Paraeducator Supervision

A Case Study Of A Speech-Language Pathologist’s Supervision Of Assistants In A School Setting: Tracy’s Story

French, Nancy K.
Journal of Children’s Communication Development; v18 n1 p103-09 Spring-Summer 1997

This case study describes the experiences of a newly graduated speech-language pathologist working in a small urban school district with a series of speech-language assistants who have various levels of qualifications and personality types. It illustrates how professional supervision skills, preservice paraprofessional training, professional/paraprofessional role distinctions, hiring practices, pay, and working conditions influence and affect the use of paraprofessionals.

ERIC Accession Number: EJ550635

Colleagues In The Classroom

A Video-Assisted Program for Teaching Supervision Skills
220 pp. text and 6 videotapes plus materials
Technology, Research, and Innovation in Special Education (TRI-SPED)
Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation
Utah State University
Logan, Utah 84322-2865
(877) 722-3991; web site http://www.trisped.org/colleagues

Designed to provide teachers with practical skills necessary to work with paraeducators. Addresses skills related to supervision, team building, and development of positive, goal-directed partnerships within the classroom team. Teachers can participate in the training program by working in small groups or teachers and paraeducators can participate together. Can be used as in-service training or as a graduate-level seminar. Addresses topics such as developing a teacherâs leadership role, clarifying roles and responsibilities, strengthening interpersonal communication, pre-empting or solving supervision problems, building a classroom team, and evaluating staff performance. Can be completed in 25-40 hours. Can be used with companion program, Enhancing Skills of Paraeducators (Salzberg, Morgan, Gassman, Merrill, and Pickett, 1993).

A Consultation And Paraprofessional Pull-In System Of Service Delivery: A Report On Student Outcomes And Teacher Satisfaction

Welch, Marshall; and others
Remedial and Special Education; v16 n1 p16-28 Jan 1995
>Available from UMI

This article presents results of evaluation of an educational partnership approach, the Consultation and Paraprofessional Pull-In System (CAPPS), for serving at-risk students and those with mild academic disabilities. The program synthesizes the resource/consulting teacher role, pull-in programming, and utilization of paraprofessionals for service delivery. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation findings are detailed.

ERIC Accession Number: EJ497554

Impact Of Teacher Education Courses On Paraprofessionals’ Job Performance, Knowledge, And Goals

Gittman, Elizabeth; Berger, Randie
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, 15 pp., October 22, 1997

A four-year private suburban college and a city public school district collaboratively provided teacher education courses to paraprofessionals working with special needs students in general education classes. The two teacher education courses, offered on the school district’s premises, were Teaching, Learning, and Growth and Instructional Strategies and Classroom Management. A group of 28 teachers and administrators responded to a questionnaire about the job performance of 26 paraprofessionals who completed the courses, and 22 paraprofessionals who finished the courses also completed a questionnaire. The teacher/administrator questionnaire asked about their current position in the school, years of experience, awareness of the paraprofessional’s enrollment in the course, and beliefs about change in the paraprofessional’s behaviors related to working with students with disabilities. The paraprofessional questionnaire asked about educational background, current position, experience, and beliefs about course effectiveness and impact. In an essay, paraprofessionals discussed whether or not they responded differently to student behavior following the course. Results indicated that course participants had improved job performance and greater knowledge of course content and their occupational roles in the classroom. Participants believed they understood and responded to student behavior more appropriately since taking the courses. Many indicated an intention to continue college level study and pursue a career in teaching.

ERIC Accession Number: ED416186

Organizing For Effective Paraprofessional Services In Special Education

Miramontes, Ofelia B
Remedial and Special Education, v. 12 (Jan./Feb. 1991) p. 29-36+
A multilingual/multiethnic instructional service team model.

The Paraeducator And Teacher Team

Strategies for Success (six workbooks)
Kent Gerlach
Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA

Pacific Lutheran University Bookstore, Attn: Mark Stevens, 121st Park Avenue, Tacoma, Washington 98447; telephone 253-535-7666; fax 253-536-5029; $15 each plus $1.50 each for postage and handling

This training program is designed to provide administrators, teachers, and paraeducators with the knowledge and skills necessary to better utilize paraeducators in the classroom and to strengthen the paraeducator-teacher team. The participant workbooks are as follows: 1) Roles, Responsibilities, and Ethical Issues; 2) Communication and Team Building; 3) Time Management for Teams; 4) Behavior Management; 5) Reading for Success; and 6) Effective Instruction. Each includes exercises, worksheets, checklists, guidelines, readings, and other practical approaches to building the team.Ê The workbooks are compiled in ring binders so that the pages can be removed for photocopying.

Peer Coaching Within An Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Setting

Miller, Susan Peterson
Intervention in School and Clinic, v. 30 (Nov. 1994) p. 109-13

The writer discusses the establishment of coaching partnerships across disciplines in an early childhood setting. Peer coaching is the assistance that one teacher provides to another in the development of teaching skills, strategies, or techniques. A special education teacher, a paraprofessional, and a social work graduate-school intern agreed to teach in a pilot early childhood program for children at risk in special education services. The program director provided them with a one-hour in-service on peer coaching, discussed the rationale for peer coaching, discussed ways to implement peer coaching strategies, conducted several 15-minute observations of the participants, and then initiated the first coaching session. The participants agreed to coach and cue one another just before the start of a class and to give verbal feedback on the peer’s performance after the class. Results reveal that the formal coaching session and the subsequent informal peer coaching session were effective for improving teacher performance.

Supervising Paraeducators In School Settings

A Team Approach
Anna Lou Pickett and Kent Gerlach, editors, 279 pp., 1997
Pro-Ed, 8700 Shoal Creek Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78757-6897
Order No. 8367, $29 plus shipping (U.S. 10%, Canada 15%, Foreign 20%)
(800) 897-3202

Teachers and related services personnel are increasingly becoming responsible for supervising paraeducators and other support staff. This text contains practical information and activities for preparing teachers, speech-language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, and administrators to work effectively with paraeducators in schools. Guidelines and strategies for improving the performance, management, staff development, and professional advancement opportunities for paraeducators and provided. Chapters: (1) Paraeducators in School Settings: Framing the Issues (Pickett); (2) Team Roles in Instructional Settings (Lynn Safarik); (3) Team Roles in Therapy Services (Thomas M. Longhurst); (4) Management of Paraeducators (Nancy K. French); (5) Team Building: Communication and Problem Solving (Gerlach and Patty Lee); (6) Professional and Ethical Responsibilities of Team Members (William Heller); (7) Paraeducators in School Settings: Administrative Issues (Stan Vasa and Allen Steckelberg); (8) Paraeducators in School Settings: The Future (Pickett and Gerlach).

Supervisory Training For Teachers: Multiple, Long-Term Effects In An Education Program For Adults With Severe Disabilities

Jensen, Joyce M; Parsons, Marsha B; Reid, Dennis H
Research in Developmental Disabilities, v. 19 no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1998) p. 449-63

We evaluated a means of training special education teachers in supervisory strategies for improving specific teaching-related performances of their paraprofessional, teacher assistants. Using classroom-based instruction and on-the-job monitoring and feedback, seven teachers were trained to systematically observe the data collection and teaching performances of their assistants as well as to provide contingent feedback. The supervisory training for teachers, evaluated using a multiple-probe design across groups of assistants, was accompanied by improvements in data collection performances among seven of eight assistants. Improvement in other teaching skill applications also occurred. The improved performance among the assistants was maintained across a 17-month follow-up period. The supervisory training seemed to have multiple benefits in that the teachers’ own teaching-related performances improved once teachers were trained to systematically observe and provide feedback to their assistants. The need for continued research is discussed to evaluate the benefits of supervisory training to improve and maintain other important areas of staff performance.

Teacher And Paraprofessional Relationship

Palma, Gloria M.
Rural Special Education Quarterly; v13 n4 p46-48 Fall 1994

Discusses importance of paraprofessionals in rural special education. Suggests that positive teacher-paraprofessional relationships are obtained through valuing each other’s respective roles; giving credit where due; involving paraprofessionals in planning and decision making; showing paraprofessionals the why as well as the how of lessons; providing instructions using we and us, instead of you; providing verbal and nonverbal feedback.

ERIC Accession Number: EJ495406