Teacher Assistance Teams

The Teacher Assistant Team (TAT) is a school-based problem solving team designed to help teachers with children whom they find difficult to teach or manage prior to their referring that child for special education. TATS focus on teacher development, supporting and empowering teachers by increasing their instructional skills thereby enabling them to better serve their students. In contrast to other models of teacher consultation and collaboration, however, the TAT is intended to draw on the resources created by the group process as well as the skills of individual team members. This paper discusses the development of the TAT concept in the schools. Studies evaluating the effects and effectiveness of TATS at different levels of school functioning are reviewed. While the TAT has promise for effecting a variety of school outcomes, future work is needed to specify effective team parameters and to assess the impact of the TAT relative to individual models of collaboration and consultation.