Token Economy Spotted In The Wild!

SAT., AUG 29, 2009 - 10:14 AM

'Behavior bucks' bloom into garden at school entrance

By GAYLE WORLAND
608-252-6188

gworland@madison.com

When students at Lindbergh Elementary enter their building Tuesday for the first day of school, they’ll pass by new flowering plants and prairie grasses that, in a way, they grew with their own generosity.

It all started with “behavior bucks,” small green slips of paper that serve as currency at the North Side school.

Invented last year by Lindbergh staff, the bucks were designed to curb discipline problems. And the program worked. For a gesture of kindness, children earned a buck on the spot. Perpetual rule-breakers won a buck for obeying the rules. Some made a buck simply by paying attention in a class they normally disrupted ....

Now, I don't know if its a perfect implementation, although the ability to donate 'bucks' to charity is a neat idea. In any case, (apparent) effective use of structured motivational systems by non-behavior analysts deserves support (such as letters to the editor of the State Journal or encouraging emails to the school, hint, hint).
--mjw

ARTICLE URL: http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/463770