Team Players and Team Managers: Special Educators Working with Paraeducators to Support Inclusive Classrooms

Abstract

This paper summarizes recommendations from a selection of international research literature urging teachers to take the initiative in their own classrooms to invite paraeducators to participate fully as team players in collaborative work. In US classrooms paraeducators (teacher aides/teacher assistants) have long been making valuable contributions in providing education services to students with a variety of needs. The literature documents change in their roles. Legislation has influenced their required qualifications—although legislation still refers to them as paraprofessionals. While some researchers have cast doubt on whether paraeducators are truly effective in their assigned roles, others have warned that the education system is over-reliant on them. In response to this changing perspective, teacher educators must revise programs to better prepare teacher candidates to effectively team with paraeducators. Personnel developers and school administrators must provide inservice training for a generation of teachers who have received little if any training in this area

Teaching Assistants in Inclusive Classrooms: A Systematic Analysis of the International Research

“…The results of prior research reviews show that TAs: (a) perform a variety of roles that were generally viewed positively by teachers, TAs, students and parents; (b) often assume primary instructional roles which may hinder the performance of students and should be the responsibility of trained teachers; (c) can foster improved academic, behavioral and social outcomes for students when they are appropriately trained and supervised and; (d) rarely receive adequate training and supervision (Ashbaker & Morgan, 2012;Brock & Carter, 2013;Cajkler & Tennant 2009;Farrell, Alborz, Howes & Pearson, 2010;Giangreco, Suter, & Doyle, 2010;Rispoli, Neely, Lang, & Ganz, 2011;Saddler, 2014;Walker & Smith, 2015). However, the findings of these prior reviews did not include articles published in the last five years (Cajkler, & Tennant, 2009;Farrell et al, 2010;Giangreco, Suter, & Doyle, 2010), did not focus solely on TAs in general education settings (Brock & Carter, 2013;Rispoli et al, 2011;Walker & Smith, 2015), or did not employ a systematic methodology for identifying, selecting, and synthesizing empirical studies (Ashbaker & Morgan, 2012;Giangreco et al, 2010;Saddler, 2014). Furthermore, these reviews were based primarily on research from the United States and the United Kingdom and did not reflect an international perspective.…”

The Effects of Didactic Instruction and Performance Feedback on Paraeducator Implementation of Behavior Support Strategies in Inclusive Settings

“…More than 400,000 full-time paraeducators are employed nationally to support school-age students who receive special education services (U.S. Department of Education, 2010), often spending most of the school day supporting these students in inclusive environments (Ashbaker & Morgan, 2012). In the general education environment, paraeducators are now assuming some responsibilities traditionally carried out by certified teachers (Maggin, Wehby, Moore-Partin, Robertson, & Oliver, 2009).…”

Working With Paraeducators: Tools and Strategies for Planning, Performance Feedback, and Evaluation

“…However, teacher delegation of tasks to paraeducators and their role as supervisors continues to be an area in education that needs attention (Chopra & Uitto, 2015). Teachers note a lack of competence in paraeducator supervision and attribute this in part to inadequate preservice preparation (Ashbaker & Morgan, 2012; Biggs et al, 2018; Carnahan et al, 2009). Despite professional standards for special education teacher preparation (Council for Exceptional Children [CEC], 2015) and repeated calls for special educators to receive training to work with paraeducators, meaningful coursework and experiences pertaining to supervising and managing paraeducators is often lacking during teacher preparation (Chopra et al, 2018).…”