Paraeducators Work in Schools: Policy Issues

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Paraeducators Work in Schools Policy Issues

• Nancy K. French, Ph.D.
• Executive Director, The PAR2A Center
• Research Professor, The University of Colorado at
  Denver Health Sciences Center
• 1380 Lawrence St. Suite 710
• Denver, CO 80204
• Voice 303-315-6362
• FAX [phone]
• Email nancy.french_at_cudenver.edu
• Internet www.paracenter.org

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Stepping Into Their Shoes

• Every now and then we all need to stretch
  ourselves
• Some call it a whack on the side of the head
• To see things from a different angle
• To understand where others are coming from

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Administrators Challenges

• To make the best use of resources while
• Providing the right amount and types of services
• Providing services at the right time and place
• Assuring that services are affordable
• Satisfying both parents and teachers
• Acting systematically and fairly in assigning
  resources
• To avoid expensive litigation or other contest
• Satisfying the interests of various
  constituencies
• Assuring student safety and welfare (academic and
  physical)

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The Solution

• Employ paraeducators
• BUT
• Know potential problems
• Proactively devise ways to avoid problems
• Establish policies

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Potential Problems with Paraeducators

• Become primary teacher
• Lack specific training on inclusion, literacy,
  math etc
• Lack supervision
• Develop ownership of the child, lose
  perspective
• Communicate directly with families, leaving
  teacher out
• Foster overdependence on adult assistance
• Fail to provide specific data to professional
• Relieve classroom teachers of responsibility
  for student
• Give student the answers
• Adapt materials or assignments without direction
• Create social barriers between students
• Rapid turnover lack of program stability

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What Policies Are Needed?

• Policies that
• define roles and responsibilities
• link specific knowledge and skills to particular
  job duties
• guide training efforts
• provide for career development vertical and
  horizontal promotion opportunities
• clarify skills assessment, performance
  monitoring, and evaluation.

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Policy 1 Role Definition

• Definitions of appropriate roles for each
  position
• Teachers, paraeducators, building administrators,
  central office or program administrators
• List and define the range of responsibilities
  that are legally and ethically a part of each
  role
• Clarify the amount of and lines of authority for
  each position and role
• Clarify the levels and types of supervision for
  each position and role

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Teacher Responsibilities

• Planning
• curriculum / instruction for students
• Assessment
• for program eligibility and progress
• Instruction
• causing instruction to happen
• Collaboration
• with other professionals and families
• Supervision
• characterized by executive functions

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An 'A' in 'works well without supervision.
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What do teachers need to know?

• How to
• Lead teams
• Plan for students served by multiple providers
• Orient new people to the job
• Introduce changes in policies, programs
• Delegate judiciously
• Create and manage schedules
• Provide on-the-job training
• Monitor performance
• Establish communications
• Solve problems
• Deal with conflicts

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If These are Professional Responsibilities

• Planning
• Assessment
• Instruction
• Collaboration
• Supervision
• The big question is

What does the paraeducator do?
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The Answer

• Everything else !

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Categories of responsibility

• Instruction
• Data collection / reporting
• Activity preparation / follow-up
• Team participation / membership
• Clerical work
• Ethical practice
• Supervision of groups of students
• Health / personal related services
• Other tasks (assigned in accordance with legal,
  liability, ethical considerations)

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Policy 2 Linking skills to the job

• Different positions within a school require
  specific kinds of knowledge and skill
• e.g.
• children with autism
• children who have trouble reading
• children who have trouble understanding math
• students who are learning to speak English as a
  second language
• students with emotional and severe behavior
  issues
• Should be acknowledged and training should match

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Policy 3 Training Policy

• Clarify
• What training, for whom
• Logistics (when and how you deliver training)
• Criteria for selecting curriculum materials,
  trainers, programs
• Compensation - trained vs untrained personnel
• How new hires learn about training expectations
• How current employees gain updated information,
  new skills
• How the program is sustained
• Create systems for ongoing capacity to deliver
  training
• Where resources will come from
• Who has responsibility for running the program

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Training Program Considerations

• Sustainable systems
• Joint training is great but only works once
• not sustainable
• only useful for topics that are of equal
  relevance to both positions
• Formal offerings must be predictably repeated -
  so continuing employees continue to grow and new
  employees receive what they need to start
• Requirements must be clear and incentives
  explicit
• Teachers - actively involved in the system

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Selecting Curriculum Materials

• Apply these criteria
• Need
• Consistency
• Integrity
• Relevance / Role legitimacy
• Depth
• Practicality
• Instructional quality
• Accountability
• Cost

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Paraeducator Training Needs Assessments
Potential Contributions Cautions

• Completed by paraeducators
• Identifies preferences and desires for certain
  topics
• Acknowledges importance of the role
• Markets upcoming training
• Doesnt necessarily identify all training needs
• Completed by supervisors
• Encourages reflection
• Creates awareness of training needs
• Acknowledges that some training can be provided
  in groups not just on the job
• Demonstrates administrative support for teachers
  work with paraeducators
• Doesnt necessarily identify all training needs

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Policy 4 Career Development

• Career Ladder
• a term used often to mean paraeducator to teacher
  programs

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Not Every Ladder Takes You Somewhere Else
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Career Development

• Career Lattice
• Term used to signify that professional growth can
  also prepare a person
• To be better at what they already do
• To do other kinds of jobs with different kinds of
  responsibilities and requiring other kinds of
  knowledge and skill

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Policy 5 Skills Assessment and Performance
Evaluation

• Policy should clarify
• Who does evaluations
• How often
• What procedures are used to collect observational
  and other hard data
• What purpose evaluation serves
• Continuation of employment
• Promotion
• Raises
• How paraeducators can plan for their role in the
  evaluation process

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Better Policies Are Related to

• Less turnover
• Higher morale
• Pride in the job
• Dedication to students
• Increased Student Achievement