Collateral gains and short-term maintenance in reading and on-task responses by inner-city adolescents as a function of their use of social reinforcement while tutoring.

The team worked with 12- to young learners in an inner-city classroom. Half the teens became reading tutors for younger kids. The tutors earned tokens each time they gave real praise for on-task behavior. The study tracked both the tutors' own reading time and their tutees' scores.

Two small experiments were run. In each, baseline data came first, then the token system started, then it stopped to check if gains held.

When tutors got tokens for praising, their own on-task reading jumped from about a large share to over a large share. Their tutees' oral reading accuracy also rose by 10-15 percentage points.

Gains dipped a little when tokens ended but stayed well above baseline, showing the skill stuck.

Lydersen et al. (1974) did something similar eight years earlier. They gave tokens directly to elementary boys for correct reading work. Disruption fell to almost zero. The new study moves the tokens one step back: reward the tutor for praising, not the kid for answering. Both paths work, but the tutor route helps a whole class at once.

Petursdottir et al. (2019) updated the idea. They added a quick functional assessment and then slowly faded the tokens. Their disruption dropped a large share and engagement rose a large share, bigger jumps than D et al. saw. The newer package shows we can get even stronger effects if we tailor the system and plan an exit.

Clark et al. (1973) used tokens for creative writing, not reading. Again, tokens tied to specific academic parts boosted output. The pattern is clear: tokens plus clear targets lift schoolwork across subjects and ages.

You can turn chatty teens into on-task readers by making them the praise-givers. Train them to notice and compliment on-task behavior, then back their praise with a token they care about. The younger kids get more help, the tutors get more reading time, and you get a calmer classroom. Start small: pick two peer tutors, give each five tokens worth one minute of computer time, and pay them only when you hear real praise. Watch the ripple effect.