A Practical Procedure to Maintain Pupils' Accurate Self-Rating in a Classroom Token Program

Abstract

A procedure to produce and maintain accurate self-rating was examined in a special education class of a children's psychiatric facility. Four subjects completed individualized arithmetic assignments under three experimental conditions in a multiple-baseline design: Baseline, consisting of teacher-scoring; Reinforced Self-Reporting, consisting of self-scoring for reinforcement; and Surveillance, consisting of self-scoring for reinforcement and submission of the completed assignments to the teacher with threat of punishment for inaccuracies. The threat, however, was never actually carried out. For three subjects, self-ratings were exaggerated during Reinforced Self-Reporting, but became highly accurate during Surveillance. The same subjects increased their correct arithmetic performance only temporarily during Reinforced Self-Reporting, but showed a marked and persistent increment during Surveillance. The fourth subject self-rated accurately throughout and increased his correct arithmetic performance during Reinforced Self-Reporting, to persist for the remainder of the experiment. Measures of time-cost to the teacher indicated a 50% savings during both self-rating conditions. Possible explanations for the suppressive effects of Surveillance are discussed.