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TA Planning in L&S

This document contains instructions for TA planning in L&S. This page was last updated 12/20/2024 for academic year 2025-26.

Academic Year TA Planning Exercise

  • Plans for Academic Year 2025-26 are due February 12, 2025 via email to teach.learn@ls.wisc.edu  
  • Departments/programs should use the Instructional Staffing Request form to send changes outside of this exercise (link to form, form instructions for adding or changing a TA position).
  • Note: this exercise is for academic year TAs only. Summer Term TAs are initially requested as part of a Summer Budget Proposal. Changes for summer TAs are also requested through the Instructional Staffing Form.

Overview: TA Planning spreadsheet

The TA Planning spreadsheet is a document assembled by L&S Teaching & Learning Administration based on previous TA plans completed by departments. 

TLA will distribute TA Planning spreadsheets each January via department Box folders, and departments/programs will update the spreadsheet with their plans for the upcoming academic year. This exercise is intended to help departments/programs plan how to best deploy their TA resources. This process also documents TA position and workload details in a simple and systematic format for easy reference by L&S administration.

TA Planning Spreadsheet Details & Instructions

TA Planning Spreadsheet Fields
Field Description & Instructions
Course/Assignment
  • A list of courses with TAs from AY24-25 is provided. Check for accuracy for AY25-26, making adjustments as needed.
  • Add rows for any new TA positions for AY25-26, and list the course number and name.
  • For positions not associated with a course, please describe as needed (e.g., Learning Centers, course development)
  • A single course may be listed multiple times, if there are multiple appointment types for a course, e.g., head TA, different appointment percentages, etc.
Fall / Spring # of TAs

Planned count of TAs per semester. 
Appt Structure Briefly describe the structure of the position, e.g., number of discussions/labs. (ex: 4 discussions/TA)
Appt %

Appointment percentage of each position.
Position Status

Options:

  • Active - courses that are continuing to have TAs in 2025-26
  • Inactive - courses that will not have TAs in 2025-26
  • Pending - new TA positions for 2025-26
Funding

Options:

  • TA 101 (this will be most positions)
  • Other (please provide detail in the Notes column)
Notes

Add notes if modifying an existing position, or to add additional info as needed, such as other funding source.
Date of last workload review

For use by L&S Admin staff, do not modify these dates.
FTE

For use by L&S Admin staff, do not modify these cells.

TA 101 Budget Estimate

At the top of each departmental TA Planning spreadsheet is a TA 101 Budget Balance Estimator. This will automatically update your balance estimate as you make changes to your TA plans in the spreadsheet.

Please note several important caveats:

  • The budget estimate is based on the following columns: Fall # of TAs, Spring # of TAs, Appt %, and Funding. You must enter these accurately to receive an accurate budget estimate.
  • The budget estimate assumes all TAs are paid at the standard rate. If you use multiple rates, such as a higher rate for head TAs, this tool will provide an underestimate of total costs.
  • Reader/grader costs are not captured.

 Contacts for L&S Administration

  • L&S Teaching & Learning Administration:
  • For Budget Questions:

See Also


Keywords:
TA, Teaching Assistants, TA allocation, Readers, graders, TA budget, TAs, graduate assistants ls, ta plan, staffing and expenditure plans, ta requests, student assistant taplans 
Doc ID:
88882
Owned by:
Cathy Y. in L&S KB
Created:
2019-01-08
Updated:
2024-12-20
Sites:
L&S KB
Clean URL:
https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/taplans