A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Roles for Education Paraprofessionals in Effective Schools - 1997

Career Ladder Program

Cleveland City School District
Cleveland, Ohio

Training and Career Development
Opportunities for Paraprofessionals

Career ladder promotes development for all paraprofessionals and certification for some
Professional development projects tailored to individual assignments
Financial support strengthens career ladder

Overview

Vicki works as a paraprofessional in a fifth-grade classroom in a Cleveland public elementary school. Vicki has a goal, called a job target, which is to help ten students improve their reading skills, as measured by standardized tests, by the end of the school year. Because she is a participant in the Cleveland Professional Career Ladder program, Vicki will receive a bonus for her work if her students achieve the reading goal that she set for them. During the past two years, she has taken courses at the district's Paraprofessional Development Institute and at a nearby four-year college. To become a regular classroom teacher, Vicki plans to earn her bachelor's degree and teaching certificate.

The Cleveland Career Ladder program is a five-year-old program that provides paraprofessionals with several options for professional growth and career development. A collaborative effort between the Cleveland Board of Education and the Cleveland Teachers' Union, the program is open to paraprofessionals who work in elementary and secondary classrooms. In addition to taking certain courses offered by the district's Paraprofessional Development Institute, program participants develop and work toward job targets. They may also apply for a leave of absence to take college courses and work toward their degrees and teaching certificates.

Program Context

The Career Ladder program is currently serving 31 paraprofessionals. Forty-eight percent of them are African American, 32 percent are Asian American, 13 percent are Hispanic, and 7 percent are white. Seventy-four paraprofessionals have participated in the program since it was started in 1990.

The Cleveland City School District (CCSD) enrolls 77,007 students, 70 percent of whom are African American. Seventy-six percent of the students receive free or reduced-price lunches. Four percent of the students have limited English proficiency. There are 4,300 certified teachers and 500 paraprofessionals in the CCSD.

Major Program Features

Program Development

In March 1988, the Board of Education of the CCSD and the Cleveland Teachers Union agreed to establish a joint committee to develop a career ladder program for full-time paraprofessionals. The committee, which consisted of teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators, met regularly for two years to develop the program's goals: to attract and retain the best qualified and most capable paraprofessionals, to provide them with career options, and to encourage them to participate in professional development.

Program Design

The Career Ladder program offers three separate tracks for full-time paraprofessionals. The teacher track is for paraprofessionals who want to become certified teachers; the combination track is for those who want to earn some college credits but not a degree; and the enrichment track is for those seeking to improve their teaching without taking any college courses. The teacher track has five separate levels, and the others have four levels each.

Paraprofessionals who apply to participate in the teacher track qualify for different levels based on their years of paraprofessional experience in CCSD and the number of quarter or semester hours of credit they have completed at an accredited college or university. Paraprofessionals with at least one year of work experience and 48 quarter hours or 32 semester hours of college study qualify for Level I; those at Level V have at least four years of experience and 162 quarter or 104 semester hours.

Targeted Participants

Paraprofessionals who apply are selected to participate in the program based on an interview, a writing exercise, and the track and level requirements they must meet. To be selected, they must also possess a high school diploma or GED and a valid Ohio Educational Aide Permit enabling them to work in a public school as an educational aide or instructional assistant.

Paid Professional Leave

To earn their bachelor's degree and teacher certification, paraprofessionals on Level V of the teacher track can apply for a paid leave of absence to take college courses. Three types of paid leave are available: student teaching leave, semester leave, and school year leave. Paraprofessionals work toward degrees in elementary education, secondary education, and special education, receiving up to $1,000 per year to take courses at any college or university.

The school district has made a commitment to hire paraprofessionals who earn their teaching certificates to serve as regular classroom teachers. Paraprofessionals who become certified teachers are credited with a half-year's experience for every year that they worked as a paraprofessional. For example, someone who worked for six years as a paraprofessional would receive the same salary as someone with three years of teaching experience.

All paraprofessionals who accept professional study leave must commit to teaching in CCSD for at least two years.

Job Targets

Paraprofessionals in the program are required to develop job targets, or performance objectives, with their principal. Written in measurable terms, each job target must improve the learning process for students and support the district's goals and objectives. Paraprofessionals in the program choose many types of job targets, including helping students improve their reading skills, organizing playground activities, and conducting workshops for parents. At the end of the year, paraprofessionals determine the success ratio for each of their job targets. For example, if a paraprofessional's job target was to help ten students improve their reading skills, and only seven improved as measured by their standardized tests, then the paraprofessional's success ratio would be 70 percent.

For their work with job targets, paraprofessionals may earn bonuses worth up to 25 days of pay. They are compensated based on the number of days they worked multiplied by their total success ratio.

In 1994-95, they received up to 12 days of pay because job targets were performed only during the spring semester.

Staff Development

The school district offers staff development through the Paraprofessional Development Institute. Program participants are required to take seven four-hour core curriculum courses offered by the Institute. They must take Career Ladder Orientation, Job Targets, Remedial Order, and Child Management/Instruction during Year I; and Human Relations, Technological Tools, and Human Growth and Development during Year II.

Other courses are available on an as-needed basis. These include Paraprofessional Self-Improvement, Health and Safety, Stress Management, and Community Involvement.

Funding

The school district spends about $100,000 a year in general funds to finance the program. It costs roughly $2,000 for each participant.

Other Opportunities

Tomorrow's New Teachers (TNT), a program funded by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, provides financial assistance to paraprofessionals from the CCSD taking courses at Cleveland State University. The four-year program is expected to provide financial assistance to about 27 paraprofessionals. The district has made a commitment to hire each program participant earning a bachelor's degree and teaching certificate.

Barriers to Implementation

Because the district has a debt of more than $100 million, several teaching positions were eliminated last fall. In addition, more than 300 paraprofessionals were laid off, including some participating in the Career Ladder program. The total number of paraprofessionals working in the school district has decreased from more than 800 to 500.