Glossary
Teacher Assistant Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential teacher assistant terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key teacher assistant vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in teacher assistant training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Accommodation
- A change that helps a student access learning.
- Assistive technology
- Tools that help students with disabilities.
- Behavior plan
- A plan to support student behavior.
- Co-teaching
- Two educators teaching together.
- Data sheet
- A form for recording progress.
- IEP
- Individualized education program.
- Inclusion
- Students with disabilities learning with peers.
- Modification
- A change to what a student is expected to learn.
- Paraprofessional
- A school staff member who supports instruction.
- Paraprofessional assessment
- A test for aide qualifications.
- Progress monitoring
- Tracking student growth.
- Redirection
- Guiding behavior.
- Scaffolding
- Support that is reduced as students learn.
- Small group instruction
- Teaching a few students together.
- Title I
- Federal funding for schools with many low-income students.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Teacher Assistant practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Teacher Assistant training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.