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

Assessing Whether Paraprofessionals Can Help

The experience of many districts shows that paraprofessionals can make substantial contributions to helping children meet challenging academic standards. However, thoughtful assessment is necessary to determine whether a particular situation warrants concentrating resources on the kinds of work that paraprofessionals do well. Educators aiming to improve student outcomes must begin by analyzing their organizational structures and programs as a whole to ensure that they have laid the foundation for success. The essential ingredients of program effectiveness have been detailed in other volumes in this series,² but a few key ideas are described here to underscore one point: The overall quality of the school or program setting influences the quality of the work of any staff member, including the paraprofessional. Ineffective organizational arrangements may hamper the productivity of skillful, hardworking staff. Adding staff or changing roles is not the solution to basic program problems.

Research about effective schools in particular and effective organizations in general offers three lenses for studying the resources, structures, and incentives for staff and students in any educational program. Examining schools through these lenses may help decisionmakers make wise choices about staffing arrangements. First, research on schools that help students reach high academic standards suggests that one key indicator of effectiveness is the extent to which schools engage students in hard work on challenging subject matter (Teddlie & Stringfield, 1993; Tomlinson, 1990; USED, 1987). Second, the literature on organizations that continuously improve their productivity provides a pair of quality indicators: empowering staff members to participate in making decisions and monitoring outcomes, and promoting their understanding and appreciation of one another's contributions to the common mission (Bonstingl, 1992). Third, detailed analyses of productive, complex organizations that virtually always achieve their ambitious goals suggest a third indicator of school effectiveness: the shared perception that student failure due to the lack of a known or knowable school intervention is a kind of catastrophe that must be prevented (Pfeiffer, 1989). Before deciding whether and how to invest in hiring or training paraprofessionals or any other staff, educators should reflect on three questions about programmatic aspects of school quality:

• Do curriculum and instruction in general engage students in hard work on challenging content?

• In their individual and collective work, do staff members recognize their own contributions and those of others in promoting student achievement, and do they continuously gather evidence about the effects of their performance?

• Do school policy and practice communicate an unequivocal commitment to ensuring every student's success and avoiding preventable failures?

The following sections explain in greater detail how these three dimensions of schooling provide the foundation for staff and student productivity.

Hard Work/Challenging Content for Students

On the other hand, in schools with good programs, paraprofessionals may contribute to students' hard work and exposure to challenging content in many ways. Their efforts may support safety and order on buses, playgrounds, and hallways. Their attention may sustain task engagement, and their explanations may demystify academic assignments for students who need extra support. Their help in testing and record-keeping may provide important information about student progress that enables teachers to anchor instruction in students' existing competence. Their formal and informal contact with parents may strengthen parental support for students' learning. However, if such staff are to influence student achievement, a school must integrate their efforts into a program that promotes students' hard work on a challenging curriculum. Before diverting resources to initiate or enhance roles for paraprofessionals, education decisionmakers should ascertain that the basic school program is a good one for students.

In Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, two programs, the Model Early Childhood Program and Starting Points, were introduced to identify and address the education and socialization needs of at-risk preschool students through a variety of developmentally appropriate learning activities. The programs rely heavily on the skill and expertise of instructional teams, which include teachers and paraprofessionals, who are called assistant teachers. Recognizing the important role that paraprofessionals play in supporting the educational goals of these programs, the district has developed a training program that clarifies their roles and responsibilities while improving their skills as instructoral aides. Specific guidance on creating suitable learning environments and implementing effective teaching practices is provided in workshops scheduled throughout the school year. Paraprofessionals in the two programs often work in pairs. They are periodically videotaped as they practice various instructional strategies, and they use the tapes to evaluate their own performance. Monthly workshops for teachers and paraprofessionals increase the knowledge and skills of both and enhance paraprofessionals' ability to serve as reinforcers of learning in the classroom.

Total Quality Collaboration Among Staff

High Reliability Organizations--Zero Tolerance for System Failure

In a recent analysis of promising educational programs, Stringfield (1995) documents their resemblance to high reliability organizations (HROs), such as the staff that oversees air traffic control towers and electric power grids. Such organizations rely on interlocking task structures, deliberately overlapping roles, and a high degree of mutual accountability at every level of their operations to focus everyone's attention on success. The experience of such organizations suggests that the solution to student underachievement is not hiring more staff or redefining roles but rather committing to policies and practices that encourage people to protect against any potential student failure as zealously as they would work to avoid a plane crash, in whatever ways they can. "High reliability schools" adopt staffing arrangements and programs that offer continuous support for students' productive engagement. These schools have clear goals, workable routines that cover most predictable events, extensive training that supports effective individual judgment, and well-maintained premises. They regularly evaluate procedures to ensure smooth functioning.

The Wyoming, Michigan, public schools adopted both districtwide and individual school site-based management in 1987, with a representative governance council called the School Improvement Committee at every school site to support shared decisionmaking. Other committees or teams are formed in each school as needed, including some that are unique to individual schools. From the beginning, paraprofessionals and other support staff were key players on these committees, and several support staff members have assumed leadership roles. All district staff receive ongoing training in how to share responsibility and authority. Along with regular training for employees, the district offers participating staff issue-specific training so that School Improvement Committee members can make informed decisions.

In summary, education decisionmakers need to assess the overall adequacy of curriculum and instruction, organizational engagement, and commitment to every student's success before they can determine whether adding paraprofessional positions or changing paraprofessionals' roles may be desirable. If the school is otherwise in good health, then addressing issues concerning the effective employment of paraprofessionals could be the next step in school improvement.

[Paraprofessionals and Their Work]

[Elements of Good Paraprofessional Practice]