The impact of professional educators can be greatly extended or sabotaged with paraprofessionalinvolvement. Paraeducators typically receive minimal formal training. Consequently, paraeducators depend on professionals, who carry the contractual responsibility for student education, to provide paraeducators with leadership and supervision. For paraeducators to be effective, professionals must clearly and confidently model desired procedures and provide respectful guidance.

Unfortunately, many professional educators have not been adequately prepared to supervise or team with paraeducators (Cooke, Tessier, & Klein, 1992). This document was developed for professional educators to help them extend the impact of their professional training and facilitate student learning through effective professional-paraeducator partnerships.

Definitions

Within this document, the term professional educator is defined as an individual who has completed a professional education personnel preparation program, holds professional teaching certification, and is responsible for student education. A professional educator could be a general education teacher, a special education teacher, or another professional who supervises paraeducators. Within the professional educator-paraeducator relationship, the  professional educator has the responsibility to demonstrate desired practices, model instructional techniques, and serve as a role model for paraeducators. Professional educators provide the paraeducator with support, leadership, guidance, feedback, and supervision.

A paraeducator typically has minimal formal training and is employed to work under the supervision of professional educators to extend the professionals' instructional impact. Paraeducators perform a variety of services. Ideally, paraeducators work with students requiring minimal assistance, thereby freeing professionals to apply their expertise to students with challenging problems. Paraeducators provide assistance to both general and special educators. Some states require paraeducators to have an Associates degree. However, many states require paraeducators to have a minimum of a high school education, or the equivalent, and participate in pre- or in-service training. The amount and nature of pre- and in-service training varies, but typically includes generic training provided by the employment agency and on-the-job training provided by professional educators.

Important Considerations

     1.   Job Description. People work more effectively when they know what is expected of them. Most      paraeducators appreciate an explicit description of the responsibilities associated with their position and the tasks they are, and are not, expected to do (Bos & Vaughn, 1998). A clear job description provides a frame of reference which allows paraeducators to understand what they are expected to do, when, how often, with whom, and what results are expected (Cooke, Tessier, & Klein, 1992). An explicitly stated job description can prevent, or facilitate solutions to, problems. When paraeducators and professional educators keep a written copy of the job description, they can each reference the document as needed.

     2.   Self-Evaluation/Needs Assessment. A needs assessment based on the responsibilities of the job can help a paraeducator identify their perceived educational and non-educational strengths and needs for the job. The content of the needs assessment is typically centered on the tasks and qualities essential for optimal job performance and identified in the job description.
 
     3.   Ongoing Support. Paraeducators typically want (a) assurance that they are performing their job satisfactorily, and (b) information about how they can become more effective. Also, they typically appreciate opportunities to share their perceptions and ask for additional training or support. Daily conversations and weekly conferences are recommended to discuss paraprofessional effectiveness, ongoing assistance, and support (Rivera & Smith, 1997).

     4.   Providing Feedback. One danger to guard against when professional educators/supervisors and paraeducators have been working together for a while is over confidence in the relationship. Once professional educators/supervisors become confident in the skills and abilities of paraeducators, there may be a tendency for the professional to take the paraeducator's skills for granted. This can become a serious problem when paraeducators are performing responsibilities with a relatively high degree of autonomy, for example, when a paraprofessional has the responsibilities for providing unsupervised services in the community. Individualized forms can be used to enable paraeducators to provide feedback to supervising professionals regarding the quality of support and supervision they receive.

References
                                
 Baird, S. M.,  (1994).  Preparing paraprofessional early interventionists: Training, supporting, and monitoring.  Tucson:  Communication Skill Builders.

 Bos, C. S., & Vaughn, S. (1998). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

 Cooke, R. E., Tessier, A., & Klein, M.D. (1992). Adapting early childhood curricula for children with special needs. New York: Merrill.

 Rivera, D. P., & Smith, D. D. (1997). Teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.