Teacher-Controlled and Self-Controlled Reinforcement with Underachieving Black Children

Abstract

Four black, male fourth-graders served in a set of single-subject, intensive studies on the comparative effects of teacher-controlled (TCR) and self-controlled reinforcement (SCR). They attended a one-hour tutoring class three days a week for 14 weeks. Four academic behaviors and four indices of academic achievement constituted the measures of outcome. Each child participated in at least two baseline phases, two TCR phases, and two SCR phases, each lasting two weeks. The order of presenting the active treatment conditions was counterbalanced across subjects. Within- and across-subject analyses were made. Both types of analysis showed SCR to be more effective than TCR in increasing academic behaviors. This difference in effectiveness did not appear consistently on the nontreated academic behaviors, but the achievement data did demonstrate generalized differential effects favoring SCR.