Paraprofessionals
Who Are Paraprofessionals and What Do They Do?
Paraprofessionals are a vital part of the classroom team with a wide range of responsibilities and skills.
Education
Teachers’ Aides Stump for Kerry Via Postal Route
Teachers' aides are holding "postcard parties" in support of Sen. John Kerry, part of a program sponsored by the 1.3 million-member American Federation of Teachers.
Teaching Profession
Spotlight Shining on Overlooked Paraeducators
Sandra Taylor might have viewed a new requirement laid on her by the federal government as a threat and a burden. Instead, she sees it as a recipe for respect. Includes the accompanying story, "Teachers Fret Over Potential Loss of Aides."
Teaching Profession
Teachers Fret Over Potential Loss of Aides
While paraeducators cope with a new federal mandate intended to ensure they’re qualified, a kindred group stands in the background worrying. Many teachers say their classrooms and their work would be seriously compromised should they lose the services of those assistants.
Education
Paraprofessionals and NCLB
Thanks to a lesser-known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act, some school paraprofessionals--or teachers' aides--are subject to their own rules for becoming "highly qualified."
Teaching Profession
AFT Reports Teachers' Aides Lag Behind on Federal Law
More than half of all states have failed to help paraprofessionals meet the standards for practitioners outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act, asserts a new report. If the problem is unchecked, its author warns, many teachers' aides could be kicked out of the classroom.
Teaching Profession
Historic Pact Expected to Lighten British Teachers' Workload
Teachers' unions and government leaders in Britain have agreed on a plan to redistribute the work in schools so that teachers will have more time for better teaching but a lighter load overall.
Teaching Profession
Illinois Issues Guidance On New Aide Rules
Facing a potentially challenging new federal mandate on training for teachers' aides, school districts across Illinois recently received some welcome guidance from state education officials.
Education
Draft Would Not Order Written Tests for Aides
Paraprofessionals could prove they meet the qualification standards in the "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001 without taking a written assessment, according to preliminary guidelines released by the Department of Education this month.
Teaching Profession
Rules Clarify Changes On Teacher, Paraprofessional Qualifications
The Department of Education sought last week to clarify new federal requirements on teachers and paraprofessionals, an aspect of last year's federal education law that has had state and district officials especially nervous.
Federal
Study: Title I Aides Often Acting as Teachers
Teachers' aides hired with federal Title I dollars spend more than half their time teaching or helping to teach students, with many conducting a substantial amount of instruction on their own, according to a Department of Education report.
Federal
Opinion
Why Chapter 1 Failed: Using Specialists as Teachers' Aides
Why should anyone be surprised that Chapter 1 failed to close the
learning gap? In more than 25 years of
experience in working with children with special needs in public schools, I have
rarely observed a Chapter 1/Title I program that was designed to close the
learning gap.
Teacher Preparation
Promise Seen in Patchwork of Para-to-Teacher Programs
Sarah Montoya spent nine years as an aide who helped other teachers, dreaming of the day when she would have a classroom of her own.
Education
Advocates Beat Drum for Para-to-Teacher Programs
Educators, policymakers, and university and foundation officials gathered here in search of ways to help paraprofessionals make the leap to teaching.
Education
Opinion
To the Best Of Their Abilities
A blind student in the District of Columbia strives to learn physics in a regular classroom. A state policymaker in Illinois grapples with how to pay for special-education teachers' aides. And a 1st-grade teacher in Ohio worries about the impact that one disruptive student is having on the entire class.