The first and most important need/material is a computer, preferably a laptop, preferably with a good spreadsheet program such as Open Office(Spreadsheet Example). The teacher will keep a master ledger for each student. This takes between 10 to 45 minutes per day, depending on the level of activity for a particular day, or the number of activities involved. In my case, the longest period spent is after Friday, which I input Saturday morning. Like I said, it does take some work. Using cut, copy and paste functions, as well as SUM functions (all easy to learn and use, actually, as there are single buttons for most of these) the economy can be maintained quite simply.
Each Student needs a small writing journal book in which to keep their ledger. I give the first one free, and subsequent ones (if lost) at exorbitant prices. The teacher will need to spend a minimum of 5 minutes each day maintaining the ledgers and economy. The most time spent is approximately 20-25 minutes on Monday. On this day I check the students accuracy. We do this orally so that all the students know where the economy is and where they rank within the economy at that particular time. At this time it is also important to periodically reinforce cognizance of values and costs within the economy, as well as heap praise upon those students who are accurately keeping their ledgers. There will be more on this later.
A significant effort is needed on the part of the teacher to maintain the economy and keep it alive. In order for the credits to truly have value, they must become an integral part of daily classroom life. Credits should be liberally awarded for constructive behaviors. They should also be taken for incongruous and negative behavior. Also, the students need to be able to purchase things with their credits. I have found that selling of privileges works very well. I will list some ideas later. A Final Solution is needed for the student who does not buy into the economy, or who fails to work satisfactorily, or who behaves poorly enough to lose (or to not gain) sufficient credits on a regular basis. If a student falls below zero credits to a negative balance, that student must repay. I find the withdrawal of recess works well for most students, but not for all. If a student keeps a negative balance for more than one week for any reason (they can overspend if they have a good credit rating), they must pay interest. I charge a flat rate of 10% per week.