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
Paraprofessionals and Their Work
Numbers and Assignments
Paraprofessionals account for a major segment of today's elementary and secondary school workforce. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the nation's schools employed more than 500,000 classroom and library assistants in 1993-94, with most (90 percent) working in public schools. About 89 percent worked as "teacher aides" and about 10 percent as library assistants. Until the 1960s, no separate count of teaching assistants was kept; in 1970, the number of assistants in public schools was almost 60,000. By 1980, the figure was more than five times larger--approaching 330,000--and the increase in paraprofessionals has continued to outstrip increases in certified teachers. The number of instructional assistants in public schools made a 45-percent gain from 1980 to 1994, compared with a 17-percent gain in the number of teachers.
Paraprofessionals are concentrated in a few sectors of education. Seventy-five percent of all teaching assistants work in elementary schools (compared with 57 percent of teachers). A sizeable proportion of paraprofessionals work part-time, a pattern that is more pronounced in private schools. In 1994, 32 percent of teaching assistants in public schools were part-time employees, compared with 50 percent in private schools. Library/media assistants were even more likely to be part-timers: 42 percent of public school library paraprofessionals worked part-time, compared with 74 percent in private schools. Almost half of the paraprofessional workforce is hired for special education programs. One researcher estimates that another 15 to 18 percent work in bilingual programs (Millsap, Moss, & Gamse, 1993). Nearly two-thirds of all districts hire teaching assistants for their Title I programs, and this accounts for about 18 percent of the paraprofessional workforce.
Credentialing of Paraprofessionals
Employment guidelines and credentialing practices for paraprofessionals vary widely across individual districts and states, a reflection of the equally broad variations in guidelines and credentialing practices for teachers. Thirty-one states have established guidelines for minimal standards in education and/or experience of paraprofessionals; in most cases, however, these guidelines simply call for teaching assistants to hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, and five states regulate only special education assistants. Although 13 states have certification or credentialing systems in place, seven of these established their systems during the 1970s and have not updated them since.
Kansas, Georgia, and Maine provide examples of credentialing systems. The Kansas system, which applies only to special education personnel, consists of well-defined permit categories that require specific levels of training and designate certain instructional duties. In Maine, the levels determined for "educational technicians"--the locally preferred term for regular teaching assistants--are based on the functions they serve, their preparation, and the supervision their jobs require. To define criteria for employment, licensing, and training for teaching assistants, Georgia's system distinguishes between "aides" performing record-keeping and some limited instructional activities and "paraprofessionals" performing more advanced instructional activities, along with record-keeping duties.
Rather than devising more formal credentialing systems, several states have designed administrative guidelines regulating the education or experience needed to work as a paraprofessional, and other states have not adopted either credentialing or administrative standards. Developing and strengthening systems for credentialing and administration can delineate the range of duties paraprofessionals perform and provide a method for recognizing and defining paraprofessionals' appropriate role in the delivery of instruction. On the other hand, formal systems that offer symbolic recognition irrespective of demonstrated competence undermine credentialing and do little for morale or effectiveness, according to representatives of professional associations interviewed for this Idea Book.
In the 1908s, the state of Maine developed a set of guidelines to assist districts in hiring "educational technicians." The guidelines, enacted into law in February 1995, lay out three levels of employment for paraprofessionals. Each level represents increased professional responsibility, determined by the technicians' function in the school, their education and professional development histories, and the supervision required for them to perform their jobs successfully. An Education Technician III has the most authority and responsibility.
The law requires that "ed techs" participate in professional development to maintain eligibility for their current level as well as to advance to the next level. Although the state does not offer professional development activities, it lists approved sources of credit and monitors this area closely. (Paraprofessionals who hold teaching certificates are exempt from these rules.)
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Role of Professional Associations
In many districts, paraprofessionals are members of bargaining units represented by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), the School Employees Association, or the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). About 100,000 paraprofessionals belong to AFT affiliates, and almost 120,000 belong to NEA affiliates. SEIU represents more than 100,000 school employees nationwide; in Los Angeles, most of SEIU's 28,000 members are teaching assistants. In addition to these organizations, others, such as the National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals in Education at the City University of New York, provide resources to further the work of teaching assistants.
Besides negotiating salaries and benefits, local affiliates typically concentrate on promoting work-related professional development, initiating or supporting legislation about credentialing standards, establishing career ladders, educating the public about paraprofessionals' work, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and negotiating for productive employment conditions. For instance, the Washington Education Association and NEA were key partners in a consortium that developed an inservice training program for improving the communication and classroom management skills of paraprofessionals. Having a modular design, the program may be tailored to fit the needs of individual districts.
In several of the programs and sites profiled later in this volume, professional organizations developed collaborative projects that support career development. They have helped to leverage funds from several sources--state and federal agencies, institutions of higher education, and foundations--to launch new and innovative programs. In Los Angeles, Local 99 of the SEIU is a respected member of the professional partnership that created the Latino Teacher Project. Recently expanded to target additional minority groups, this project involves several agencies, universities, and funding sources in a comprehensive program of activities that steadily upgrades the qualifications of TAs in participating systems and results in eventual certification. In Albuquerque, an AFT affiliate identified a small federal program for cooperative labor/management projects--a program outside the education field--and in partnership with other education groups wrote a successful proposal increasing the education career options for paraprofessionals.
Professional associations for TAs have challenged districts to allot resources for paraprofessionals based on the priority of their mission. For example, the associations argue, if bilingual TAs are the primary resource in complying with requirements mandating support for students with limited English proficiency, then their work should be underwritten by a proportionate share of the categorical and regular funding. Some cash-strapped districts look to undertrained part-timers for help in bilingual programs, with high turnover (and, some argue, poor program quality) due to marginal employment conditions. Such strategies leave students with limited access to learning. Some local associations have helped districts to provide the appropriate balance of full-time and part-time paraprofessional positions, with benefits and other incentives for stability. Part-time work is sometimes coordinated with both higher education opportunities for paraprofessionals and related district-sponsored activities designed to improve the pool of qualified licensed teachers.
Demographics of the Paraprofessional Workforce
Paraprofessionals are often recruited from the local school community, a fact reflected in the employment demographics. In major urban and rural areas, 60 to 75 percent of paraprofessionals are from racial and language minority groups. In the suburbs, paraprofessionals are predominantly white. Describing the paraprofessional workforce in St. Paul, the director of federal programs said, "Many of them started off as moms who were school volunteers." More than 90 percent of those in her programs were selected by building principals. In Los Angeles Unified School District, where paraprofessional workforce demographics are carefully monitored, education support personnel look like the student population: more than 80 percent minority, with about 60 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Asian, and 10 percent African American.
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