Five of the six birds received 45 50 further sessions of training on Phase 5 (Ta received 10 further sessions).
Experienced TAs were asked to take on leadership roles by facilitating specific aspects of training sessions, teaching lessons in the fishbowl, and providing informal mentoring for novice TAs.
Throughout each prep meeting in RPD, TAs had opportunities to participate in ways that drove the focus and duration of training.
Very little research in TA training is aimed at defining a theoretical model, and few models of training or supervision exist (Prieto et al., 2001).
In all of them, TAs are trained to deliver structured sessions to small groups or individual pupils; all six trials, including the latest two published on Friday, show a positive impact on learning.
Our study is unique in its use of a multidimensional evaluation of TA PD that incorporates both TAs' perceptions about training and independent measures of their classroom practices.
We also added items on teaching assistant (TA) selection, training, and guidance, and made a number of minor wording changes to improve clarity.
She proposed that school districts license teachers on the basis of the summer TA training, their time spent in classroom, and some ongoing mentoring.
In RPD, TAs were trained in backward design and learned about the necessity of aligning learning objectives and assessments.
For example, Gardner and Jones (2011) reviewed available literature about research on TA training programs and found 45% of studies reported that TAs gained conceptual understanding of the theory and approach to learner-centered instruction, and 27% found that TAs perceived the learning experience to be effective.
While the goals of TA training in TPD may have been clear to facilitators, they were often implicit to TAs.
