The Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Measure as a Teacher Training Intervention
Five TPRA feedback sessions turn brand-new aides into 100 % accurate learn-unit teachers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Nuzzolo and team trained brand-new teacher aides with the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Measure. They gave each aide about five short feedback sessions after watching them run learn units.
The study used a single-case design. No kids were diagnosed; the focus was on the adults teaching them.
What they found
After the TPRA feedback, every aide hit 100 % accuracy on learn-unit delivery. The gains held across different students and programs.
How this fits with other research
Downs et al. (2008) got the same jump—from 63-80 % to 97-100 %—with brief oral and written feedback after DTT training. The new study swaps DTT for learn units and still nails mastery.
Ingham et al. (1992) used a simple supervisor checklist decades earlier. TPRA refines that old tool into a faster five-session package for today’s aides.
Staddon (2013) shows peer observation can lift staff fidelity too, but only to about 85 %. TPRA feedback pushes novices all the way to 100 %, so it may supersede peer watching for initial accuracy.
Why it matters
If you train aides or paras, add TPRA feedback to your onboarding. Five quick sessions can save weeks of later fix-it coaching. You watch, score, and give the sheet—new staff leave at 100 % accuracy and your students get better instruction from day one.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The potential progress of the learner is directly tied to the efficacy and efficiency of their instruction. The current study tested the effects of feedback from the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Measure (TPRA) as a training tool with newly hired teacher assistants with no prior teaching experience and its effects on the accuracy of their learn unit (teacher antecedents delivered to students, opportunity for students to emit target behaviors, and teacher delivered consequences) presentations to students. During the baseline, the experimenter modeled the presentation of target programs with a student, then immediately following, observed the trainee’s delivery of instruction of the same program with the same student. During the intervention, the experimenter observed the trainees in situ using the TPRA and provided specific feedback on the trainees’ delivery of instruction. Results showed that 2–14 sessions (with a mean of 5) of the TPRA with feedback were sufficient in bringing the trainees’ instruction to a mastery level of 100% accuracy across a variety of curricular programs with students other than those involved in the intervention. Social validity results revealed high levels of satisfaction and positive experiences from the participants.
Journal of Behavioral Education, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s10864-025-09592-w