Student paraprofessionals within student affairs: The state of the art

Abstract

The utilization of undergraduate students as peer helpers within institutions of higher education can be traced to the early history of American colleges and universities. As Materniak points out in Chapter Two, student tutors have been assisting their peers since the colonial period. Powell and others (1969) cite the use of students in residence halls as resident assistants, proctors, hall counselors, and advisors since the turn of the century. Although these early efforts were primarily informal and unsystematic, they established a precedent quite early that students have the potential to be a strong influence on the growth and development of their peers.This chapter has several purposes. Primarily, it examines the emerging maturity of the student paraprofessional movement within divisions of student affairs. The intention is to provide a state-of-the-art view of undergraduates assisting their peers in the context of preventive, developmental programming. Within this context, several themes are introduced supporting the concept that student paraprofessionals must be regarded as important staff members. Research finds that between 72 percent (Ender and Winston, 1984) and 78 percent (Salovey, 1983) ofall student affairs divisions in higher education provide student-staffed programs. Program settings now offering interventions through paraprofessional staffing are described in this chapter, and the rationales for their use are outlined. The research literature S . Ender. R. Winston (Edr.). Llring Stvdcnlr 01 Pnmprofcrrinno/ Stof New Directions fur Srudenr Scwictr, n6. 27. San Francisco: Jorrcy-Bars, Scptembcr 1984.3 4 detailing the effectiveness of paraprofessionals is discussed, and rationales for the success of student-staffed paraprofessional programs are examined.To support the argument that student-staffed paraprofessional programs are maturing, several themes are explored. A working definition of the student paraprofessional is introduced, and the primary services that a paraprofessional can perform are discussed. Standards for paraprofessional programming are proposed, and a model for implementing student paraprofessional staffed programs is presented, Particular attention is focused on the issues involved in implementing a paraprofessional program-recruitment, selection, training, compensation, supervision, and evaluation-and the ways in which programs implement these program components are detailed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the legal and ethical issues raised by the use of student paraprofessionals and with some general comments about the future of this programming technique. Studies Concerning the Utilization of Student ParaprofessionalsAs student paraprofessional programmiilg continued to grow, several studies focusing on the extensiveness of this staffing technique were conducted. The first was by Powell (1959), who reported that 67 percent of the survey respondents used upperclassmen in counseling-type roles. The majority of survey respondents reported using student counselors for n...

Use of Student Paraprofessionals in Divisions of College Student Affairs

“…(Because data were requested only from student affairs divisions, there is a high probability that study skillstutorial programs and academic advising programs are underrepresented, because on many campuses these programs are administratively housed in academic affairs divisions or departments. A more detailed treatment of comparisons of these data with earlier studies may be found in Ender [1984]. )…”

“…Given what is known about the unreliability of these selection methods (Ostroth, 1981), however, new approaches seem worth trying. One approach (Ender, 1983(Ender, , 1984Ender & McFadden, 1980;Upcraft & Pilato, 1982) involves training paraprofessionals before making selection decisions. During training one can get a much more accurate picture of a potential paraprofessional's skills, knowledge, personality, and style-ah factors critical to success in most programs-before making a selection decision.…”

Counseling Skills: An Important Part of Tutor Training

“…Thtors are " ... students who have been selected and trained to offer educational services to their peers. " (Ender, 1984;Maxwell, 1979). A tutor is simply defmed as" ...a person who gives individual instruction."…”

Residential learning community peer mentors: a qualitative study of role construction/enactment and learning outcomes

“…The use of peers, sometimes referred to as "paraprofessionals," in teaching and learning is not itself a recent phenomenon in higher education. Various roles, such as undergraduate teaching assistants, peer tutors, resident assistants, and orientation leaders proliferate on college and university campuses (Ender, 1984;Ender & Newton, 2000).…”

“…The rationales behind supporting students in these roles include cost effectiveness (Boud, 2001a;Miller, Groccia, & Miller, 2001;Topping, 1996) as well as research indicating that students may learn best through interaction with other students (Astin, 1993;Ender, 1984;Topping). According to Miller, Groccia, and Miller, peers play influential learning roles for each other:…”