Article Citation:
Denise A. Soares,
Judith R. Harrison,
Kimberly J. Vannest, and
Susan S. McClelland (
2016) Effect Size for Token Economy Use in Contemporary Classroom Settings: A Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Research. School Psychology Review: December 2016, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 379-399.
Effect Size for Token Economy Use in Contemporary Classroom Settings: A Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Research
Denise A. Soares
University of Mississippi
Judith R. Harrison
Rutgers University
Kimberly J. Vannest
Texas A&M University
Susan S. McClelland
University of Mississippi
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Denise A. Soares,
University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 1848, 49 Guyton Drive University, MS 38677
; e-mail:
References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.
Denise A. Soares, PhD, is the Assistant Department Chair of Teacher Education, an assistant professor of special education, and Special Education Program Coordinator at the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include applied and practical experiences in academic and behavior interventions for at-risk students, as well as examining the efficacy of those interventions in classroom settings where teachers have competing time demands.
Judith R. Harrison, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology–Special Education at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her research interests include the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of assessment, interventions, and other services for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Kimberly J. Vannest, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology–Special Education at Texas A&M University. Her research interests are in determining effective interventions for children and youth with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, including teacher behaviors and measurement.
Susan S. McClelland, PhD, is an associate professor of educational leadership and Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include leadership for students with disabilities, literacy, school and organizational culture, and issues relating to rural education.
Associate Editor: Lisa Bowman-Perrott
Recent meta-analyses of the effectiveness of token economies (TEs) report insufficient quality in the research or mixed effects in the results. This study examines the contemporary (post-Public Law 94-142) peer-reviewed published single-case research evaluating the effectiveness of TEs. The results are stratified across quality of demonstrated functional relationship using a nonparametric effect size (ES) that controls for undesirable baseline trends in the analysis. In addition, moderators (i.e., classroom setting, age of participant, outcomes, use of response cost, and use of verbal cueing) were analyzed. Eighty-eight AB phase contrasts were calculated from 28 studies (1980–2014) representing 90 participants and produced a weighted mean ES of 0.82 (SE = 0.03, 95% CI [0.77, 0.88]). Strong quality produced a combined weighted mean ES of 0.85 (SE = 0.642, 95% CI [0.74, 0.97]). Moderator analyses revealed that a TE was slightly more effective for youth between the ages of 6 and 15 years than for children between the ages of 3 and 5 years or when used with behavioral goals in comparison to academic goals. However, no difference was found when implemented in general or special education settings or with the inclusion of response cost or verbal cueing.
Received: April 4, 2015; Accepted: August 26, 2015;
Copyright 2016 by the National Association of School Psychologists
