The two traditional ways of dealing with students' inabilities to read--holding them back or passing them on to the next teacher--were rejected by one Delaware district anxious to improve its first-graders' reading skills. Teachers suggested involving parents, providing more reading time, and using teacher aides more effectively. A successful…

Interviews with four teachers, one parent, one assistant, and two ancillary helpers found that classroom teams possess little structure with minimal role definition. Participants erect defenses against the lack of definition and use a process termed "fraternity" to get along with one another and camouflage uncertainties and tensions. (SK)

This study found that delivering data cards to three special education teacher aides prompting them to conduct daily social-greeting probes of students with severe disabilities was effective in increasing the level of probing and was accompanied by less variability, higher sustained probing rates, and more equitable probing compared to not using…

The authors examined the conditions that promote or discourage engagement in the classroom among kindergarten students. Engagement included learning behaviors (on-task behavior) and pro- and antisocial behavior. The authors examined 3 policy-manipulable features of kindergarten classrooms: (a) whether the class met for a half day or full day, (b)…

The purpose of this study was to seek understanding of the experience of those who support students with high needs in regular classes. Seven teacher aides were interviewed, with the interview and data analysis guided by Heideggerian phenomenology. The findings reveal that teacher aides are unprepared for the responsibility or the relationship…

This study examined the perceptions of teacher aides regarding their roles and responsibilities in supporting senior students with special needs in mainstream secondary school settings. Fourteen teacher aides were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide to determine their views regarding their roles and responsibilities, the challenges…

Workforce remodeling in England has been presented as a means to empower school staff through a restructuring process which has possibilities to dramatically shift the ways in which they operate. This initiative has also included a number of legislative requirements intended to help embed the more technocratic aspects of the remodeling process.…

Practical suggestions for the use of volunteers in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom, and strategies for planning the volunteer role, are offered. Nine potential roles for the volunteer are outlined, with specific recommendations for activities and topic areas that the volunteer can undertake. These include: classroom monitor,…

An evaluation was conducted of a safety education program developed by the Nassau County (New York) Board of Cooperative Educational Services for 166 special education teacher aides. The turnkey training safety program (TTSP) adapted an orientation program and an existing safety videotape and developed the "Information Handbook for Teacher…

Describes the working of the Mutually Aided Learning (MAL) project in which high school students serve as learning assistants in elementary school classrooms. (PEB)

The article identifies and describes a training program directed primarily toward ecology field study. It is for volunteers, mainly mothers of school children, who assist in programs where real learning does take place - in and out of the classroom. The program, how the aides help and some related problems are presented. (EB)

Because no program existed in the Pottstown, Pennsylvania area which allowed children and senior citizens to interact in mutually beneficial ways, a practicum was designed to implement an intergenerational program in an elementary school attended by 540 students in grades K through 5. The intervention consisted of monthly meetings with volunteers,…

The Pre-Professional Laboratory Experience course is a semester-long early field experience involving prospective teacher education candidates in routine classroom activities and observation experiences on the elementary and secondary level. The set of handbooks which was developed to accompany the course includes a student handbook, a supervising…

This curriculum guide suggests activities and educational experiences within a Hawaiian cultural context for Grade 2 students in Hawaiian schools. First, an introduction discusses the contents of the guide; the relationship of the classroom teacher and the kupuna (Hawaiian-speaking elder); the identification and scheduling of kupunas; and how to…

To determine the impact of Composition Aides (CA's)--aides hired to assist teachers in giving students increased writing practice--on student opportunity to write in the District of Columbia Schools, a study investigated the characteristics of CA's, their usefulness, and the amount of time they spent performing various activities. During May and…