SUMMARY
Lamont, L. L.., & Hill, J. L. (1991). Roles and responsibilities of paraprofessionals in the regular elementary classroom. British Columbia Journal of Special Education, 15(1), 1-24.
110 para-professionals and regular class teacher pairs who work together with one or more children with disabilities in five districts across Province of BC.
Descriptive: Questionnaires mailed to participants listed 50 tasks. Each respondent indicated tasks actuallyperformed and opinion of whether the task shouldbe performed across five categories of support tasks.
Results yielded a list of 19 tasks that 70+% of teachers and paraprofessionals surveyed endorsed as preferred tasks across five types of support: 1) instructional; 2) behavior management; 3) diagnostic; 4) classroom organization; and, 5)personal care assistance. Six tasks were endorsed as not appropriate by 50+% of teachers and/or paraprofessionals including :
1) function as a substitute when teacher not present; 2) develop learning activities independently; 3) administer formal tests; 4) score formal assessments; 5) perform routine maintenance tasks; and 6) develop learning centers.
Limitations noted by authors: generalizability based on selected sample, may not be a true representation of views of all teacher and paraprofessionals
Summarized by: Susan Edelman - May 1999