This conference report consists of two presented papers and a selected bibliography. The paper by Joan Gussow, "Behavioral Management and Educational Goals," is concerned with operant conditioning as a theory of learning and an instructional method. Basing their methods on the work of B.F. Skinner, educators who are proponents of this…

Motivational devices are useful in content-area reading because the content load of most content textbooks is so extensive that few if any students can be expected to understand all that an author intends to communicate. Many students who are inexperienced with the subject matter are unable to read the assignments independently. The recognition of…

Recent research into the relationship between cultural background and cognitive style has suggested that Mexican-American children typically display a "field-dependent" style as opposed to the "field-independent" style usually exhibited by Anglo children. Teachers of Mexican-American children should consider this difference in developing their…

This teaching module is developed for use in inservice training for parent educators who serve as home visitors. It may be used by teachers, parent volunteers, paraprofessionals, or other adults who want to develop home learning activities that meet the individual needs of children. This module shows a home visitor how to solicit ideas for…

This study was designed to determine the effects of two teacher responses on rate of oral reading. The teacher responses were the simple response of correcting a mispronounced word and the response of praise contingent on correct reading while ignoring all errors. The subjects were four boys ranging in age from nine to twelve from a residential…

Three groups of twenty-five children in fourth-grade reading classes were selected for this study. The subjects in class one received plastic tokens for desirable reading responses. The tokens were exchanged for release time from the classroom while reading instruction was in progress. The subjects in class two also received tokens for desirable…

Compared was the effectiveness of punishment and positive reinforcement on the nonattending behaviors and academic achievement of 18 elementary grade children in two special classes for children with social or adjustment problems. During the positive reinforcement condition each student earned a slash mark whenever he was observed attending to…

This research investigated the effects of employing fixed, variable, and extended token exchange periods for back-ups on the completion and accuracy of daily assignments for a total fifth and sixth-grade class. The results indicated that, in general, a higher percentage of assignments was completed when the number of days between point exchanges…

The book is intended to be used as a handbook by teachers, to enable them to become acquainted with the general principles and latest techniques which have proved effective in changing children's behavior. Topics include reinforcement systems, the token economy, evaluation, and curriculum. (CS)

This booklet is an instructional aid for teacher trainers. Its aim is to help trainers familiarize teachers with the theory and proper use of the Reinforced Readiness Requisites (RRR) program, a series of 145 lessons designed to give standard kindergarten and first grade entry and reading readiness skills to Mexican-American and Indian children.…

Positive social reinforcement (teacher attention) was used to modify the deficient social behavior of two disadvantaged Negro kindergarten children. Subjects were a girl who showed a very high amount of isolate behavior, and a boy who usually played alone, or with girls to the exclusion of boys. Data were collected for one month during half hour…

This study determined the effects of assigning students from speech classes to one of 14 positive sociometrically determined groups, 14 negative sociometrically determined groups, or 14 randomly determined groups upon individuals' satisfaction with the group and the time needed to solve a specific test problem. All significant differences among…

Outlined are plans for a 9-month elementary school-wide program of token reinforcement for the trainable mentally retarded (TMR), which is said to allow for later additional components. Program focus is to be application of reinforcement to TMR academic work. All children will take the Metropolitan Readiness Test in pretest and posttest design for…

To understand the developmental bases of moral-rational behavior in children, the effectiveness of four training paradigms in modifying social behavior was compared. The specific behavior studied was that of taking-turns in situations where mutual assistance was necessary in order for either of two children to receive prizes. The four training…

Six severely disabled young adults were taught to self-monitor work rate on job tasks, evaluate daily performance against a criterion, and recruit contingent feedback from supervisors. Performance results indicated a functional relationship between self-recruited feedback and maintenance of improved work rate. (Author/JW)