The Teacher Assistance Team is a committee of teachers who meet weekly to assist peers with challenging situations. The purpose of the tame is to generate potential solutions to challenging instructional situations for individual students, groups of students or entire class situations. The facilitator of the team, Nicole Cripe, can provide the needed forms to initiate a referral to the team.

While referrals to the team may focus upon talented student challenges, most referrals deal with poor student achievement. Below is a listing of possible reasons to seek the assistance of the Teacher Assistance Team.

Child not performing at grade level in a particular subject

Child who is a consistent disturbance to the class

Child who hurts other children

Child who does not turn in assignments

Child who does not complete assignments

Child who is being considered for retention

Child who is being considered for a special education referral

Child who is consistently tardy

Child who is excessively absent

The examples listed above are only examples and should not limit your thinking. You may refer a child to the Teacher Assistance Team for whatever reason you choose. The purpose of the team is to assist peers with challenging situations. No report of what students or what teachers refer students is given to the principal. He receives a report at the end of each semester as to how many students have been referred and their status. The report only reflects the number of students referred their grade level and the current status of the referral (pending, "fixed," special education referral, other.

While the team is not a bureaucratic layer in the special education process, all referrals to special education should go through the Teacher Assistance Team first. The process of referral to the Teacher Assistance Team is a requirement for special education assessment except in extreme circumstances. Exceptions will be made on an individual basis through a decision of the teacher(s) involved and the principal.