Programmed Instruction for Institutionalized Offenders: Contingency Management and Performance Contracts

Contractual agreements and contingency management procedures were used in an attempt to increase the productivity of 16 prison inmates studying programmed educational materials. Programmed instruction requires that S respond in a verbal (written) manner to specially constructed questions and/or statements. A question or statement and its corresponding response constitute a “frame.” Ss agreed to complete a progressively greater number of frames per week during an E-management phase. Work was assigned daily by means of a performance contract. During a subsequent self-management phase Ss contracted with themselves to produce more frames than they had completed during the baseline. Following completion of a unit of work during the E-management and self-management phases, S was allowed a 15-min. period in which he could either select an item from a reinforcement menu or opt to return to the study area. Under contingency-management procedures Ss successfully completed the work assigned at first by E and later by themselves. Increased amounts of work were accompanied by greater work efficiency; total time in the work area per day decreased, and the number of frames completed per hour increased. Test performance was better during the contingency-management phases than in the baseline phase.