Special Education Teacher-Delivered Training for Paraeducators: A Systematic and Quality Review

Abstract

Schools rely heavily on paraeducators to support the delivery of special education services for students with disabilities (SWDs). However, paraeducators often lack formal training in implementing evidence-based practices. Traditional methods of professional development are not effective at producing long-term changes in classroom staff. Prior research shows that paraeducators can implement skills with high fidelity when provided experiential training or coaching; however, most research has included researcher-as-trainer for paraeducators. Training delivered by special education teachers (SETs) may be a more sustainable training framework. We conducted a systematic and quality review of research on SET-delivered training to improve paraeducators’ implementation of skills for supporting SWDs. We identified 11 studies with moderate or high methodological rigor and found behavioral skills training was the most common method used by SETs to train paraeducators. Contextual variables including participant characteristics, target skills, and procedural fidelity were synthesized to provide a summary of strengths and gaps in the research.