In the increasingly common inclusive classroom setting, paraprofessionals have been called to provide Specialized Academic Instruction for Special Education students in the secondary (middle and high school) General Education classroom. Current prior research on paraprofessionals often focused on the training, responsibilities, and role supervision, but lacked insight into the perception of the role from the perspective of the paraprofessional. Paraprofessionals perform a role in the classroom that requirescollaboration with teachers and provide instruction, however they are rarely given the resources and support needed to appropriately assume their role. The research conducted in this study centered around a single research question which asked paraprofessionals to articulate their views on their role in the classroom and their work with teachers in this setting. This study surveyed 63 secondary paraprofessionals, 21 of those participants also participated in in-depth 1:1 interviews to obtain their perceptions on the role of the paraprofessional in the inclusion classroom. Participant responses were analyzed for themes which revealed six main themes that included paraprofessional experiences with teachers related to training, collaboration, support, input and communication. Using thematic analysis, the researcher found the overall lack of value placed on the role of the paraprofessional contributed to their feelings of exclusion and affected their self-efficacy within the classroom. Recommendations by the researcher include requests for reflection by school districts on current models using paraprofessionals to administer SAI, and the social justice implications of using non-credentialed employees to serve the needs of Special Education students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]