JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2007 Part 4 of 6
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- Working with Paraprofessionals in Your School
With Public Law 107-110 or the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) the federal government for the first time set hiring requirements for paraprofessionals working in federally funded schools (Magnuson, 2003). NCLB specified that all instructional paraprofessionals, except those working as translators or solely in parent involvement activities, must be able to demonstrate that they are ―highly qualified to assist in teaching reading, writing and math. Three routes to ―highly qualified‖ status are offered: completion of at least two years of post-secondary education; holding an associate degree, or higher; or be able to demonstrate through a rigorous assessment the knowledge and ability to assist in teaching reading, writing, and math. These requirements took immediate effect for new hires; those already in post had until July 2006 to comply.
Although the federal government set the requirements, it is the responsibility of the States to develop and implement an accountability plan certifying the intersection of federal and state standards. School principals operating a program under NCLB sections 1114 and 1115 must submit written notice of compliance to the federal government.
Abstract
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 introduced new requirements for paraprofessionals, specifying criteria for them to achieve “highly qualified” status. This article describes a study which explored the perceptions of teachers and paraprofessional teams as to whether the paraprofessionals would be considered “highly qualified” and more specifically whether they were trained for and competent in carrying out various instructional duties. The results of the study suggest that the NCLB requirements may be poorly understood; even by some of those who already meet the requirements. Furthermore, results indicate that teacher-paraprofessional pairs do not necessarily agree on the extent to which the paraprofessionals are considered trained and competent.