The Economic Policy Institute has long documented the expanding pay penalty faced by teachers in the K-12 system thanks to decades of underinvestment in public education. But teachers are not the only ones who have been undervalued: Many other school staff--who are essential for providing high-quality, safe, and nurturing learning…

Purpose/Objectives: School nutrition (SN) assistants/technicians are vital to the operation of successful school nutrition programs. The objective of this study was to update the 2006 Competencies, Knowledge, and Skills (CKS) needed by effective SN assistants/technicians. Changes in SN programs since 2006, including the implementation of…

Research has focused on methods to support, train, and prepare one-to-one paraprofessionals from perspectives of administrators and teachers. This quantitative study extended research by investigating perspectives of one-to-one paraprofessionals on preparation, support, communication, feedback, and involvement in planning. These variables were…

This conceptual article focuses on how a National Professional Development grant through the Office of English Language Acquisition in the U.S. Department of Education supported multilingual paraprofessionals' equitable access to and participation in high-quality, ongoing professional development aimed at supporting young multilingual learners,…

Supporting the development and training of paraeducators can be complex; however, that support in rural settings can be especially challenging. The unique structure of rural settings, often with limited personnel and available resources, can create challenges for recruiting and retaining quality candidates within the field of paraeducation. This…

The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the perceived effect that training had on special education paraprofessionals at a suburban public middle school in the south-central region of the United States of America. Qualitative research was conducted with 7 participants, utilizing demographic surveys and interviews. The…

Staff turnover is a critical issue for practitioners and policymakers alike. While extant research indicates teacher turnover has a detrimental impact on student outcomes generally (Ronfeldt et al., 2013), students with disabilities may be disproportionately impacted, as they receive services from both general educators and from special educators…

Four-day school week (4DSW) adoption is an increasingly popular policy, particularly for rural districts that are seeking to reduce educator turnover and district expenditures. Using a staggered treatment event study design, I am among the first to estimate the quasi-experimental effects of 4DSW adoption on teacher, principal, and paraprofessional…

Paraprofessionals are often tasked with implementing behavior management strategies to support the complex needs of students with disruptive behavior disorders. This study examined reported use and effectiveness of common classroom behavior strategies from 86 paraprofessionals working in 36 elementary schools using a mixed method design. Data were…

Behavior skills training (BST) with ongoing coaching is an effective form of professional development that creates sustained educator practice change and improves student outcomes. We provide a model for how BST can be used to improve the implementation of evidence-based practices with both teachers and paraprofessionals, the latter of whom often…

In the field of visual disabilities, students who have visual impairments in addition to other disabilities receive limited amounts of direct service time from a teacher of students who are visually impaired (TVI), leaving most of their education in the hands of special education teachers and paraprofessionals. These professionals can support…

This capstone project focuses on the use of Improvement Science Methodology to improve the onboarding, training, and retention of paraeducators. The project aims to involve those closest to the work in identifying and addressing challenges through a process of continuous improvement. The author draws on relevant literature around improvement…

International research has illustrated that learning support staff (LSS) play a crucial role in the instruction of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND): they support the children's classwork while teachers manage the whole-class instruction. However, fewer research studies have explored LSS's role in the children's…

The aim of this study is to identify the expressions of legitimacy work available to professional support staff at contemporary higher education institutions (HEIs) and how these expressions can be understood as strategies in their work. Academics are the given audience for this legitimacy work. Professional support staff are commonly described as…

This paper draws on my experience working as a special needs support staff member in a special school in the UK for young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) issues. The purpose of this paper is to share my understanding of practices that enable staff in an SEMH school to attend to the needs of their students. Although I have…