Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is in the midst of a teacher shortage crisis. At the same time, the district is looking for ways to increase the racial and linguistic diversity of the educator workforce. A new bilingual teacher residency program is attempting to help close these gaps and ease current shortages by recruiting from within and tapping…

Paraeducators are critically important members of school communities, but there is little statewide research on the characteristics of paraeducators. We therefore use over 25 years of longitudinal data from Washington state to provide a descriptive portrait of the paraeducator workforce. Paraeducators are more racially and ethnically diverse than…

With the projected radiography healthcare worker shortfall, improved program completion is essential in order to meet workforce needs. The purpose and the specific research question addressed in this study was "Is there an association between completing the pre-admission requirements prior to beginning core radiography courses and Radiography…

Paraprofessionals are increasingly hired in US schools to support the learning and behavior needs of students with or at risk for disabilities; despite receiving very limited professional development supports to enhance their skills in classrooms. The research base is lacking on effective paraprofessional professional development and intervention…

The purpose of this dissertation was to discover the lived experiences and perceptions of administrators, physical educators, and physical education paraeducators (PEPs) in Alabama regarding the hiring, training, responsibilities, and roles of PEPs within physical education and the school as a whole. Role Socialization Theory (RST) was used as a…

Paraprofessionals are increasingly hired in US schools to support the learning and behavior needs of students with or at risk for disabilities; despite receiving very limited professional development supports to enhance their skills in classrooms. The research base is lacking on effective paraprofessional professional development and intervention…

School culture is a construct that proves to be especially important for educational institutions. When considering current research relatable to school culture, certificated personnel appear to be the prominent perspectives captured, suggesting that certificated personnel have derived the concept of school culture. This then raises the question:…

Paraeducators are among the largest categories of public education employees and are increasingly seen as a pool of potential teachers. However, little is known about paraeducator-to-teacher transitions. Using statewide administrative data, we show that while paraeducators may be more racially/ethnically diverse than the teacher workforce, Black…

This qualitative study examined educational professionals' experiences including students with extensive support needs (ESN) in general education settings. Data were collected from 18 education professionals, including 5 special education teachers, 5 paraeducators, 4 administrators, and 4 general education teachers. The researcher used…

Paraeducators play an important role supporting children with developmental disabilities in early childhood settings, and the current educational system has come to rely heavily on paraeducator supports. Unfortunately, most paraeducators receive limited training prior to engaging in their classroom roles and responsibilities, and teachers receive…

Special education teacher employment began to decline in 2006, concurrent with increased paraprofessional employment. At the same time, the prevalence of students with disabilities in several categories changed substantially, and the proportion of students being served in general education settings increased as well. The purpose of this study was…

Paraeducators are an important member of the educational team for many students with disabilities. However, the perspectives of team members (principals, teachers, paraeducators) related to paraeducator supports and team roles has not been adequately explored in the literature. An online questionnaire was used within this study to examine the…

Across the nation, there is a shortage of teachers who reflect the demographics of students. Even though the teaching workforce has diversified nationally in recent decades, teachers from diverse backgrounds, when attracted, depart schools at a significantly higher rate than white teachers (Ingersoll, Merrill, Stuckey & Collins, 2018). Over…

Introduction: Interveners are paraeducators who have been trained in deafblind strategies. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an online training project for intervener candidates. Methods: The training project utilized the Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA) Intervener Training Modules in conjunction with synchronous meetings and coaching.…

This paper reports on a qualitative study of 13 bilingual paraprofessionals at a university in the USA enrolled in a second language acquisition class that was part of a professional development programme. Drawing on socio-cultural theory, the study focused on documenting how the paraprofessionals negotiated the academic demands of a hybrid online…