1. Preface
Myth: Alternative education is all about teachers being ​relational​.
Fact: At­risk students require both a nurturing learning environment/relational teaching
style and structure [consistently reinforced expectations and non­negotiable
procedures].
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Token economies​ are incentive­based systems designed to shape behaviors.
If you need evidence that they work, consider the global monetary system.
Everyone works for carrots.
Certainly, every adult is driven by the conscious decision to endure certain experiences
in order to gain certain benefits.
However, while economic systems are powerful enough to shape behaviors, they fall
abysmally short of shaping changes in the human heart.
Simple pleasures [food, recreation, new experiences] can captivate the imagination for
a time, but these are not the innate desires that satisfy the heart.
In their heart, everyone wants these 3 things:
1. The ability to learn at a deep level and develop expertise [self­regulation]
2. The need to discover a deeper meaning and purpose to life [self­examination]
3. The freedom to control and direct their own lives [self­determination]
These are the real carrots of life.
To that end, we need to help students identify and accomplish short­term goals and
enjoy the benefits afforded to polite society.
We do this by putting students in charge of creating a token economy, which
encourages students to ​self­regulate​ in order to gain daily and weekly privileges [which
they​ esteem], while tracking their performance on an hourly basis in 4 domains:

2.
● On time/Present
● Prepared/Initiates tasks promptly/Participates
● Completes assignment
● Supports community values and procedures [behavioral norms]
Notice, as self­regulation and self­examination skills increase, the opportunity to
demonstrate ​self­determination​ increases: and students are able to participate in
special activities, field trips, and service­learning projects.
Token economies help students develop the soft skills [timeliness, work ethic, civility,
honesty, etc.] that lead to success. They work well with students who …
● Are often off­task.
● Lack organizational skills.
● Struggle to comply with routine procedures.
● Refuse to acknowledge responsibility for personal choices.
● Are unwilling to stretch themselves academically.
Of course, the relative power of a token economy lies in how it is created: is it artificially
contrived and externally imposed; ​or is it crafted through consensus​?
Here’s our community mission: “We can help build a community whose values and
procedures we support and respect.”
Achieving this mission requires students to engage in a highly interactive process
[students quickly learn that personal advocacy requires personal participation] involving
all of the following:
● Speaking
● Listening
● Understanding
● Debating
● Building consensus
● Decision­making
Too often, because teachers fear the potential power of their students’ collective
consciousness, they attempt to censor their input, rather than encouraging free and
open discussion.

3.
Self­determination is a power to be harnessed, not feared.
Young people possess an inherent and highly activated understanding of natural law
[the justice of the conscience] and, if empowered, prefer a healthy, nurturing learning
environment above a toxic culture.
Ask them the right questions, and they will give you the right answers:
● What is the difference between toxic and nurturing language? [Ask for examples.]
● What are the only choices that you can really control every day?
● Your attitude
● How you treat others
● How hard you work
● How honest you are
● Are the things that you really want out of life [a good job, marriage, lifestyle] really
choices­­or are these things the natural consequence of good habits [making good
choices consistently]?
It’s their community; let them build it.
What’s the Deal with the Tokens?
The use of the tokens has both a symbolic and practical purpose.
First, tokens have a real value, as they determine which community privileges students
can enjoy.
However, this real­world value is actually symbolic of a critical teaching belief­­that all
students possess the inherent capability to learn new beliefs and develop new habits
with appropriate supports​­­and therefore, any present inability to meet community
expectations is ​a temporary condition​.
Secondly, the way the tokens are used helps practically define the social and moral
boundaries of our community and reinforce the natural relationship that exists between
choice and consequence.
Tokens come in 3 colors [green, yellow, or red]. Each color grants students access to
different levels of daily and weekly privileges, as negotiated by students with their

4. teacher and administrator:
● Green Level [total access]
● Yellow Level [partial access]
● Red Level [no access]
How It Works
● Each day, students begin with the color they ended with on the prior day. [New
students start on green.]
● Teachers evaluate hourly:
● A violation moves students down one level. Notice, students do not move down
more than one level per hour, except under the following conditions:
● Repeated violations of significant intensity and duration [teacher
discretion]: move directly to Red and fill out an intervention sheet; if the
issue continues, report to office
● Mandated reporting incidents [sexual harassment/bullying/violence]:
immediate office visit; move to Red for the rest of the day
● Students have an opportunity to move up one level every hour
● After moving to Red, an intervention sheet is used before an office visit
[exception: mandated reporting]
● An intervention sheet may be used as a pass into the hall [directly outside of class]
and filled out as a ‘cooling off’ period; the sheet does not have to be returned to
the teacher.
● If a student is sent home, they automatically go to level 3 for the week
The goal of the intervention process is simple and non­confrontational: to help students
recognize their real choices and how those choices affect their lives.
● Short­term​ … to initiate a non­confrontational means of communication that holds
students accountable for violating community values and procedures.
● Long­term​ … to teach students that conversation is the appropriate means to deal
with conflict and disagreement.
● To give students a voice in their community
● To help students become aware of the perspective of other community members
● To help students become aware of their own thought processes
● To help students identify new ways of thinking and acting [coping skills]

5. ● To help student improve communication skills
There are 4 primary advantages to using a token economy:
● It addresses violations of community procedures and values in a way that eliminates
students’ emotional uncertainties, simplifies their decision­making processes, and
promotes trust in the student­teacher relationship during times of conflict.
● It creates a space [interval of time] for students to process their error and
decompress emotionally [when needed].
● It communicates that social privileges are the natural consequence of fulfilling social
responsibilities.
● It minimizes the need for teacher­student interaction when making behavioral
interventions.
Initially, communication is non­verbal [the physical exchange of tokens], unless students
ask for an explanation: explanations may be as little as a word [to trigger recollection of
an established community value or procedure] or as much as a sentence [but no more].
● Once [and only when] community members are able to exchange tokens in an
emotionally­controlled fashion, students are asked to self­identify why the chip
exchange occurred:
1. A problem related to ​my​ ​attitude
2. A problem related to ​how I treat others
3. A problem related to ​how hard I work
4. A problem related to ​how honest I am
● A warning​:
● Physical tokens are never used to punish or demand agreement, but to
increase self­awareness and broaden social understanding.
● Consequently, it is only important that both the student and teacher’s
perspective are briefly and informally shared: the process itself creates
agreement naturally over time.
Why Token Economies Fail
Here’s the difficult concept that’s hard for some staff members to master: we have to

6. communicate to students that they are capable problem­solvers, wholly capable of
self­regulation and introspection.
The first way we do that is by inviting their participation in creating the community
contract: ​the primary reason that token economies fail is that they lack authentic
student dialogue and direction​.
Of course, if students are capable, they must have the option to fail­­and learn from and
own that failure­­for this teaches students that failure is not a permanent condition, but a
temporary [and often necessary] stage of learning and growth.
However, it is most often ​when things are working​ that teachers begin to undermine the
integrity of the intervention process.
Why would they do this?
There is a natural tendency to want to reward vastly improved academic and social
functioning with mercy, even though a community value or procedure has been violated.
This danger must be avoided, for it communicates 3 deadly lies:
● Truth is variable.
● Justice is subject to favoritism.
● And teachers do not respect community values and procedures.
Finally, there is a temptation for teachers to revert back to old habits: operating as an
overbearing authoritarian, instead of as a conversational, moral authority.
Notice, nothing is done by force­­but everything, by invitation and opportunity­­through
the creation of a safe, stable community environment built upon established values and
procedures.