In the early 1970s I applied to be an instructional assistant at a residential school for emotionally disturbed children. I had recently graduated from college with a degree in sociology; I had no specific skills, and no experience in a classroom beyond being a student. I went to my job interview with no idea of what to expect, and when I asked, the principal said I could expect anything I could imagine and a lot I could not. She was right! I was hired and immediately put to work in classrooms comprising children who only had two things in common: their ages and the fact that schools and/or families could not deal with them.
Things changed in the mid-1970s with the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, guarantees access to free public education in the least restrictive environment for all children with disabilities. Millions of children who had been warehoused in institutions or hidden away in school basements were now approximately 20% of all public school students. Add to that English Language Learners, approximately 13% of all learners, and we now have classrooms in which, on average, 30-40% of all students require additional support of some kind.
There is no way that a single teacher can meet the needs of all of their students, which has led to hiring more than 27,000 paraeducators in Massachusetts. They have become so essential to the functioning of our public schools that superintendents I spoke with said that schools could not function at all without them and identified them as the backbone of public education. Who are they, what roles do they play, and what is it like to work in our schools?
Who are paraeducators?
Most of the paras I spoke with fall into two general categories; young people, some newly graduated from two- or four-year degree programs and working in their first post-graduate jobs, or middle-aged women who left other work to become paras, often in their children’s schools. Virtually none of them had experience or training in teaching and few, if any of them received any training once they were hired. They were simply placed in their classrooms and expected to get to work.
More than 80% of paras are women and approximately 40% of all paras are people of color.
One parent offered a succinct summary of the work done by paraeducators:
“Paraprofessionals are the least paid, least trained people in the school community, yet they are often charged with caring for and academically supporting the most challenging and most needy students. … Many are provided with little or no training. They are often excluded from staff development opportunities or are only invited to participate without compensation. Imagine the chaos in our cafeterias, the pandemonium on the playground, the commotion in the classroom if not for the supervision of paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals are critical to providing the best supportive educational environment for students.”
What do they do?
Paraeducators work in preschools, elementary and secondary schools under the direction of certified or licensed teachers. Paras work with whole classes offering academic support, with English language learners and with students who have medical situations, which might require support with feeding, toileting and other basic functions. Some paras work with students who have behavioral issues, and that can get intense very quickly.
“There would be these escalated behaviors that could be very dangerous. And then if you don’t have the staffing support or the training to handle those situations, it only escalates more. Some kids’ behaviors trigger other kids’ behaviors, and then you have this uncontrollable situation. I’ve been in many positions where my hair was pulled at the root, kids bit me, left a huge mark, I was kicked, punched, all this stuff and a big part of that is because you’re trying to keep the kids from harming the other students. So sometimes, you obviously have to protect yourself, but your main priority is protecting the students.”
What would they want people to know about their work?
The paras I spoke with identified three points they want the general public to know. First, they care deeply about the children with whom they work, and they value highly the role they play in supporting the children’s academic and social learning.
Second, it is very difficult for them to fulfill their responsibilities to their students for several reasons, some financial and some structural. Financially, they are paid so little that many have second or third jobs, which leaves them exhausted and compromises their ability to fully serve their students. Structurally, they are often not given the time or opportunity to be more fully engaged in the planning of how to work with their students.
Paras are also often excluded from team meetings focused on how to best serve their students. They are rarely asked for their insights and opinions about how to work with those students even though they may know the students better than anyone else in the building.
Third, a great majority of paras do not receive an orientation or relevant professional development, meaning they have to figure out how to serve the most challenging and vulnerable students in the building largely on their own.
What changes would they like to see?
There are several changes that paras would like to see that would improve their ability to contribute, enable them to stay in their positions and improve the health and learning of their students.
First, they should be offered professional development, beginning when they are hired. While it is a challenge to arrange initial orientation to new paras since they are hired throughout the year, having at least some orientation would make a difference as they enter incredibly challenging classroom environments, and offering regular professional development can only help.
Second, they should be insured planning time during the day or at least once a week, time to meet with their supervising teacher so that they can understand what is going on and why, and time to share what they have learned from their close contact with the students.
Third, paras should be offered a salary that could allow them to live without having to take a second or third job, which would allow them to bring more energy and focus to their work in the schools.
Fourth, paras should be treated with greater respect rather than seeing them as interchangeable pieces that can be moved around the school as needed — whether or not they have the background or preparation or skills to do what they are asked to do.
I spoke with district administrators and they largely agree with the paras. They deeply appreciate the devotion, care and investment the paras bring to their work with their students. They are aware that having the least trained and experienced people on staff working with the most challenging and vulnerable students in the building is far from ideal.
It is not fair to the paras to place them in that position and may not be best for the students. The administrators are incredibly frustrated that the persistent underfunding by the state forces them to do what they can within a system that does not support them to do what they know they should do to best serve the students.
To be clear, every school and classroom is different, and in some situations the communications between teacher and para, and between para and school community is respectful and productive. where that is the case, the students are better served, the paras are able to stay in their positions year after year, and the relationships they have with their students continue to grow and deepen, to the benefit of all. The challenge remains, in these incredibly tight financial times, to get the schools the resources they need to offer their students the education they need, and to offer the support the educators and the staff in the building need to provide that education for our children.
Doug Selwyn taught at K-12 public schools from 1985 until 2000 and then at university as a professor of education until he retired in 2017. He is the chair of the Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution education task force. You can reach him at dougselwyn12@gmail.com.