Preschoolers' goal setting with contracting to facilitate maintenance.

Abstract

The effects of goal-setting and child-teacher contracting procedures on the academic performance of 3 preschool children were examined. Goal setting produced substantial improvements in the quantity and quality of the children's work, but did not facilitate maintenance when baselines were reinstated. When performance gains were not maintained following goal setting, a child-teacher contracting procedure was introduced sequentially across subjects using a multiple-baseline design. Contracting also led to improvements in work performance and resulted in children's use of higher self-determined goals and maintenance in subsequent baseline conditions for 2 children. Both interventions increased on-task behavior and generalized to performance during regular work periods. Contracting procedures, however, appear to be a useful transitional phase in goal-setting interventions designed to produce durable effects with young children.