Token Economy

Ms. Hendricks Class Cash

In our classroom we use a token economy system.  I explicitly teach students what the expectations in the classroom are by modeling, practicing, showing examples and non-examples, and practicing more!  As a class, we create several lists so everyone understands the token economy.

1. Salary
   Students have an important job at school: participating in their education.  We make a list of what to do each day at different times and the amount students will earn for completing each task.  For example, lining up in the correct spot on time after recess will earn $1 of "Class Cash." Getting the correct supplies or going to the correct station will earn $1 of "Class Cash." 

2. Expectations
   At the beginning of the year the students create a class constitution with basic expectations for behavior, such as treating others with kindness and being safe.  Throughout the year, we talk about what those expectations look like: staying safe might mean keeping your hands to yourself or covering you mouth when you cough.  Students can earn "Class Cash" when they are meeting expectations

3. Fines
   We also make a list of fines that will be taken when a student does not meet expectations.  For example, leaving class without permission costs a student $5 of "Class Cash."

4. Rewards
   Students can spend their class cash on things like snacks, treasure box prizes, and activities they enjoy such as visiting the counselor or playing a game.

Throughout the year we have many lessons about economies and how they relate to both our classroom economy and real life.  We discuss and practice saving, spending, and resources.  The token economy helps students meet expectations and learn about important social studies and math standards.

More information is available about token economies here.

Our Class Constitution

Our Guiding Principles

Standards-Based Grading
& Mastery Learning

How we grade in elementary school

Common Core Standards

The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live. Forty-one states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have voluntarily adopted and are moving forward with the Common Core.  Learn more and read the standards at https://www.thecorestandards.org/.

Mastery Learning

Mastery learning is based on the standards.  Instead of moving through the curriculum at a steady pace, we spend the time students need to master each standard - some go quickly, and some take more time. For example, identifying shapes might take one week for most students to master, while learning to multiply two digits x two digits might take several weeks to master. In each subject, we will be focused on a few standards at a time and continually monitor student progress until the standard is mastered.  Teachers are constantly assessing students based on our observations, progress monitoring assessments, and formal assessments, to determine when a student is showing mastery and ready to move on to new content, instead of grading all assignments, averaging the grades, and moving on to something new just because the week is over.

Standards-Based Mastery Grading

Albuquerque Public Schools uses standards-based mastery grading in elementary school.  Traditionally, you might be expecting a letter grade for each subject that is comprised of all the assignments done over the grading period averaged together.  With standards based grading and mastery learning, you see that scores are reported differently: there are no letter grades, and we do not average all assignments from the grading period in order to get a percentage.  Instead, we continually monitor student progress and look at a variety of data collected from different types of assessments to determine if a student has mastered a standard.  When we score report cards, it is a snapshot in time that shows the level of mastery for each standard so far this year.  You might start the year seeing 1s & 2s, and end the year seeing 3s & 4s.  Or, you might see a 3 or 4 early on in the year, and then an "NA," indicating that after the skill was mastered, it was not taught again.  You might see this with different levels of multiplication: once a student scores a 3 or 4 on single digit multiplication, we will not score that standard again; instead, you might see scores on multiple digit multiplication next.  NA might also indicate that instruction was not provided towards that standard during the grading period: for example, if we were learning about earth science in the first quarter, you might not see scores for life science or physical science until the second and third quarters.

Mastery Rubric

1 = Beginning steps, or not proficient
2 = Progressing, or making progress towards the standard, not yet mastered
3 = Proficient, this standard has been mastered
4 = Advanced, the student is showing skills beyond what is expected in this grade
NA = Not Applicable, instruction was not provided for this standard during this grading period

Grades for Each Student

You will be getting two reports for your child when each quarterly grading period ends:

1. Standards Based Report Card: This shows the 1, 2, 3, 4 towards grade level standards.  General education and special education teachers score these marks.

2. "Additional Academic Support" is also listed on the Standards Based Report Card.  This shows a 1, 2, 3, or 4 towards intervention or special education curriculum in small group classrooms.  Interventionists and special education teachers score these marks.

3. IEP Progress Towards Goals Report: This will show a mastery score, a quantitative score, and commentary towards each IEP goal a student has.  These scores are at individual skill level, not grade level.  Special education teachers score these marks.
   IEP Progress rubric:
   1 = Your child did not work on this goal during the reporting period (explanation will be provided)
   2 = Progress is not sufficient to meet this goal by the time the IEP is reviewed.  An IEP review will be held immediately.
   3 = Progress has been made towards the goal, but the goal may not be met.  Instrucional strategies may need to be changed.
   4 = Progress has been made towards the goal.  It appears that the goal will be met by the next IEP review.
   5 = Progress is at or above what is required to meet the goal by the next review.