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

Title I Instruction

Denver Public Schools
Denver, Colorado

Job-Specific Professional Development

Career ladder rewards paraprofessionals for their expertise and experience
Paraprofessionals and teachers train and plan together
Paraprofessionals use computers and employ bilingual skills to promote students' success

Overview

Rosa has been a paraprofessional in the Denver Public Schools for ten years. For eight of those years she assisted Title I students through computer-based learning activities, which involved frequent professional development. After earning two years of college credit, she was promoted to the position of reading tutor at a Denver high school and given a raise in the process. Rosa now works with Title I and regular education teachers to help students with serious reading problems to write, edit, and publish their own creative stories. Professional development remains a big part of her life, and she is now considering becoming a teacher.

The Denver Public Schools offer Title I instruction to eligible students in preK-12. Paraprofessionals and teachers often team to provide instruction that is coordinated with the regular education program. The district's nine Title I-funded programs include early childhood education, developmentally appropriate kindergarten classes, elementary and secondary reading, language arts instructional assistance, elementary and secondary math, and intensive tutoring for secondary level students. Paraprofessionals and teachers receive ongoing, indepth professional development that is job-related and site-specific.

District Context

The urban Denver Public Schools enrolled more than 62,000 children in 1992-93, 68 percent of which were minority students, mainly African American and Hispanic. In 1993-94, Title I served 12,749 students at 83 sites, including elementary, middle, and high schools; private schools; institutions for neglected or delinquent youth; and community agencies. The $14 million program chooses students based on their eligibility for Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); about 17 percent of all students receive AFDC.

Major Program Features

Supplemental Math

Fifteen schools provide supplemental math instruction for Title I students in grades 2-5. In 1993-94 this math program served 1,004 students at a cost of $1,145 per pupil, or $1.1 million for the total program. Alternating groups of ten students each attend centers where paraprofessionals and teachers team to provide direct instruction, WICAT/Jostens computer instruction, and an activity that involves manipulatives, measurement, and problem solving. The program employs ten paraprofessionals.

After careful team planning, paraprofessionals help teachers to deliver the math instruction through a 50-minute lab program. Each team serves about 60 students throughout the day in groups of ten. Although students may miss classroom instruction during this time, they are never pulled out of their regular math classes. Students who might miss too much regular instruction time in a pull-out session are offered extended-day services three or four days per week by each program.

All of the supplemental math program's objectives align with the district's curriculum. Program lessons use strategies based on the NCTM standards to reinforce regular classroom instruction. Title I paraprofessionals and teachers meet with regular teachers to coordinate instruction, and a parent component involves families in active learning as much as possible.

The computer programs offer an on-keyboard calculator, good graphics, and an audio component for students who read with difficulty. Students use computers to work on a variety of topics, including problem solving and story problems.

Because many eligible students speak Spanish at home, the program is offered in both English and Spanish through bilingual teachers and paraprofessionals. All instructional materials and software are available in both languages. The district is taking a count of migrant students, whose numbers appear to have risen dramatically since the last district census.

Thanks to the management system on the computer program, Title I staff receive detailed printouts of student work and mastery records every day. Sharing these reports with regular education teachers ensures that students with problem areas will receive support. Title I staff also regularly send summaries home to parents.

Professional Development

Each year, paraprofessionals and teachers receive about three days of training from Jostens trainers on how to use the computer system. For further training, a Jostens technical field assistant visits paraprofessionals and teachers in their own buildings. When new staff are hired, their initial training is enhanced with follow-up assistance every few weeks. Teachers and paraprofessionals train each other as well. Ongoing support for computer upgrades is provided to all teachers and paraprofessionals twice a year on every other year.

The supplemental math program is coordinated at the district office by a program manager, who provides bimonthly professional development opportunities and publishes a monthly newsletter. Meeting with teachers and paraprofessionals at the beginning of each school year, the manager polls them and identifies common concerns and interests for future staff development. She then arranges for two or three three-hour workshops per month. She or some other consultant conducts the workshops, which are focused on topics of greatest interest. Funded by Title I, these workshops are offered to participants on a voluntary basis; although paraprofessionals and teachers may receive release time to attend, some prefer to attend sessions that are offered after school. Some sessions target areas of special concern to either teachers or paraprofessionals; however, most are of interest to both. Among the topics covered in these workshops are instruction, assessment, reporting to parents, working with statistics and probability, geometry, ways to use a manipulative, and family involvement activities.

New paraprofessionals receive three days of preservice training on basic math skills, program curriculum, standards, graphing, statistics, geometry, instructional techniques, discovery learning, and educational philosophy. Paraprofessionals must pass a basic skills test at the school site before being hired.

Intensive Tutoring in Reading Project

In 1993-94, 637 middle and high school Title I students who had scored below the 20th percentile on the reading component of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) participated in an intensive tutoring program run by 26 paraprofessionals. The program targets students whose needs are not being served by other school resources. Throughout the day, each tutor in the program works with 24 students, individually and in groups of up to five. The paraprofessionals work closely with Title I and regular education teachers on instruction-related activities with students. Tutors and students focus on reading and writing, sometimes using Apple computers to write, edit, and publish student work. They may preview content to be taught in other classes or read high-interest books, newspapers, and magazines. Some tutors work with students to increase their vocabulary and oral language proficiency. Others help students fill out job applications or other important forms. Lasting from 20 to 30 minutes, daily sessions may take place with or without Title I reading instruction, depending on students' needs and schedules. Tutors try to work with each student for at least 100 minutes each week.

A former tutor currently manages the district tutoring program. Under the direction of the Title I reading supervisor, this paraprofessional observes tutoring sessions, conducts monthly staff development sessions, and shares ideas and techniques.

Tutors meet for two days during the first week of school to update their knowledge of practices and regulations and to discuss student placement. Many tutors have been in the program for several years. Those new to the program get preservice training and frequent onsite technical assistance.

Tutors attend a monthly, two-hour afterschool workshop, for which they are paid their hourly rate. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory and referenced in the job description. Based on student needs, tutors choose professional development topics, including using a diagnostic reading inventory, responding to students' writing, administering the program's four-day writing sample evaluation, and using Socratic questioning. Although some workshops also include teachers, most are focused on tutors' needs. The program coordinator attends conferences and reads professional literature to enhance her knowledge and skills.

Support for Implementation

Hiring Practices

The district's job descriptions for all paraprofessional positions are categorized into Paraprofessional I, II, III, IV, and V levels. All level I and II paraprofessionals are hired at the building level. Formal committees advertise openings at the higher levels and use a more structured application process to identify the best candidates.

Tutor applicants for the intensive reading program are screened by the program director and the school principal. Those who have previously worked in the district are carefully evaluated. Applicants must have either two years of college credit with a background in reading or language or two years of training and experience as a classroom paraprofessional. Experienced paraprofessionals are expected to provide recommendations from principals and teachers with whom they have worked.

Issues

High turnover is a problem for the Denver Title I program. On the one hand, paraprofessionals receive excellent training; they are encouraged to take college classes, and some get into career ladders and become teachers. On the other hand, although they earn $7.50 to $9.00 per hour, they receive no benefits. Many either move to special education or bilingual programs that pay higher wages or leave the school system entirely to take jobs with benefits.

Evidence of Success

Denver uses the ITBS to track the achievement of all students in the state. Title I uses the regular classroom scores to measure program effectiveness. In the 1993-94 supplemental math program, English-language students who were tested gained an average of 7.1 NCEs on total math and 5.7 on problem solving. On La Prueba, the standardized test administered to Spanish-speaking students in the program, students tested gained an average of 13.2 NCEs. The program also uses an alternative criterion-referenced assessment; 97 percent of students achieved at least a 70 percent success rate on the WICAT math curriculum. In the intensive tutoring program, students tested gained an average of 9.7 NCEs.
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