A motivational environment for behaviorally deviant junior high school students.

A contingency management program was established in a junior high school to better manage and educate students having histories of severe misconduct. School administration selected 46 eighth-graders having multiple suspensions for misbehavior. Students (N = 32) in two of the schools remained in traditional programs, serving as controls, whereas students (N = 14) in the third school participated in a token reinforcement program. Reinforcers provided in the afternoon were contingent upon achievement and discipline during morning academic periods. Home-based reinforcers were established to support school behavior. Compared with the control group, significant reductions in negative school behavior as well as greater increases in academic achievement were obtained for the treatment group, thus supporting the efficacy of contingency management for adolescents school misbehavior.