School staff negotiate a contract with a student. If the student meets a specified bar (e.g., ratio of homework turned in on time, attendance level), they earn a predetermined incentive.
All grade levels.
Students who have verifiably demonstrated specific skill(s) in certain situations who need to generalize those skills to more situations (AKA a pure "won't do" problem). For example, a student is consistently engaged and organized in most of her classes, but she is not demonstrating these behaviors in a less preferred class.
Because each contract is uniquely composed to fit an individual student, behavior contracts don't quite fit the mold of a Tier 2 intervention, where the name of the game is to have a standard, "plug and play" approach.
Generally speaking, a Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program would be preferable over behavior contracts because it accomplishes similar things (e.g., increasing prompting, reinforcement) in a more consistent, sustainable manner.
If you have a robust CICO program at Tier 2 and decide to intensify/focus the prompting and reinforcement offered to individual non-responsive students, you may develop behavior contracts for those students and identify this as a Tier 3 intervention.
Meet with the student and cooperatively negotiate the contract. If anyone else will be involved in implementing the contract (e.g., parents, other teachers, administrators, etc.), involve them in this conversation. In order for the contract to work, everyone must have a voice and commit to the final agreement.
Select a priority behavior that you are able to clearly define (i.e., we can reliably say if the student did it or not) and determine how it will be tracked. This might be—for example—an attendance report, a log of homework completion, or a behavior report card.
Identify a reward(s) the student can earn for successful performance. Allow students to participate in the selection of their own rewards to ensure they are meaningful to the student.
Decide how much, how often, and by whom rewards will be given. Be specific in identifying necessary criteria (i.e., "the bar") to obtain a reward. Be sure that this is realistic for the student to achieve. If they're consistently successful, you can always "raise the bar" later on.
Include any mild punishment (e.g., loss of a privilege, time-out, etc.) that will occur as a consequence for inappropriate behavior.
Establish timelines for the contract. Remember that because each student is different and works on a different personalized goal, each student will work on his/her own timeline.
Have all involved sign the contract and be sure that each person receives a copy of the contract.
Implement the contract precisely as it was written — resist the urge to "bend the rules." Frequently engage in proactive and reactive communication (e.g., prompting, chats) to remind the student of the contract. When the student earns a reward, also provide praise and remind the student why they earned the reward. Monitor the contract and revise it or phase it out as needed.
