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RUNNING HEAD: KINDERGARTEN TOKEN ECONOMY

Kindergarten Token Economy:

To what effect does a token economy have on my kindergarten class?

Randi Jones

The College of New Jersey

EDUC 602:88

June 17, 2015


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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 2

LITERATURE REVIEW 3

PURPOSE 11

RESEARCH QUESTION 11

METHODOLOGY 11

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS 11 TYPES OF DATA AND COLLECTION PROCEDURES 12 DATA ANALYSIS 15

FINDINGS 18

IMPLICATIONS 22

LIMITATIONS 23

EMERGING QUESTIONS 25

CONCLUSION 26

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 27

REFERENCES 29


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I. Introduction

Behavior management is extremely important in the success of a classroom environment.

Having a plan in place and that students are aware of. A plan that a teacher can easily keep up

with and in which students can easily follow is important. To create an environment where

students want to excel, they wan to do the right things. An environment where they feel safe and

confident creates the most successful learning atmosphere.

Positive reinforcement is a type of behavior management that is highly recommended by

many professionals. With positive reinforcement one would only comment or reinforce positive

behaviors or actions that are occurring. Setting up a token economy is a way to manage and

carry out positive reinforcement. Having a token economy and carrying out positive

reinforcement is thought to encourage children to perform better and try harder. It is thought that

having these in class, it will curb off task behaviors.

This year I was looking to use this positive reinforcement to help my kindergarten class

out. I had spent a lot of time trying to get my class as a whole to finish an activity. For example,

in phonics and we focused on a new letter each week. The students learned the sound that it

made, words that started with it, and how to write the upper and lowercase letter. The ideas of

the phonics program that our school follows come from Orton Gillingham. When teaching the

students how to write the letter teachers should follow a routine every week for each letter. The

teacher distributed house paper to teach proper letter formation of “M”. With the green crayon

and a screen under the house paper, the teacher will model the formation of “M” on the paper.

With the screen under the paper, it creates a bumpy letter. The teacher would then have students

practice correct letter formation 3 times. Afterwards, the teacher would then model with pointer

finger, tracing the letter M (going over the bumps from the screen). Students would practice


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letter formation 3 times with their pointer finger over the bumpy letter. They would then repeat

these steps with the lowercase “m”. Finally, the students would practice writing the letter “Mm”

in pencil on a sheet of lined paper correctly. For months this process was taking my class an

hour to do, which in reality, it should have been 15 minutes. I even tried breaking the class up

into smaller groups to try it and it took just as long and then it lasted a week of trying to do letter

writing instead of one day.

The classroom dynamics were rough to handle and caused stress to deal with on a daily

basis. It was a realization that there was too much struggling in order to keep a handle on the

class and not enough was getting accomplished in the curriculum. With this realization, a

decision was made and there needed to be a change. It was the hope that a token economy in the

classroom would be just the right motivator to spark their interest.

As a kindergarten teacher, my job is to lay the educational foundation for all of the school

years to come. Kindergarteners are young and immature and yet our curriculum in extremely

full and academic. These students are expected to come in and start reading and writing even if

they do not know their letters and sounds or even how to hold a pencil. There is a lot expected

from these small, young children. One of the largest aspects of a kindergarten teacher is

classroom management. Trying to get all of the students to want to do well and try their best.

This is not an easy task. Over the years and lots of research, I have found that the best classroom

management comes from using positive reinforcement. My overarching question that I am

researching is: To what effect does a token economy have on my class?

II. Literature Review

There were five articles used in this study. The first one that was reviewed was The


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Token Economy article discussed the steps that are involved in using and applying a token

economy in the classroom. It took you through step-by-step with all of the decisions that you

need to make as a teacher in order to implement a successful token economy. When deciding to

use a behavior modification system in class, the first item you need to decide is what behaviors

you are looking to change. Token economies can be used to influence a variety of behaviors

either academic social, or even just classroom skills. Choosing a specific behavior or skill is key

in taken economy this way the students completely understand the expectations and what goals

they are trying to attain.

The article went on to discuss how to build your token economy. You need to decide

which tokens and reinforces that you are going to use. It went into many examples of what can

be used as tokens and reinforcers. It stressed to keep in mind that they are most successful if

“they are easily dispensed, difficult to counterfeit, and safe to use.” (Token Economy, p.2)

After tokens and reinforcers are set up, the teacher need to set token values and reinforcer

costs. These have to be amounts that are attainable but yet not too easily attained. Once all of

these areas are decided and set up, the teacher just needs to start implementing the program. The

teacher will need to explain to the children how the token economy works and all of the details

that are involved. The article also discussed how using role-play might aid in getting the students

to fully understand what is expected of them. The article went on to discuss the importance of

using praise in conjunction with handing out tokens. As time goes on the teacher might need to

make changes to the token system in order to maintain the behavior, interest, and the student’s

motivation. Please see Figure 1 for the steps involved in setting up the Token Economy.

I found this article to be helpful in assisting how to set up my token economy and get

started with it as well. It went step by step through everything a teacher would need to do and


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consider when setting up a token economy in their classroom. If even gave many examples and

variations to the program. At the end of the article, the author even gave examples of possible

problems and solutions that might occur while implementing a token economy. These were very

useful to look at in order to know what you might be getting into if you run into problems in your

token economy.

Figure 1. STEPS INVOLVED WITH A TOKEN ECONOMY

One of the strengths of this article was the amount of examples that were provided for all

aspects involved, even examples of things that could go wrong. This article was very

informative. One of the weaknesses was that it didn’t get into the costs of implementing it.

Some of the ideas in the article could be easily created but others would need to be purchased


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and set up. Handing out stickers and prizes could get pricey depending on how often you hand

them out.

The Token Economies Build Cooperation Article and it gave a very brief description of

what is needed to have a token economy in your classroom. It showed you three different ways

to apply it in your classroom. It examined using a point system, ticket system, or money system.

The author gave a couple of examples for each type of system. It discussed the different types of

tangible rewards and point systems that a teacher could use. The article then went on to discuss

the types of ticket systems that could be utilized. It gave the reader a few examples of how to

keep track of points and what could be done for prizes. This third article, unlike the rest of the

articles, recommended a teacher should go to a dollar store or using online party stores to find

cheap prizes for a prize box.

The second article was The Token System Builds Cooperation and this had a main

weakness that was because it is so brief. It only discussed the different reward systems but it left

out everything a teacher would need to do to prepare and possible snags that teacher could run

into. One strength of this article was that the author clearly stated the difference between using a

point system, ticket system, and a money system.

The third article was Steps for Implementation: Token Economy Programs article. This

article was very similar to the first one, Token Economy. Both articles took you step by step

through the process of implementing a token economy. In this article, Steps for

Implementation, the reader is given step-by-step details on how to implement a token economy

into their classroom. This article really helped me to create a checklist of all that I needed to do

to get started with this in my own classroom. Similar to the first article, the author discussed the

importance of choosing the target behaviors/skills first. The behavior needs to be something that


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that can be easily observed and measured. Then the author went on to talk about how a teacher

would need to collect baseline data. By collecting this data, the teacher would get an idea of how

often this behavior was occurring and recognize and see patterns in the student’s behavior.

Afterwards, the teachers would need to review the data collected and decide which

reinforcers would be the most motivating for the students involved. The article went on to say

how it is important to have the students involved in picking out the reinforcers. This will help in

choosing reinforcers that will motivate the students involved. If the reinforcer does not motivate

the students, the token economy will not work. I found this article extremely useful because it

provided samples of how to collect data from the students and ways to organize your

information.

Next, this article went into discussing how to establish the token economy. Just like the

first article, both of the other two articles talked about the importance of the tokens being items

that are attractive to the students and the ease of handing them out and collecting them. With the

implementation of the program, the Steps article went into a discussion on when and where the

program will be used, how to explain the rules and post them for students to see. Just like the

first article it discussed the importance of the teacher explaining the rules and given examples of

situations in order for the students to attain a complete understanding of what is expected of them

and how they can attain rewards.

Again like the first article, this one discussed the importance of being able to modify the

rewards and frequency of them as well. Over time, the teacher should gradually decrease the

availability of the tokens in order to keep the students motivated and working hard to attain

them. Lastly, the Step’s article went into monitoring the progress and potential problems and


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solutions. The author gave some more data collection examples, which I found to be extremely

helpful. They also had a chart that discussed problems, with descriptions, and a detailed solution.

The Steps for Implementation article focused mainly on students with Autism Spectrum

Disorders while the Token System to Build Cooperation article was just geared toward special

education in general. Even know both of these articles are geared towards students with special

needs, this program was useful in my general education classroom. I found both of these articles

to be extremely useful and I felt like both articles helped me significantly in giving me step by

step directions in where I needed to go to get this token economy started in my own classroom.

Unlike the first article, the Steps article had a strength of starting at the very beginning

and taking the teacher all the way to the end of what to do before the token economy, how to

prepare for it, implementing it, and what to do if you ran into problems. It started with the

identifying of a behavior, getting baseline data, and then step by step implementing it into a

classroom. This was more comprehensive and thorough. The only problem that I found with this

article was that it just focused on students with autism spectrum disorders rather than a general

education classroom. Since I am dealing with a different population, some parts of this article

didn’t pertain to my study and me.

The fourth article was The Effect of Social and Token Economy Reinforcements on

Academic Achievement of Students with Intellectual Disabilities, which was an article about a

study that was done on thirty- ninth grade boys with intellectual disabilities. This study found

that implementing social and token reinforcements on these students helped to create a

significant increase in their academic achievement. This study consisted of three groups. They

used tokens with one group, social reinforcements with another group such as attention,


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appreciation, and encouragement, and they had a control group. The students were given

tangible items along with smiles, nods, and even a hand touching the student’s shoulder.

In this study they worked with eight lessons in Chapter 3 of their science book. They

gave the students involved 16 teacher made pre and post tests on the subject matter. The study

found that both the token and social reinforcements helped in higher test scores but it also found

that the group that received token reinforcements had the biggest increase academics. It also

found that the social reinforcements had an effect but it way only a small increase in academic

scores. Both helped students but the token economy had the more significant effect.

A strength that this article had was that it precisely stepped you through the materials and

method, along with the procedure, results, and discussion. It gave you a clear picture of what

they did during their study. A weakness for this article was that the study only worked with boys

with intellectual disabilities. Because of this weakness, I felt like the study had a lot of

limitations.

The last article was The Token Economy: Reducing the Disruptive and Off-Task

Behavior study, which was another useful article. This study was based on third grade students

and the teacher was trying to reduce off-task and disruptive behavior. Chevalier tried something

different from everything else I have read about. The author used the token reinforcement along

with a raffle style drawing. She would give out tokens for on task and positive behavior and then

she would hand out a ticket from time to time for some tokens and these tickets went into a

drawing. Chevalier would do a weekly drawing for extra prizes to be handed out as an extra

incentive for students to want follow directions. She was trying to reduce the amounts of

distractions and off task behaviors in her class. She also wanted to see if the token system

would help to increase the amount of students who handed in their homework.


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Chevalier started out with observations on two different classes. She found that the

students were off task and disruptive too often throughout the day. She then implemented a

token economy in both classes. Chevalier realized that implementing this token economy helped

to reduce the amount of distractions and off task behaviors but it did not have an effect of the

amount of homework that was turned in. She saw a large decrease in the behaviors in both

classes but did not see any difference in homework.

This last article was a good article because I felt like I could really relate to it. I felt like

this is what I was trying to do in my own classroom. I felt like the strength of this article was

similar to some of the others where the steps to implementing and carrying out a token economy

were clearly stated. I think a weakness that this article had was where the author added in the

homework aspect to it. I felt like most of the article was about off task and disruptive behaviors

inside the classroom and then she threw in about their homework. It seemed like the homework

should be a whole different study.

After reading all of these articles, I felt like everything was falling into place. I needed to

motivate my students and get them on task more often. From everything I had read, I felt like

starting a token economy would be the best way to promote a positive environment. I needed my

classroom to be more conducive to learning and succeeding. If my students were less distracted

and more on task, I felt that hopefully they would be able to accomplish more and get to all that

needed to be covered academically. I needed to get a better handle on my class and the token

economy seemed like it was going to be the most successful way to do that. I had decided to use

a website called www.classdojo.com as my point system. I still had to figure out how my prize

system would work and what my prizes would be. How many points before the students would


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earn a prize? What behaviors would I award a point for? What happened if there was a student

who wasn’t motivated by this system?

III. Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of a token economy as a behavior

management in a kindergarten classroom.

IV. Research Question

To what effect does a token economy have on my class?

V. Methodology

Setting and Participants. The class that was used in this study consisted of eighteen

students, nine boys and nine girls. This was a full day kindergarten class, which was one of four

in the school. The school, Deerfield School, is located in an extremely affluent area, Short Hills,

New Jersey. Deerfield Elementary is a large, K-5 school with about 580 students in it. This class

had four students with IEPs, about four students that were being watched closely and will most

likely be referred to the child study team in the near future, three students who were extremely

bright and who became bored easily with the slow pace, two students who worked very slow and

had a hard time accomplishing tasks, and five students who struggled with keeping up with the

pace of our activities. Another factor involved was that three of these students, along with other

issues that were mentioned, had severe anxiety and struggled with melting down in class and

keeping up with the workload on a daily basis.


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The class used had a full-time aide assigned to help with the four children with IEPs.

This study could not be done with the entire class of eighteen students without more help

involved. The decision was made early on to focus on only half of the class. For this research,

nine of the eighteen students from the kindergarten classroom were chosen. The participants

involved included the two of the IEP students with severe anxieties and seven of the students

who lost focus easily and started distracting others. The group of students involved in the study

consisted of three girls and six boys.

Types of Data and Collection Procedures. Initially, the class was observed and each of

the nine kindergarten students involved were closely watched for a week to see how often they

were off task and/or not paying attention. The research started off by collecting data on how

often those nine students were distracted and not on task. A data sheet was used and tally marks

were placed on it. A tally mark was placed by their name if and when they were off task or

distracted for every day of one week. Please see Figure 2 for the original data sheet that was

used to collect data.

Figure 2. USED TO RECORD AMOUNT OF TIMES NOT ON TASK (BEFORE/AFTER)

Amount of Times Not on Task

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Student A

Student B

Student C

Student D

Student E

Student F


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Student G

Student H

Student I

After collecting the first set of data, the amount that these students were off task, the class

was introduced to and started using a new token economy system. The teacher discussed the

token economy and how the students could earn point and prizes. The teacher showed the

students that they were able to earn points on the Classdojo for working hard and being on task.

The students were introduced to the website www.classdojo.com. On this website the students

were able to create an avatar that would represent them the class token system. Their avatar

would be displayed on the Classdojo website for them to be able to earn points. The students

were given class time and time at home to make and create their own avatar. The students were

able to choose body color, body shape, body style, eyes, nose, mouth, clothes, and many other

options in order to create their own personal avatar.

While the students were creating their avatars, the teacher used this time to discuss what

behaviors she was looking for in order for the students to earn points. The teacher went over

with the children and they mad a list of behaviors that the teacher could be looking for in order to

earn points. The students came up with a list of behaviors that could earn points. The teacher

typed them on the Smartboard while the students listed them. Please see Figure 3 for the list that

the students created.

After the avatars were completed and the list was made, the class was able to begin using

the system to record points. The teacher had access to the entire class and was able to view all of

the avatars. The Classdojo was either on the Smartboard or on the computer all day, everyday.


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Figure 3. – STUDENT CREATED LIST OF BEHAVIORS THAT COULD EARN A CLASSDOJO POINT.

When the students involved were on task, working hard, or doing anything of the list that

they created as a class, they were either individually or even sometimes as a class rewarded a

dojo point on the computer. The Classdojo site would make a ding sound when a point was

rewarded and it would add a point to their personal avatar. When the Classdojo was on the

Smartboard, a little box would pop up and say who was awarded a point and for what they were

awarded it for. For example, Student A was rewarded 1 point for working hard. When the class

heard the ding they would usually look up to see if it was on the board and whenever they saw it

the students whose name was up their usually got a big smile on their face and their friends

looked at the and would many times give them a silent cheer. Also, those around would try to sit

up and work harder than they were to possibly also earn a point.

The students and parents even had access to the website, www.classdojo.com, to see how

they were doing and how many points they had earned. Parents could eve send messages

through the website to give their children encouraging messages. All of the children would get

Positive Behaviors 1. Sit quietly 2. Use our best listening ears 3. Work quietly 4. Quiet hands and feet 5. Sit up nice and tall 6. Sit like a pretzel on the carpet 7. Quiet voices 8. No talking when the teacher is talking 9. Use our manners 10. Help our friends 11. Try our best!


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really excited when they saw a message from a parent. Whenever there was a message, I would

read it to the class and as a whole they would get very excited to hear them.

Students also had a sticker chart. I would give them a sticker on their sticker chart

whenever they reached five dojo points. Whenever they reached five points, they would get a

sticker and go to our class prize box and pick a prize. The sticker chart helped me to keep track

of everyone that received their prizes and it was another incentive for the students since any

kindergarten students love to get stickers.

Points were collected online from March 2nd to April 24th as a data collection to keep

track of how each student is doing. The Classdojo was used to give out points to each student

when they were working hard and on task. When students earned five points they were able to

pick a prize out of the prize box. When students earned twenty points they earned a certificate.

After the initial data was completed, data was collected again one last time, the last

week of the study. The data was collected from April 27th through May 1st. During this time, the

nine students were closely watched, again, to see how often they are off task and/or not paying

attention after the token economy was implemented and they had earned points and prizes for on

task behavior. Please see Figure 4 for the results of this second set of data.

Data Analysis The data was collected, organized, and analyzed. Once the data was

collected, it was quantified and entered into Excel spreadsheets. The spreadsheets were then used

to compare the differences before and after the use of the token economy in the classroom. The

first set of data was used as a baseline for the study. This first set of data consisted of the chart

of tally marks, which were entered into a baseline spreadsheet in Excel. This information that

was collected was used to see how often these nine students were off task in a one-week period.

The first spreadsheet showed that these nine students were off task and distracted 549 times in a


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one-week period prior to implementing the Classdojo reward system. Please see Figure 4 below

for the data results collected.

Figure 4 – HOW OFTEN STUDENTS WERE OFF TASK BEFORE THE TOKEN ECONOMY WAS IMPLEMENTED.

Amount of Times Not on Task


Student A 6 8 7 5 9

Student B 13 11 13 9 15

Student C 19 17 20 16 20

Student D 20 18 19 19 19

Student E 8 7 9 6 8

Student F 15 17 15 17 19

Student G 12 13 11 9 12

Student H 11 10 8 8 9

Student I 8 7 9 7 11

Total for Each Day 112 108 111 96 122

After the first set of data was collected, the Classdojo was put into place. Students started

to earn points for their avatar. They would earn points for being on task and for working hard.

As students earned points, they started to earn stickers and prizes too. The students could earn a

sticker and a prize for every five points that they earned. Figure 5 shows what the Classdojo

website looked like. In addition to the data being collected, the Classdojo points being earned,


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and the stickers and prizes being given out, a class journal was kept to keep notes on what the

teacher was seeing through this research.

Figure 5 – TEACHER VIEW OF CLASSDOJO

After the initial time period was over, data was collected again the week of May 4th to

May 8th. Once again, data was collected for a second time to see how many times those nine

students were off task after the reward system was put into place. Please see Figure 6. For the

second time, those students were monitored and a tally mark was given for every time they were

off task in a one-week period. The teacher planned on using the two sheets to compare the

difference on off task behavior before implementing this token economy and after. The teacher

wanted to see if there was a difference in the class before after this system was started and to see

if their were any changes in the students’ behaviors with this new system.

At the end of the study, the times off task were analyzed and reviewed to see to what

effect the new token economy had on the students involved in the study. The data was analyzed


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to see if there was an effect on the class being on task with the use of the new positive

reinforcement system that was set in place. The information was used answer the question: To

what effect does a token economy have on my class?

Figure 6 - HOW OFTEN STUDENTS WERE OFF TASK AFTER THE TOKEN ECONOMY

WAS IMPLEMENTED.

Amount of Times Not on Task After Token Reinforcements


Student A 3 4 2 1 5

Student B 6 5 7 2 8

Student C 9 8 10 3 11

Student D 10 9 8 8 7

Student E 5 3 2 2 4

Student F 8 9 9 7 8

Student G 2 3 5 3 5

Student H 3 1 2 2 3

Student I 1 2 2 4 5

Total for each day 47 44 47 32 56

VI. Findings

For the most part, I was impressed with the findings of this study. With the use of the

data collected, the Classdojo, journal, sticker charts, and prizes I was able to see a significant

decrease in the amount of time that these students were off task. One can see that in the first set

of data that was collected, the students were off a total of 549 times in a one week period. Then

when you look at the data that was collected at the end of the study, those same students were off


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task a total of only 226 times in a one-week period. That is a difference of 323. The graph in

Figure 7 shows you the difference for each student before the token economy was implemented

and after it was implemented. One can see how the numbers in the second chart are significantly

lower then the first time. Each student involved showed a smaller amount of times that they

were off task or distracted.

Figure 7. – GRAPH DECPICTING HOW OFTEN THE STUDENTS WERE OFF TASK

BEFORE COMPARED TO AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TOKEN ECONOMY.

When you look at the findings in this study you can see that all of the students involved

had a decrease in their off task behavior. Each individual student was found to be off task less


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the second time around then than during the first time. Please see Figures 6.A – through 6.I.

One can see that Student D had the largest decrease in off task behavior. Student D’s behavior

decreased by 53. Students A and I had the smallest decrease in behavior. These two only

decreased their number by 20. All of the other students involved also decreased. Student B

decreased by 33, Student C decreased by 51, Student E decreased by 22, Student F decreased by

42, Student G decreased by 39, and Student H decreased by 35.

With the findings of this study, the students were off task less than the first set of data

collected. The range of how much less was between 20 and 53 less times that they were off task

and not working hard in a one-week span.

Another interesting finding was that students showed to be more off task on Fridays. In

the first set of data the second highest day off task result was on Monday but on the second set of

data Monday & Wednesday were tied with the second highest amount of off task behavior. For

some reason, the Thursdays in each set of data has the smallest amount of off task behavior.

FIGURES 6.A-I – EACH STUDENT’S INDIVIDUAL AMOUNTS OFF-TASK BEFORE AND AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TOKEN ECONOMY.

6.A. STUDENT A 6.B. STUDENT B 6.C. STUDENT C


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In large, once the data was collected and reviewed, the graphs clearly show a significant

decrease in off task behavior. Implementing this token reward system into the classroom was a

major success. After reading the journal entries, it was noticed that students were excited when

they heard the ding of the Classdojo website. They were even excited if they could not see the

website and they could only hear the sound coming from the teacher’s computer. Whenever the

class heard that sound, majority of the students would sit up tall, try to work hard, and would

focus on the task that they were working on. The students knew that when they heard that sound

they were being observed and that I was looking for students who were on task. Also, whenever

one of the students received a prize, many of the other students would become more aware of

being on task as well.

6.D. STUDENT D 6.E. STUDENT E 6.F. STUDENT F

6.H. STUDENT H 6.I. STUDENT I 6.G. STUDENT G


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The journal entries aided in helping the teacher realize that as students watched other

students get rewarded, they in turn seemed to become more into doing the right thing so that they

too could get a reward. It was noticed that on a daily basis students were cognizant of others

around them and what they needed to do to get rewards. The students would feed off of each

other and try to earn what their friends were earning. Students would even go up to the teacher

and say, “I was on task and working quietly. Can I get a dojo point?”.

This token reward system was a success overall. Students had become extrinsically

motivated to work hard and stay on task. This token reward system was a way to add positive

reinforcement into the classroom. Students became extremely excited about earning points and

getting prizes. It was even great to see parents getting involved and sending messages through

the Classdojo. Overall, it was a great experience and it was nice to see the students staying on

task more often, having fun in the classroom, and getting excited to do well in class.

I learned that the students did better when they saw their friends getting praised and

doing well. I learned that I could use positive reinforcement in my classroom rather than the

negative reinforcement.

VII. Implications

Kindergarteners can easily get off task. They can easily be distracted and not pay

attention. Throughout this study I was able to see what effect would be if I, as the teacher,

implemented an extrinsic positive reinforcement system in the classroom. Throughout this study,

I was able to see how five and six year old would behave when they saw and heard their

classmates getting points and rewards for being on task and working hard. I was able to use

positive rewards to encourage them to do the right thing in the classroom.


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Throughout this study, the nine students involved had significantly decreased their time

off task. They had significantly increased their time on task. The findings in this study were

valuable the participants involved and for me, as the educator. As the educator, I found a way to

reach my students in a positive way rather than a negative one. I found a way to decrease the off

task behavior by focusing on the positive behavior instead of calling out the negative behavior.

With this study, I was able to get more accomplished in my curriculum and time the spent

on my Phonics went from over an hour to less than 30 minutes. This study helped me to have a

better classroom management and get through more of the curriculum in a timely manner.

Students in class can be distracted or on task for a number of reasons. Some reasons could be

because they are not motivated, they are not feeling well, they are in a bad mood, they don’t

want to be there, or they could be having troubles either at home or at school. Each day,

depending on what is happening in the child’s life, could depend on if the child is in a good

mood or bad mood and if they are ready to learn. These outside factors could have an effect on

the students and how well they do on a particular day.

While looking back at all of the research and data analysis, students did make changes.

They did better the second time around. The students in the study were on task more and

following directions more. They received many points and earned many prizes. The conclusion

is that the token reward system can help. The token economy did have an effect on my

kindergarten class.

VIII. Limitations

This research did have its’ limitations, one limitation being trying to do research as a

teacher without assistance. Trying to do research in a class with 18 students can be very tricky.


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Trying to teach and take accurate data can be tough. Being that I was the classroom teacher

trying to deal with 18 students I wasn’t able to see everything. There may have been times when

the students where off task that I missed and did not get a chance to record. Also, there may

have been times when kids were on task and I missed it while dealing with other children. I am

human and only one person, it is not easy to run a study and collect data while being a full time

teacher.

Another limitation was that we had spring break during the time period of implementing

the Classdojo. The kids get very excited around that time of year and many kids end up being

off task more than usual. Many of our students go away on fun vacations for spring break, so

leading up to and after spring break can be difficult since many of the students are focused of

what they will be doing or what they di on their spring break. This can cause them to be

distracted. Also, once one person starts talking about the vacations, the many others love to

chime in. It makes it difficult to keep their attention.

One other limitation that I found was that one of the students involved started out as a

regular education student and ended up becoming classified. When this happened, this student

was put into a replacement class. This made it more difficult to obtain the data. I had to have

my aide or the resource teacher help out to mark the times he was off task.

The last limitation that I found would be starting this new reward system midyear as

apposed to the beginning of the year. When you start off the beginning of the year on the right

foot it helps the success of the classroom. If I started this token economy in September, who

knows if I would have even had as many of the off task behaviors as I did. When students come

in September, we always set the procedures and rules. I feel that I may have been more

successful if I would have started the year off with this rather than midyear.


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IX. Emerging Questions

A few questions arose while I was conducting my research. The first one occurred when

I was conducting my research and I was taking a class called The Arts and Science of

Motivation. This class debated about the use intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards in a classroom. This

class tried to prove that it was more beneficial to get the students intrinsically rewarded rather

than extrinsically rewarded. This class did not find positives to using a reward system and

giving out stickers and prizes. This said that students involved in a reward system are doing well

to please the teacher and not doing well for themselves. This class talked about the competition

involved in a reward system and how that is unhealthy. The class pointed teachers to move away

from these systems and to find ways that the students could be intrinsically motivated. So my

first question that I had was, “What would have more of an effect on a classroom, intrinsic or

extrinsic rewards?”

Another emerging question that I had was, “How would having someone in the class

taking data, while I taught, effect the results of this study?” I felt that some of the numbers may

have been more or less if someone else was solely in my class to collect data. If I had someone

in my class that would solely collect data, I would be able to do my job of teaching and wouldn’t

be taken away from the research if something in the classroom went wrong or if it was just a

busy time. Another great reason for having another person involved in the study would be that I

the teacher, would be given someone to collaborate with while doing the research and analyzing

the data. Two heads working together are always better than one. We would be able to bounce

ideas off of each other and be more productive with the research.


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A third question I came up with as I was doing the research was, “To what effect does the

larger class have on the study of 9 students? Would the results be different if it was just a class of

those 9 students without anyone else in it?” I was thinking that if those 9 students were in a class

of only them, then maybe the results would be different. Maybe the students involved were more

distracted by the other extra 9 students in the class. If there were a smaller class size, would

there be a difference in the survey?

One last question I had was, “Would this study be different if it was started in the

beginning of the year rather than mid year?” Does maturity of the students later on in the year

have an effect on the results as well? Kindergarteners come to school in September almost like

babies. They are so immature and young. When they leave in June it is amazing the difference

and how much they have grown. I became curious if the numbers being lower in May could

have been more from them growing and maturing too? I was curious if I would have seen a

difference if I started it in September and completed it in December, would there be a difference?

X. Conclusion

This teacher research was beneficial to my students and me as their teacher. As a teacher,

I was able to get to know my students and use positive reinforcement to motivate them to be on

task and work hard. I learned in this study that I did not need to keep reminding my students to

stay on task and verbally speak to them about not working hard. Instead, I was able to look for

the positives and praise them for doing well. In turn, those around saw this wanted was looking

for the same praise. Kids like attention, whether it is positive or even negative sometimes. Some

will take the attention any way they can take it.


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By using this token economy it effected my classroom management. It effected how the

students acted in class. Students in my class were able to see me praise them and others around.

When they would see me praise others they would become more aware of what they were doing

and try harder to be on task. I realized that in some ways it helped my students to become more

self-aware. I saw them smile and have fun. I saw students who before, I may have needed to

remind them several time to do something, now they were just doing it on their own when they

heard me praising someone else for doing the same thing. I feel that this research was extremely

beneficial to me as the teacher and to the students in my class. I feel like we all made gains this

year from it. The token economy in my kindergarten classroom did have a positive effect of both

the teacher and the students.

XI. Implementation Plan

Since this research was successful in my classroom for the second half of the year, I feel

like it would only be fitting to try it next year starting at the beginning of the school year. I plan

on setting up a token economy in my classroom starting with the first week of school. I plan on

having the students create a list of rules and procedures for our classroom. I plan on surveying

the new students to find out their likes and dislikes. I would like to come up with new prizes and

rewards for the new class that would work well with their likes and dislikes. I plan to start the

Classdojo on the First Day of school. My hope for the future is that the more I implement the

token economy and tweak it each new school year, the better my classroom climate and

management will become.

This study may be helpful to others who are struggling with their own classroom climates

or management skills. A teacher who may be struggling could take the information in this study

and try it in his or her own classroom. He or she could try it and see if they too get the same


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results as I had. By reading my research they could get all that they would need to organize,

plan, set-up, and implement a token reward system in their own classroom.

With my own personal class, I felt like they were able to grow and become more self-

aware. I felt like this was a positive experience for them. My students were able to have fun and

enjoy being in school. With this token reward system in place, my students were able to see

themselves and other around them being successful. I was praising them more and giving them

the positive attention that they needed. My class became more successful, we were able to

accomplish more and enjoy doing it. This token economy had a positive effect on my students’

learning.

Overall, I believe that this study was helpful to me in becoming a better and more

successful teacher. Is was helpful to my students because it helped them to be more successful,

try harder, and accomplish more. It is also to other teachers who may be struggling.


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References

Chevalier, Nicole Taylor (2012, August 15). Paper the token economy: Reducing the disruptive

and off-task behavior. City University of Seattle.

Mirzamani SM, Ashoori M, Sereshki NA. (2011). The effect of social and token economy

reinforcements on academic achievement of students with intellectual disabilities.

Iran J Psychiatry, Winter; 6 (1), 25-30.

Neitzel, J. (2009). Steps for implementation: Token economy programs. Chapel Hill, NC:

The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, Frank

Porter Graham Child Development Institute, The University of North Carolina.

Token economy. (n.d.) Retrieved From

http://www.iseesam.com/teachall/text/behavior/LRBIpdfs/Token.pdf

Webster, J. (2015). Token systems build cooperation. Retrieved February 3, 2015, From

http://specialed.about.com/od/behavioremotional/a/tokeneconomy.htm

kindergarten token economy: randi jones the college of ......token economy article discussed the...

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