Paraeducators play a marginal yet essential role in fulfilling teaching-related tasks in many international classrooms in China. In order to meet high standards of education, schools often provide professional training to paraeducators. However, in the training process, schools primarily focus on their own needs and rarely consider the personal…

In today's climate, with the ever-increasing demand for competent behavior analytic services, it is necessary for behavior analysts to work across a variety of settings, including home, school, and community, overseeing instructional aide staff as the frontline providers of applied behavior analysis (ABA) services. It is common practice for ABA…

Paraprofessionals, sometimes referred to as teachers' aides, often referred to as simply "paras," are a critical component of special education programs. They can play an important role in music classrooms as well. Their responsibilities may include providing instructional support in small groups or to individual students, modifying teaching…

Objective: To develop an online certification program for nutrition education paraprofessionals to increase knowledge and confidence and to overcome training barriers of programming time and travel expenses. Design: An online interactive certification course based on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education and Expanded Food and…

Background: The increasing numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) and their widening role in English primary classrooms is part of wider international developments. Several large quantitative studies have been influential in shaping debate, but little qualitative research exists on TAs and the content of their activity in the key area of…

This qualitative study examined instructional assistants' (IAs) and teachers' perceptions of culturally responsive and quality instructional practices for young children, especially those from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds and those who might have disabilities from low socioeconomic families, in Head Start classrooms. In…

This document contains 59 individually prescribed instructional modules for use in teacher aide education programs. Each module has six sections: 1) Behavioral objectives, 2) purpose, 3) performance criteria, 4) experiences, 5) resources, and 6) taxonomy. The subjects covered include the use of instructional equipment such as language master,…

Training methods for the preparation of teacher aides are described. (LH)

A primary responsibility of general and special educators is to teach students how to read. In inclusive classrooms, paraprofessionals are frequently utilized to support literacy instruction. Paraprofessionals can be employed to help improve the reading skills of students with disabilities and those who are considered at risk. This article…

The conclusions of various studies on the use of paraprofessionals or teacher aides are presented. Although the studies produced little statistical data, logs and reports of numerous teachers and paraprofessionals were used as the basis for this paper. It is suggested that the role of the paraprofessional ultimately depends on his own background…

Proceedings of a 3-day workshop are reported. The workshop, stressing the need for and the role of volunteers in the "Right-to-Read" program, was sponsored by the Washington Technical Institute under an EPDA grant. Topics for major addresses included the role of the volunteer, training of volunteers and the responsibility for such training, and a…

This study was designed to compare the utilization of instructional time of first grade classroom teachers with and without full-time teacher aides, to compare the academic performance of children in these two groups, and to examine the relationship between teacher and aide activity. A sub-purpose was the development of an observation instrument…

This article describes a systematic program that special education teachers can use to teach instructional aides and peer tutors to use effective teaching practices. The article specifically focuses on delivering appropriate instructional commands, providing specific praise, and using appropriate error correction procedures. (JDD)

It is widely assumed that increasing the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios…