The Effective Use of Teacher Assistants

Peggy Hayden and Ann Marie Dubuque
Teacher Assistants Website

(From their abstract)

This session will address strategies being used in RI to support districts in the effective use of teacher assistants. These include state and local leadership and infrastructure development, policy, data collection, and professional development strategies and resources. Participants will be made aware of a module on the Effective Use of Teacher Assistants that they can download for free at http://www.ritap.org/ta on the Resources webpage and adapt to their situation.

Session Description: Using an interactive lecture format, this session will highlight state and local:

  1. Leadership and infrastructure development
  2. Policy including state standards and guidelines and local policy development
  3. Data collection including a new statewide computerized data collection system that is under development for collecting and analyzing data at state and local levels related to TA qualifications, assignments and professional development acquired and needed.
  4. Professional development strategies and resources including use of a module on the Effective Use of Teacher Assistants that they can download for free and adapt to their situation. This module addresses:
  5. How to Use this Module
  6. Research Related To Teacher Assistants
  7. Legal Requirements Related To Teacher Assistants And Other Paraprofessionals
  8. Instructional Team Model
  9. Job Descriptions For Teacher Assistants
  10. Considerations For Assigning Teacher Assistants
  11. Orientation Of Teacher Assistants
  12. Professional Development For Instructional Team Members
  13. Supervision Of Teacher Assistants
  14. Performance Evaluation Of Teacher Assistants
  15. Orientation Exercise for Effective Use of Teacher Assistants Module
  16. Guided Discussion
  17. Bibliography