The Roles of Teaching Assistants in Pre-Kindergarten Classrooms: Consequences of a Demanding Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Effective Early Childhood Classroom Instruction

Abstract

Examining the behaviors of teachers and their assistants in 80 prekindergarten classrooms over the course of an academic year, this study investigated the roles of teaching assistants within the context of a larger project evaluating the Tools of the Mind curriculum. The amount and context for instruction was compared for teachers and assistants. Additionally, we focused more closely on the behaviors of assistants in the Tools classrooms where the assistants are expected to behave more like co-teachers. Teaching assistants in Tools of the Mind classrooms delivered more instruction and more often engaged in teaching literacy than assistants in the other early childhood classrooms. Implications for curricula with an increased expectation for the role of assistants are discussed.

Authors

• Sascha C. Mowrey, Vanderbilt Peabody College

• Dale C. Farran, Vanderbilt University