tickets which can be reimbursed with reinforcements such as lunch with the principle, popcorn, or extra recess. The pros for these tokens would be that they are easily dispensable. They are also easy to carry and cheap to make. The cons would be that kids can easily lose them or they can be easily stolen. They may be able to be counterfeit as well.

The delivery system of the tokens is that they are handed to the student wherever they are caught exhibiting good behavior. The advantage to this method is that it is immediate and the students are reinforced right away. It also makes it easier to administer the tickets right away than to wait later and risk shorting a kid a ticket. The disadvantage to this method is that in the moment a kid may not have a place to put the ticket and lose it. It can also be discouraging to other kids if they constantly see one kid getting tickets in front of them. Also administering them right away can be disruptive in the classroom.

The tokens are banked by each child holding on to their tickets. Once they get ten purple ones they can trade it for a gold one. They hold on to them. It doesn't mention anything about a teacher keeping track as well. The pros are that once they receive ten purple and trade it for one gold it makes it easier to keep track of the tokens. The color coding also helps to keep track of how many each kid has. The cons are that if a teacher is not tracking as well a kid can lose their tokens or have them stolen and get no credit for them.

The backup reinforcers are ice cream cones, extra recess, popcorn, lunch with the principle and teacher, extra computer time, and helping out the janitor. The back up reinforcers were most likely chosen because they are things that the children have shown an interest in wanting. They are things that motivate the kids and things that they are constantly seeking and won't become satiated with. They are effective because every kid wants these things. They are treats and extra play time, something they usually don't get tired of. Students gain access to these reinforcers after they have earned a gold ticked. They must first earn ten purple ones and then exchange it for a gold one which is used to purchase the reinforcers.

Some outcome measures would be if students are getting less bad behavior infractions and instead getting more good behavior tickets. It is also only effective if the students are constantly seeking the reinforcers so it should be monitored to make sure that the reinforcers are still working. I think that the administrators are effectively teaching the students about the program by keeping it relatively simple with the tickets and color coding. I think some extra explanation needs to be done so that the kids understand they must first earn a gold ticket before they can purchase anything. It seems as if the administrators are teaching the parents after the program has already been implemented and while I think they did a good job explaining the purpose and what they are doing it might have been more effective if they had informed the parents prior to implementation of the program. There is not much information on how well informed the teachers are but I would hope that the administration had effectively taught them how to implement the program other wise the inconsistencies would lead to program to be ineffective. There is the possibility that some of the players in the token system may not buy in. Teachers may not feel that it is being effective to control their classroom. Parents may not want their children controlled by sweets and play time. And some students may not be interested in the rewards presented.

Some problems may be that some kids are not motivated because none of the reinforcers appeal to them. Some students may feel that the price of these items is too high and become discouraged. A big problem may be that the district did not lay out specific behaviors to be changed. There could be come confusion about what constitutes trust, respect, responsibility, and caring. A teachers may not agree with a student that their behavior is deserving of a ticket.

I would ask the administration if the kids are aware of the specific behaviors they are supposed to emit. I would ask questions about how to avoid stealing, lost tickets, and counterfeit tickets. I would ask them if their back up reinfocers have been shown to work. Some additional information I would like to know is how the children are expected to keep track of their money. If the teacher keeps a count as well? If there is a way to get the family involved as well? Also are there different expectations for the different grade levels and are they clearly explained to each grade level?

This program is known as the Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C, which stands for trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. This system is trying to emit to focus of positive behaviors. This program came about from Waterloo School District wanting to become a PBIS District- Positive Behavior Intervention System. This program is using token economy to reinforce their students. Token economy is defined as a system of individual reinforcement of target behaviors in which tokens are administered and exchanged later for backup. The behavior classes the students are trying to elicit are demonstrating the character pillars (trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring). Some specific target behaviors they might want to emit could be; being responsible and not being late to class, helping another student up who fell on the ground out on the playground (caring), giving another teacher a personal message from your teacher (trustworthy), or respecting others by their personal choices. The students can be caught doing these acts everywhere. For example they could be caught in the hallway, cafeteria, on the playground, in the classrooms, or even during assemblies.

This system is based on positive reinforcement, rather than punishment. The system will be more successful is using reinforcement. The students are being reinforced for demonstrating any type of act dealing with T.R.R.C. The tokens used in this program are tickets. The tickets (tokens) can be easily dispensed, difficult to make fake ones, and safe to use. Some problems emitting to use tickets could be students losing their tickets or other students stealing theirs. The delivery system involves giving the student a purple ticket every time they demonstrate one of the character pillars. After the students receive ten purple tickets, they can turn them in for one golden ticket. Some cons for this delivery system is the cost is not to low which will allow the students to not lose motivation to perform and the cost is not too high which will make the students give up. This is a good delivery system. However a pro to this delivery system could be the students hoarding their tokens which will allow them to be able to purchase a large number of prized reinforcers in one day. Instead the delivery system should have an expiration date on the tokens or even an auction.

When using token economy you must construct a bank. This is some type of recording system that will be needed to keep track of earned and spent tokens. The students are handed purple tickets and can turn them in for a golden ticket when they collect ten purple tickets. It does not state if only the student keeps track of their tokens? This might mean the students are in charge of keeping track of their tickets. Some cons for this could be less stress on the teachers and faculty, which will allow more focus on handing out tickets. Some pros for this could be again the students losing their tickets or being stolen, and also hoarding their tickets. The backup reinforcers are using their golden ticket to trade in for prizes. These prizes could be sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal/lead teacher, extra computer time, and also helping the custodian. The Waterloo School Distract (teachers, faculty, and etc.) were responsible for the reinforcers chosen.

I think they are effective reinforcers to use for the system. It is hard to come up with reinforcers that are manageable without the grades of the school system. I think with how the delivery system is set up the students will not get sick of the backup reinforcers. The students turn their golden ticket (after they receive ten purple tickets) to whoever is in charge of the backup reinforcers. Some outcomes of measuring to know if the system is effective could be looking at how many tickets are being handed out and how many prizes are being used since it takes 10 good behaviors to receive a prize. The administrators are effectively teaching the students since they are being given tickets everywhere. This means this is taken place throughout most of the day! The administrations are effectively teaching the parents also by telling them what is being taken place and reminding them to encourage their children to demonstrate these character pillars. It does not tell either or not the administration was effectively teaching the teachers about this system.

There is always a possibility of not everyone (teachers, students, and parents) may not have complete buy with this system. Not everything was stated about this system, some may have been assumed? Some problems that exist with token economies that might be a problem here is award token with praise, misusing tokens, and constructing a bank. Some questions could be are the teachers going to keep track of the number of token they give out in case the students lose theirs or are stolen. Can teachers give tokens out to all students or just their classroom? This overall seems like an effective system.

The Waterloo School District has put in a token economy to elicit their students to be more trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. If these student display any of the pillars of character, which we just listed they will be awarded with a purple ticket. After the student receives 10 of these purple tickets they can be exchanged for a gold ticket. These gold tickets can then be traded in for prizes. The program was put into place because the entire district put in the initiative a Positive Behavior Interventions Systems (PSBS) District. Some examples of specific target behavior the students would the teaching staff would like them to emit include: using their manners, telling the truth, doing their homework on time, and helping other students who are in need.
The system is based on positive reinforcement. The reason it is reinforcement is that the program is focused on increasing the frequency of the target behaviors. It is positive reinforcement because they are rewarding the students by giving them something. The tokens that are used in this program are purple and yellow tickets. Some pro’s of using these tickets are that they are inexpensive to produce and are easy to transport and keep with you. Some con’s are that these tickets can easily counterfeited, lost, or stolen. Some pro’s of the delivery system is that the student is rewarded on the spot by the staff member and as we all know, how soon you are rewarded for a behavior makes it much more successful. The con’s of the delivery system is the students may only act this way in the presence of the staff members that give out the tickets. Another con is that it gives the teachers too much discretion on what they believe deserves a ticket. The tokens are banked by the student keeping them until they get enough purple tickets to exchange them for a gold. Once they get a gold they can trade it in for prizes. The pro’s of this is it teaches the students to be responsible and the con’s are that they can be lost or stolen. The back-up reinforcers are most likely chosen by the student because they must be desirable enough to followed through with the targeted behavior. The article does not specify whether the program is successful or not, but from my own personal experience I’d imagine it is because it is very easy to get elementary students excited about even small prizes like those listed. The student gain access to the reinforcers by emitting behaviors in which the school believes supports the pillars of character. By doing these desired behaviors they are awarded with tickets. Once they receive a gold ticket it can be traded in for a prize. The administrators can tell if the program is successful if the students are visibly better behaved and by seeing maintained excitement for the program.
The administrators seem to be pretty effective in teaching the students about the system because it sounds like the program has already began. It is also important to inform the parents, which is why they sent the new letter to them. I would say, however , the administration isn’t doing as well about teaching the parents about the program because it is on the second page of the news letter. Also many parents don’t have the interest that students do because it doesn’t directly effect them that much. It is very possible that many students, parents, or even some teachers don’t buy into the program. Every individual is different and have different desires and require different reinforcers. That is why not all students, parents, an d teachers may not buy into the program. Some problems that may exist in this token economy may be that these tickets can be easily counterfeited and they can be stolen by other students. If that happens they would not have to display the target behavior because they would get the prizes anyways. These tickets can also be easily lost especially since these children are in elementary school. Some additional questions I have for administration about this program is: “How are prizes chosen for the student?”, “Do all the prizes cost the same amount of tickets?”, and “How will you keep the students interested over a long period of time?”.

The Waterloo school districts started a token economy program called ‘Poyner Panthers on TRRC.’ It came about because the school district members wanted to reinforce good behavior and thus increase the frequency of the behavior. The program is trying to elicit the behavioral classes of trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsible behavior, and caring behavior. This program is based on a reinforcement system which is positive, because they are adding the reinforcer (the tokens and then prizes). The tokens are purple tickets which when accumulated to ten can get them a golden ticket which is then used to get prizes.

The pros of using this type of delivery system would be that it is a tangible award the children get after doing the desired behavior. Another pro would be that they have to also work a little bit and accumulate their tokens in order to obtain the real reinforcer. The cons of the system are that other children could take the token fairly easily. (The newsletter doesn’t specify if the teachers write down the token given and the child.) Another con is that a child does have to wait a little while to be able to accumulate enough points to get the reinforcer of the prize and also there are two token systems which may get confusing and difficult as the program goes on. Another pitfall of the program is that the children may just do the desired behavior when an authority figure is close or if children don’t get rewarded and noticed for their good behavior it may make them not do it in the future, as the behaviors are fairly vague in description.

The tokens are then traded in at the end of the day for a golden ticket if they have 10 purple token/tickets. The backup reinforcers are the prizes such as popcorn, extra recess, and eating lunch with the principle. The backup reinforcers were chosen from things that teachers noticed that the kids already really liked and was something they vied for. They are effective reinforcers because they are giving the kids a sense of accomplishment and they also really like doing those things.

Some outcome measures to know that the program is successful is that children are getting a lot of tickets throughout the day that they have to scale back and reduce the value because the skill is being learned. If the children are learning the information just from what we have read I don’t think they are teaching the students effectively, they aren’t being specific enough about the type of behavior and examples of behavior they will be looking for. They also do not tell the students how much the backup reinforcers will ‘cost.’ I think they are effectively sharing the information with the parents about the system and in doing so increases the chances for success as the parents reinforce their child in asking them about how they are doing in ticket/tokens. I think it is very possible that there would be many that wouldn’t ‘buy into the system.’ I think the TRRC is vague and isn’t concrete and I think that will make it harder on kids trying to figure out what is expected of them. I can see parents not thinking this is the best maybe their child has a hard time and this would isolate them or the parents go in and chew the teachers out for not giving their child more tokens. I can see teachers not liking this system for that very reason.

Some known problems in such a token economy are things such as stealing and/or bartering or evening losing the tokens. I would ask administrators where they will have the children keep their tokens. Will the teachers keep track on another source? Do they have a list of specific behaviors? What do the various reinforcers cost?

I really like the idea of the token enconomies and would like to start using this technique to start eliciting and modifying target behaviors. There are a lot of good concepts that are talked about and well thought out. One of the things I learned when trying to implement a token economy is getting a baseline of behaviors of your audience and finding out which people like certain reinforcers. I would like to use this for speicific elementary students and find out which one would be best for them to emit the desired behaviors. I believe that the antecedents is going to be a powerful tool that I will also have to look at. After I have identified the targeted behavior and baseline of the students, I will try to increase the frequency of behavior using reinforcers rather than punishment. Because I will be using the token economy with young students I liked the suggestion of stickers or maybe stamps to get the economy going. I will have to check the prices since this will be out of my own pocket. I will most likely have the token economy up on a board so everyone can see, and make sure that they understand the rules and desired emitted behaviors. Like the text suggests I will start off with continous reinforcement and then reduce the frequency to intermitent. I will have them use their points which they cannot share at the end of the day for prizes, I also think I might ask the kids and see what some of their favorite activities or candies are. One of things you cannot forget is to stay positive. Overall I like this approach and would like to use this in the future wether it be in a classroom, work, or my family!

The T.R.R.C. is a program that the Waterloo School District has started. It stands for being Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring. Students receive purple paw tickets if they are caught acting in these ways. This is to help children emit good behavior by giving them tickets. After the students receive 10 purple paw tickets they are able to trade in the purple paw tickets for 1 golden ticket. The golden tickets are the tickets that you save and are able to trade in for prizes. They are trying to elicit Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, and Caring. A few target behaviors could be being quiet in class when the teacher is teaching, following the rules on the playground, and being nice to other students. This system is bases on reinforcement. This system would be positive because it is teaching the students to have better behavior while being reinforced. The tokens used in this program are purple paw tokens and once you receive ten of those you can turn them in for 1 golden ticket. Some pro’s to using the ticket system is that you are handed the ticket directly. Some con’s to the delivery system some students could already have enough tickets and sell their tickets to other students if the tickets don’t have their name on it. The tickets can be handed out anywhere at the school. The tokens are handed in at the end of the day if they have 10 purple paw tokens they can get a golden ticket. The backup reinforcers for this system would be ice cream, extra recess, a bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principle, extra computer time, or helping the custodian. I would think that the students came up with ideas of what they would want to do if they received golden tickets. If the reinforcers were chosen by the students then yes they would be effective since those are the prizes that they will want to work towards. The students need to have 10 purple paws to get a golden ticket then they are able to be reinforced. The administration can keep track of how many purple paws are handed out and also how many golden tickets are traded to the students. That will let them know that the system is actually working. It doesn’t say much about how the students are learning about the system but if the students came up with the reinforcers for the program then I’m sure the administration is doing a great job teaching the children about this system. They are putting the system in the newsletter that goes home to the parents so then the parents can also help teach the students about the system and not only the administration. There could be a possibility that some people don’t agree with the system but I honestly think it’s a good system to make kids want to have a better behavior in school. Kids could go behinds the administrations back and trade tickets with other students or also the students could lose their tickets. I would like to know if the system really is working and if they students have improved on their behavior. I have never heard of a system like this in a school district I would love to know if it actually does work and maybe if it does if other schools in the state will start doing this system.

This program is called Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C. These letters stand for trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. Waterloo school district decided to become a PBIS District. This stands for Positive Behavior Interventions System. They want to encourage their students to exhibit these pillars of character. When a student is caught demonstrating these, a teacher will give them a purple paw ticket. So, our target behavior is to act as an active person of character. For every ten purple paw tickets a student receives they will get a golden ticket. These golden tickets can be traded in for prizes. Some extras listed in the newsletter were Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, popcorn, lunch with Principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian. The goal is to tell the parents about this so they talk to their kids about it and encourage them to participate. The method being used here is positive reinforcement. By emitting a reward system, it gets the students to elicit to desired behavior of character out of the students. They want the children to understand the importance of being a “good person” and to be kind to one another. We should treat others the way we wish to be treated. This seems like an effective system, as long as people aren’t saving up too many tickets at one time. An expiration date might not be a bad idea. I feel that the variety of prizes is the hardest part because while they should be somewhat desirable the goal or target behavior is for them to see the value in having good character and exhibit. The section in the newsletter that talked about this was not very long and not very specific. You must assume they mean that teachers and staff give the tickets to students, but it doesn’t really say. It also did explain how the tickets were tallied or stored. It might not be a good idea to put them in the possession of the students because they are easy to lose. I think that the newsletter was a good introduction to telling parents about the system, but they need to have an information meeting that goes more into detail and gives parents a chance to ask questions. This seems like it could be a very effective system as long as it measured carefully and administered regularly or frequently to all students. If they are doing this than I feel that this would work on the students. There has to be equal opportunity. I would like to know if they gave parents more information on the system.
Terms: target behavior, emitting, elicited, goal, desired behavior, positive reinforcement

The Poyner Panthers T.R.R.C program is how the school is implementing the Waterloo school districts positive behavior initiative. The goal of the program is to reinforce and to elicit the characteristics of trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, and caring. They go about this by using reinforcement and in this case positive reinforcement. The tokens in this economy are purple paw tickets, then after receiving 10 of them, they're exchanged for 1 golden ticket. The positives that go along with this system include that the children are getting a physical reward immeadiately for reinforcing one of the four behaviors (the paws) and they learn the value of patience by saving up their gold tickets for a better reinforcer. The children are given the paw tickets when a teacher/faculty see's them emitting the appropriate behavior(s) that they are trying to reinforce. The problem with this delivery system seems to be that it heavily relies on someone seeing the behavior for it to be reinforced via the economy. There are a few problems I have found with this newsletter, one of which relates to the next question. The news letter does not list how they tickets are banked. It seems they (the students) keep track of the gold tickets after exchanging the paws, but I can only assume that the teacher holds on to the paws then? Still when given a physical item is given in an economy you have to watch out for hoarding, theft, and for what would basically be a black market for the tickets. Kids would trade homework assignments beind done by others for tickets etc.. The way the backup reinforcers were chosen was not described, but one can presume that they were chosen because they are things kids would want to save up for (I.E the ice cream, pop corn, lunch with the principal etc..) The children recieve the reinforcers after trading in the required amount of gold tickets. Which again they get 1 gold ticket per 10 purple paws. In the letter they state that students are being caught everywhere so I can only assume that the system is working and that the teachers and students are well on board with it. I do think the parents could be more well informed than the little blurb in the school newsletter. I think they should get a separate letter or maybe be informed during conferences. Basically there are a multitude of ways that they could implement to inform them better.
Overall I think this is a really good program. They use the proper tokens that will get the children to emit the chosen behaviors. As listed above though, by using this system they open themselves up to having children lose their tickets, hoard them, or to use them as a bargaining chip. The only real questions I have of the system is how the tokens are banked and how well informed are the parents of the system.

1)What is this program? This program is the token economy program. It reinforces postive behavior of the students by emitting gold or purple tickets to the children of Poyner Elementry.
2) How did it become about? It came about through the Waterloo School District.
3) What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elecit? The behavioral classed they are trying to elecit are Trust, Respect, Responsible, and Caring.
4)What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
5)Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?Is it positive or negative? Postitve reinforcement.
6)What are the tokens used in this program? Gold or purple tickets.
7) What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? Pro's would be that they are easy to keep record of the child's behavior, and as a result, the classroom will be a better learning environment for everyone. It could also decrease bullying, a target behavior found in most elementary schools. The only con I found was if the child's tickets were stolen or lost, it wouldn't be fair to them to not put them in the drawing.
8) What is the delivery system?
9)What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? The tickets are easily dispensed, but they can also be easily lost. In my opinion, the teacher should have a folder where each of the child's goldan or purple tickets are kept. She should have a place in the classroom that only she can access, with the child. That way the tickets won't be lost or stolen.
10)How are the tokens banked? What are the pro's and con's? The tickets are banked by after receiving ten purple tickets, they get one gold ticket, that is placed in a drawing for them to win free prizes.
11)What are the back up reinforcers? How were the backup reinforcers chosen? Are they effective reinforcers? The backup reinforcers would be the prizes, which included ice cream, popcorn, lunch with the principle/leadteacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian.
12) How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? By receiving at least ten purple tickets in exchange for one goldan ticket. Once their ticket is drawn, than they get a prize.
13)What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? 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? Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? The administrators are communicating effectivelty with both the parents and the students. They sent the parents a newsletter, informing them of this new program. The children get to experience it hands on. I think the outcome measures are effective because children are learning that good behavior is rewarded while bad behavoir is not. It seems to me that the other teachers in the school are all aware of the program, however there is a chance that the teachers would have a mixed idea of what good behavior is, and therefore reward more/less depending on their opinion.
14)What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? Token Hardening could be one problem. If one student gets enough tickets, they could think it's okay to elecit bad behavior because they've already demonstrated and got rewarded for their good behavior. Another problem would be behavior deteriorates after fading- if a child doesn't like the prize choices, they may not feel the drive that the other kids do to emit good behavior on a daily basis.
15)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 think I would like to know if the bad children get rewarded more when they demonstrate good behavior, than the children who are considered always well behaved. I feel like children who act out may get reinforced more when they demonstrate good behavior, which in my opinion isn't fair.

Terms used: Elicit, emit, reinforce, target behavior, behavioral classes, backup reinforcers, fading/deteriorating of behavior, token economy, positive punishment, measures, Token Hardening.

The program is called Poyner Panther on T.R.R.C. The letters stand for trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring. The program came about as a district-wide initiative to encourage positive behavior and students to elicit the pillars of character, which are the behavioral classes they want students to emit. Some specific target behaviors they want children to emit are to be kind to their classmates by helping them if they fall down, or to be responsible with getting their homework done on time. Another target behavior might be to listen to the teacher and be respectful when they are speaking.

This system is based on positive reinforcement because it is the addition of the tickets, which students would like to have so they can get prizes. The purple and gold tickets are the tokens used for the program. Some pros to this is that its something tangible for students to have, and it’s easy to dispense for teachers. Another pro would be that students can trade in for gold tickets, and show to other students how many they are getting. Some cons are that they might be easy to lose, and kids might figure out ways to reproduce them on their own. They could also be stolen from other kids or the teacher.

The delivery system is when students get caught doing one of the target behaviors, they get a purple ticket. Once they have ten of them then they can trade them in for a gold ticket. A pro for this is that students can see from their positive behavior how many tickets they have, and it might be really cool for them to get a gold ticket. They are also tangible for them to hold onto so they can tell that they are doing a really good job. Some cons are that they could lose them or another kid could steal them. Also the student has to do the act in front of a teacher so it might become a thing where students are only nice to each other when in the presence of a teacher.

I don’t know how the tokens are banked, I’m assuming that students have to hold onto them themselves until they trade them in for prizes. It is helpful they can turn them into a gold ticket so they aren’t carrying them all around, but then it is a con because they have to be responsible enough to hold onto them. The back up reinforcers are the prizes that they can get. They are chosen by what I assume what kids would want like recess or ice cream. I don’t know if all of them are effective though, I wouldn’t want to have lunch with the principal or help the custodian. I think some of them are effective, but not all of them. Students can get to the reinforcers by having enough tickets to trade in for them.

If the program is effective then the administration should see that there are a lot of tickets being cashed in. If it is being really effective then it might come to a point where students don’t need the tickets in order to emit the target behaviors. I don’t know how well the administrators are teaching students, they will have to have specific target behaviors so students know exactly what they need to do, and administrators will have to make sure they are actually watching for the behaviors so students don’t go through extinction because they are not being reinforced. It seems like a helpful blurb for parents, but I feel like they could know more so they can help encourage their kid to practice the behaviors. It doesn’t say how well they taught the teachers, but it is important that all teachers are onboard with the program and make an effort to watch students behavior and reward them.

This is going to be extra work for teachers to make sure they are watching, so some might think they don’t have enough time to devote to the system. Students might figure out ways to get around it, like stealing from each other or the teachers, or only emitting the behaviors in the presence of a teacher making the behavior not very reinforced.

I would want to know how all these students are going to keep track of all their tickets, and where the administration are buying them. Since this is elementary, students probably won’t think to buy them but some smart ones might think of the idea. And especially since it is a younger group, they are more likely to lose the tickets or eat them or tear them up and make messes. I would want to know how the administration came up with the prizes and how many tickets are needed for each thing and where kids can go, and if they even want these prizes. I think this is a good idea, there just needs some little tweaks needed to be worked out.

The program being implemented is called the Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C. (Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring). This is based on a Positive Behavior Intervention using a token economy. This came about through the Waterloo School District and is being used district wide. Behavioral classes they are trying to elicit are being trustworthy, emitting respect to others, demonstrating responsibility, and showing compassion and caring attitudes. Examples of specific target behaviors they would like the students to elicit would be; going to the teacher when someone has cheated, not picking on a student when they do something embarrassing, picking up their toys without being asked, or helping someone if they get hurt.

This token economy is based on positive reinforcement, and the tokens being used are purple and golden tickets. The pros of using this system is it involves; friendly competition, setting reasonable expectations, and the students are likely to bring home the positive behaviors learned in school. The con's of using this system involves; the possibility of the tickets being duplicated, trading between students, possibility the students damage or lose their tickets. The delivery system is whenever and wherever a teacher sees the model behavior from the student. The pros of this delivery system involve; all of the teachers are suppose to participate and are able to give the tickets to any student, and the tickets are not constricted to just their classroom. The con is some teachers may set different standards as to what is an acceptable behavior to receive a ticket. The students are responsible for banking their tickets. The pro of banking their own ticket is they are taught responsibility. The cons of this banking procedure are; they may get lost or stolen, and may not be age appropriate for all students to be responsible for their tickets.

The backup reinforcers are the different prizes set at different amounts of golden tickets. Based on some of these backup reinforcers, they may have been chosen by what the students have demonstrated interest for in the past. For the most part these back up reinforcers are effective, however, I never wanted to eat (or see) the principle and I sure as heck didn't want to hang out with the custodian because he scared me. The students can gain access to the reinforcers by collecting 10 purple tickets. For every 10 purple tickets, they receive 1 golden ticket, from there the prizes are allotted different prices only golden tickets can buy.

Some outcome measures to know if this is effective would be keeping track of how many golden tickets are given to students. Also, giving a survey to students and teacher may show effectiveness and interest. I cannot say exactly how well the administrators have effectively explained the program to the student and teachers but based on this newsletter, most of the information is covered. There is a possibility that not everyone will participate in this program. Maybe the students are not interested in the prizes, or the parents may feel as though their children are being bribed, or teachers are set in their ways and don't want to change. The problems the may exist with with this token economy are already stated in the previous paragraph but a couple more came to mind. Will the rules and backup reinforcers be clearly defined and accessible for students to see? Do the tickets expire? Will the teachers agree on the same terms and expectations or is it based on best judgement? After reading the Token Economy handout, I think that this is a good start for the program. I just think that they could have written out the rules and details in a letter and sent it home with the children. That way the parents know what they teachers are expecting and can explain it to their children more in depth.

Poyner Elementry elicited the token economy system called Positive Behavior Interventions System. They elicited the program so students will emit being trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring. Poyner Panthers call this T.R.R.C or Track for short. This program was elcited by the Waterloo School District. The program is district wide.

The behavioral classes they are trying to elicit are being trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring. Some specific target behaviors would be helping clean up a mess, raising their hand during class, standing in a straight line or handing in homework on time.

This system is based on reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is used in the form of Purple Paw tickets when they emit a pleasurable behavior. Every time they collect ten Purple Paws they can turn them in for one Golden ticket. With the Golden ticket they can purchase a prize.

Some pros to this system is that it is giving the kids an incentive to emit nice behaviors. It is also teaching them responsibility to keep track of their tickets. Also, not everyone is being reinforced so kids who aren't doing nice things aren't reaping the benefits.

A few cons with the system are the teachers themselves. What if one teacher doesn't reinforce one student as much as the other teacher? The tickets may get lost, go through the laundry, or be stolen by a student who is not emitting the positive behaviors.

The delivery system is the teachers. I guess one pro could be that it is better for the teachers to be the ones who are reinforcing the kids because they are with them the most often. One con is that they may not reinforce equally. The tokens are banked by turning in 10 purple paws to get a golden ticket and turning in the golden ticket for a prize. The prizes that they get with the golden ticket are the back up reinforcers. They are effective because they remind the kids to elicit appropriate behaviors.

One way of knowing if the program is working is if the children emit the same behaviors while at home. I feel that the kids have a sense of what they are to do. As for the parents if they were more informed maybe they could elicit the same token economy at home. A problem among teachers may be that they don't reinforce for the same target behaviors which may confuse the children. Some people might feel that the children are just being manipulated. They may also feel that they are only emitting the behaviors to get prizes.

Some problems that could occur is unequal pricing of backup reinforcers. Some kids may view eating with the principle or teacher is lame and much rather have ice cream instead. Why would eating with a teacher cost the same as having ice cream? I would ask the administrators how they plan to measure whether or not the system is working. I would also ask how they deliver the tokens,

This is a program elicited by the Waterloo School District. Poyner Panthers on T.R.R.C (Trustworthy, Respectful, Responsible, and Caring) is a behavior reinforcing program that will elicit good behavior on and around campus. This program was initiated by the PBIS District (Positive Behavior Intervention System). This is meant to reinforce students to elicit T.R.R.C with other students. Some specific target behavior will be students emitting respect and caring for other students. In order word, students not cursing or hitting fellow students, but help them when needed such as helping take some books to class when ones backpack is heavy or sharing food when ones do not have it. Another target behavior would be them assisting teachers lining other students up for recess. This system is relevant because it is based on reinforcement,, and it is a positive reinforcement procedure. The tokens used in this program are purple paw tickets; one ticket is given to a student after they emit one of those behaviors. Some pros associated with the delivery of these tokens are that, they will allow students to emit those requested behaviors and reinforcing them to emit and elicit a safe environment. This will occur as students help each other. Some cons might involve students only emitting those behaviors at school and when teachers or guardians are around. Teachers can be biased toward students. They might distribute tickets to those students whom they consider good students and have good moral skill due to previous experience from class. Teachers have the tickets present at anytime to distribute to students. The Pros are students not waiting long to get their ticket, it will be distributed right away. The cons are students stealing it if teacher leaves it on a table or in class. The backup reinforcers are that, students can trade in their 10 received tickets for a golden ticket. After receiving few golden tickets, students can then get some prizes. Those reinforcers were chosen by teachers, administrators, the principal and the custodians. I think the backup reinforcers are effective in that, children love ice scream. They also like eating with leaders of their schools along with helping those cleaning their environment. Students gains access to the reinforcers after trading in their golden tickets. The outcomes measured are teachers glancing in the hallway for students emitting those behaviors as well as teachers telling parents to help encourage their children to emit those behaviors. This program is being taught effectively in that; students get rewarded for what they emit. Another effective factor is for the students to realize those are realistic target behaviors needed in and around school districts. Parents are being taught effectively by the description of the prize and what has to happen in order to obtain those prizes. Teachers are also being taught effectively by looking at student’s behavior and rewarding students for their efforts on being a good samaritan. I wouldn’t think parents will resist this type of reinforcement. They want their child to be great, so they will completely buy into it. Same goes to the teachers. They want to teach students who are willing to learn and are able to comprehend what they are saying; they too will completely buy into it. Students want possessions and want to be distinguished from other students, so they will do as followed. Problems that might exist are as followed. Students might only be reinforced knowing that they will get purple paw tickets. Students will steal other’s tickets and or teachers. For me, I will want to know if the ticket expires. There is no expiration day for the ticket. I will also want to know, how many prizes I can get when trading in my golden ticket.

Terms Used:
Elicited, behavior reinforcing, target behavior, Poyner Panthers, T.R.R.C, emitting, initiated, reinforce, PBIS District, assisting, reinforcement, relevant, positive reinforcement, tokens, purple paw tickets, biased, glancing, realistic, Samaritan, comprehend, distinguished, possessions, backup

At my hometown, Nashua, the school system has put into place a token system called "Husky High Fives." This program is used to give students who are caught doing good things, opportunities that elicit more good behaviors. In order to recieve these opportunities, student must earn enough "Husky Hive Fives". Opportunities include being first in the lunch line, reserved parking at the front of the parking lot, etc. Now in order to recieve these opportunities, a person needs to have their name drawn out of the box. I feel that this would then not be as effective as if they were able to just get the opportunity by turning in the high fives. Its VERY confusing.
I feel that the teachers can give them out for nothing. I know that the spanish teacher is new, and when the students catch her misspelling or using bad grammer, they get a high five. I understand that the teacher is new but she needs to make sure she is giving them out for the student emitting good behaviors, not for her mistakes being caught. All of the teachers give them for doing good like helping out another student, helping the teacher, picking up garbage, cleaning up after others, advacating the character pillars etc.
I feel that this program could be tweeked a little bit in order to be more reinforcing. I feel they need to take away the box they draw out of. If a person earns the high fives, they deserve to get the opportunity.
I also think that they need to keep track of who they are giving them to. Students are so smart now and able to duplicate these very easily. The teachers should turn in who they gave them to weekly or biweekly. I believe that this is one thing that they didnt think of when printing these coupons on regular paper and copying them to make dupilcates.

1. What is this program? Poyner Elementary has implemented a token economy program called T.R.R.C. to increase the frequency of students emitting behaviors of being trustworthy, respectful, responsible and caring.
2. How did it come about? The Waterloo School District is starting the Positive Behavior Intervention System.
3. What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? The targeted behaviors that they are focusing on having the children emit are trust, respect, responsibility, and caring.
4. What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit? They are hoping to see children emitting behaviors like; being prepared for class on time, getting in line without shoving or whining, being able to play fairly amongst one another, and being taking care of school property.
5. Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? Is it positive or negative? It is a token economy which means that it is based on positive reinforcement system. It’s positive because if they are emitting the correct positive behaviors they will receive a paw, which is a reinforcer to help increase the targeted behavior.
6. What are the tokens used in this program? The tokens are Paws, the common paw is purple but if you earn 10 then you will get one gold paw.
7. What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? Ten paws seems to be kind of low so student’s may lose motivation, or it could become a huge competition and then the student’s may forget about the academic work. But since they may be able to get many gold paws they could stock up and do a lot of good so that they could get something that they really want.
8. What is the delivery system? As long as the students are emitted the targeted behavior on school grounds they can receive a paw by a school official.
9. What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? Some students may only put on a show when a school official is around just to get a paw while others may be emitting these behaviors at all times but just not be seen by the officials.
10. How are the tokens banked? Paws are held by students, and they exchange their ten purple paws for a gold to then redeem for a reinforcer.
11. What are the pro's and con's? Some students may lose their paws, they could lie about losing their paw, they could steal other students paws, go home and make fake paws. But having to keep track of their own paws also helps teach responsibility and if you have to keep the paw in nice condition respect towards others property.
12. What are the back up reinforcers? Sonic ice cream cones, extra recess, bag of movie popcorn, lunch with the principal and lead teacher, extra computer time, and helping the custodian.
13. How were the backup reinforcers chosen? It’s not specified how they were chosen but I assume that the faculty would survey the students to see what they would like sense it is their reinforcer but they made the final decisions.
14. Are they effective reinforcers? I’d assume for younger children they would work well. When you are younger you want the attention from the staff, a lot of kids love ice cream, everyone loves recess, and if you didn’t then computer time is a way they could go.
15. How do the students gain access to the reinforcers? They have to have a golden paw to the official who is in charge of the reinforcers.
16. What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? They could see how many golden tickets get redeemed for a treat.
17. How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system? In the newsletter there isn’t really much to go on about the effectiveness of the teachings to the students about the token economy system.
18. How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system? I think that in the newsletter that they give enough information to the parents that they get the idea of the program so that they understand what is going on at school, and could even try a smaller system at home.
19. How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system? The newsletter doesn’t really talk about the teachers, it’s more goal based towards the children.
20. Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system? There is always a possibility that someone may not buy into the system, there are always going to be people out there who don’t like an idea for some reason or another.
21. What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? Students may be steals, trading, losing, or making fake tickets without the school officials knowledge.
22. What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system? I would like to know how they are monitoring to see if this program is working and what kind of back-up plan there would be if this one wouldn’t take too like they may hope.
23. What additional information might you want to know about the system? I would like to know how the back-up reinforcement was chosen, how they are keeping track of the paws to make sure that kids aren’t making their own, and if they can have paws taken away?

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?

This token system is a Positive Behavior Interventions System. It is being implemented district-wide in the Waterloo School District
They are trying to elicit behavioral classes: Trust, Respect, Responsibility, and Caring.
Some specific target behaviors for each behavioral class would be: Trust= if a student was honest about something he did wrong. Respect= talking out of turn, or disrupting. Responsibility= Getting assignments done on time. Caring= sharing school supplies.
This system is based on positive reinforcement.
Purple paw tokens that can be exchanged for Golden Tickets. 10 purple paw tokens to 1 golden ticket
A pro of this token system is that golden tickets are worth more than purple paws. You can reinforce behaviors with purple paws, but backup reinforcers aren’t so easily bought. However, these tokens may be made out of paper, so they’re not very durable and could possibly be stolen.
The pro’s of the delivery system is that it reinforces good behavior. However, a con of this system is that not all good behaviors are reinforced. In my elementary school, they had a system called “character counts”. This had 6 “pillars”: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. That system had 2 more behavioral classes that this one doesn’t address. (http://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html)
There wasn’t much on banking for this system. I guess the kids just keep the tokens and exchange them for prizes.
The pro is that they can do whatever they want with them; put them on the refrigerator, keep them for a collection, etc. However, a con is that they could hoard them, and think that since they have a lot of tokens, they don’t have to act properly
The backup reinforcers are: 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.
They all probably have different token costs, and the student gets to choose which prize they get.
I would say that they are effective. They could use more variety, but the reinforcers they have now are fairly broad.
They are given access to the prizes if they saved up enough tokens to buy something.
The administrators can track the tokens given out and see if the behavior is increasing.
It seems like the parents are only informed about this system by this pamphlet. It may not be enough for some that may have concerns.

Some problems about this system are that 1) it may not be very consistent throughout all the teachers. Some students may get more tokens than others simply because they’re in a different class. 2) the system does not have eventual diminishing of tokens. This will only make the student condition this behavior to the tokens and not produce an increase of behavior in the long run.
Some questions I might have for the administrators of the system are: Is the system rigid, or is it going to change over time according to “market prices” and diminishing tokens. Are there going to be specific target behaviors, or does every teach give out tokens according to their standards?